Bow-back Windsor side chair

Bow-back Windsor chair
Tulip poplar, ash
1785-1815

Status

Not on view

Date1785-1815

Geography Possibly made - United States

Medium/TechniqueTulip poplar (seat), possibly ash (bow)

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 37 3/8 in. x 20 1/4 in. x 17 in. (94.93 cm x 51.44 cm x 43.18 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, 1892

Object numberM-900

DescriptionBow-back Windsor side chair with nine, three-part, bamboo-turned spindles, a shield-shaped, saddled seat, and four, splayed, three-part, bamboo-turned legs with tapered feet joined by H-mounted stretchers. The continuous bow back of the chair is beaded along the edges of its crowned or rounded front face and nips in at the waist; its ends are tenoned through the seat. The spindles are tenoned into the seat and bow; all of the spindles extend through the bow and are wedged. The plank seat has a slight pommel at front center and a deep groove outlining the front and back of the spindle area. The bamboo-turned stretcher support has two-part, single-swell side stretchers and a three-part, single-swell, medial stretcher. Two of the most recent painted finishes, orange and red, are still present on the seat, and remnants of these are visible on the rest of the chair.

Two round plugs or through-tenons are visible at the center of the seat. Nails have been driven into the inside face of the lower grooves of the legs, the top of the legs just below the seat, and the top face of the grooves in the side stretchers.

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