In seventeenth-century New England, the upholsterer's craft was a luxury trade that, like silversmithing, was principally confined to Boston and, to a lesser extent, Salem. Miraculously, this "great chair" (a period term for armchair) retains both its original Russia leather upholstery secured with brass tacks and its original upholstery foundation of linen webbing, linen sackcloth, and stuffing of spike grass (Distichlis spicata) harvested from the tidal salt marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. (Early photographs show the chair upholstered with a nineteenth-century black oilcloth, which probably inadvertently enabled the preservation of the original materials.) The design of the chair calls for a large down-filled squab, or cushion (a modern reproduction is shown here), both to provide comfort for the sitter and to visually fill the large void between the seat and the high back.

In keeping with its status as a luxury product, the chair was owned originally by Dr. Zerubbabel Endicott of Salem, Massachusetts, a well-known surgeon and son of John Endicott, who served as deputy governor and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at various times in the 1640s, 1650s, and 1660s. It is probably one of a set of two great chairs and six side chairs listed in Zerubbabel's estate inventory.

This text was adapted from Ward, et al., MFA Highlights: American Decorative Arts & Sculpture (Boston, 2006) available at www.mfashop.com/mfa-publications.html.

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