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Easy chair
about 1765
Object Place: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Medium/Technique
Mahogany, birch, maple, white pine, worsted wool, linen girt webbing, marsh grass, horsehair
Dimensions
116.8 x 87.0 x 78.7 cm (46 x 34 1/4 x 31 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by a friend of the Department of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, the John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, funds donated by Barbara L. and Theodore B. Alfond, E.G. Nicholson, and The Seminarians; and of Miss Thatcher Atwood, Estelle S. Frankfurter, Miss Marie G. Webber, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Herbert Edes, Mrs. Edward Jackson Holmes, and Deac Rossell and Mickey Myers, by exchange
Accession Number1994.267
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsFurniture – Seating and beds
This chair retains most of its original upholstery, including layers of linen webbing, marsh grass, and horsehair beneath the wool "show cover". The seat cushion and front-rail upholstery are modern, made to harmonize with the existing fabric.
DescriptionEasy chair with serpentine crest rail, shaped and scrolled arms, slightly curved front seat rail, cabriole front legs with acanthus-carved knees with star-punched background and claw-and-ball feet, straight rear legs, and block-and-spindle side stretchers, turned medial and rear stretchers; original blue-green worsted covers with calendered decoration and decorative brass nailing; cushion replaced.
ProvenanceOwned originally by Nathan Low (b. 1742) of Boston; descended to his son, Nathan Low; to his daughter, Abigail Pressey; to her daughter, Emma Pressey Damon; to her daughter, Emma Damon Eaton; to Virginia Eaton; to a direct descendant; to a private collector in the early 1980s; consigned to auction at Sotheby's, New York, October 26, 1985, where it was acquired by Congoleum Corporation, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; title transferred to Mr. and Mrs. Eddy G. Nicholson, Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, in 1986; on loan to the Museum beginning in 1985; purchased at Christie's, New York, in 1994 (Accession Date December 14, 1994)