Uncommon Chair

Revolving Desk Chair
Maker: Thomas Burling
Mahogany, mahogany veneer, white oak, iron , metal ...

Status

On view

Label Text

On April 17, 1790, Washington paid New York cabinetmaker Thomas Burling £7 for this ingeniously-engineered "Uncommon Chair." It combines the sleek, contemporary design of a French bergère en gondole (or barrel-back upholstered armchair) with a unique swivel mechanism that allows the circular seat to rotate on four bone rollers. Washington must have found the chair to be ergonomically pleasing, as he used it throughout his presidency and for the remainder of his life. Following his return to Mount Vernon in March 1797, he placed it in his Study along with the tambour secretary he acquired from John Aitken in Philadelphia.

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Date1790

Maker Thomas Burling (American, 1747 - 1831)

Geography Retailed - United StatesMade - United States

Medium/TechniqueMahogany, mahogany veneer (primary), white oak (secondary, frame), iron, metal, bone, leather, brass

DimensionsOverall: 39 3/8 in. (100.01 cm) Overall (Seat): 17 1/2 in. x 24 3/4 in. x 24 1/8 in. (44.45 cm x 62.87 cm x 61.28 cm) Overall (arm to arm): 27 in. (68.58 cm) Overall (front of seat to furthest part of back of chair)): 32 in. (81.28 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, 1905

Object numberW-159

DescriptionCircular or bergère-type leather-upholstered armchair with revolving seat that is kept in place by a central metal pin or bolt in its frame and rests on four rollers (one set into the top of each leg in an iron frame). Veneered back rail and serpentine-molded arm fronts with veneered sides. Opening between back and seat. Veneered circular chair frame with square tapered legs and short spade or therm feet. Upholstered in old leather secured with tacks.

Alternate names for this form include: whirligig chair, rotating chair, revolving desk chair and swivel chair.

Additional construction info: Seat frame of three horizontal laminations. Cross braces (on top and bottom frames) dovetailed into seat frame.

Published ReferencesChristine Meadows, "The Furniture." Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 486-87, pl. XI.

Charles L. Granquist, "Thomas Jefferson's 'whirligig' chairs." Antiques vol., no. 5 (May 1976): 1057, fig. 3.

Helen Maggs Fede, Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, VA: 1966), 39-41, fig. 28.

Marion Day Iverson, The American Chair, 1630-1890 (New York: Hastings House, 1957), 210, 214, 220, fig. 167.

Marian S. Carson, "Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon, II: The Study," American Collector 16, no. 6 (July 1947): 10-11, fig. 4.

Benson J. Lossing, Mount Vernon and Its Associations, Historical, Biographical and Pictorial (New York: 1859), 214-15.

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