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Side chair

Side chair
Walnut, red cedar, yellow pine
1770-1790
Side chair
Side chair
Walnut, red cedar, yellow pine
1770-1790
Side chair Walnut, red cedar, yellow pine 1770-1790
Status
Not on view
Label Text

This side chair is one of several walnut chairs with a history of use in George Washington's presidential household in Philadelphia. Carved numerals in the front seat rail and front slip-seat rail identify the chair as part of a set. While the chair could have been used in several rooms in the executive mansion, its current crimson silk damask upholstery corresponds to that used in the state dining room. There were approximately three-dozen dining chairs in the room to accommodate the large parties of thirty or more guests who often ate with the president.

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Date1770-1790
Geography Made - United States
DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 38 1/4 in. x 21 3/4 in. x 20 in. (97.16 cm x 55.25 cm x 50.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Colonel Frank M. Etting, 1887
Object numberW-259
DescriptionWalnut side chair with a serpentine crest rail depressed at center and terminating in flared ears, a solid vasiform splat seated in the shoe, raked-back stiles with flat faces and rounded backs, and a trapezoidal slip-seat frame with rounded top edges and flat-arched horizontal shaping to the rails; "II" chiseled into front seat rail rabbet; crest rail and stiles with single bead along outside edge; stiles tenoned into crest rail and secured with a single peg; front and side seat rails tenoned into legs and double pegged on each side; quarter round corner blocks of one piece of wood with vertical grain and chiseled, beveled top edge; double pegged, through tenons on the back stiles; front cabriole legs with rounded knees, ogee knee brackets secured with roseheaded nails, and trifid feet with three raised tongues; rounded back posts; "W 259" stamped on brass plaque on proper left rear leg.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 138-139.

Marion Day Iverson, The American Chair: 1630-1890 (New York: Hastings House Publishers, 1957), 204-205.
MarkingsTwo chisel marks on front seat rail rabbet: "II". On the front rail of the slip-seat frame, incised initials "MC" above three chisel marks "III".
Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.
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