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Double chair-back settee
about 1770–80
Object Place: Boston, Massachusetts
Medium/Technique
Mahogany, pine; new upholstery
Dimensions
Overall: 100.3 x 166.4 x 66 cm (39 1/2 x 65 1/2 x 26 in.)
Credit Line
William Francis Warden Fund
Accession Number1977.714
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsFurniture – Seating and beds
Double-chairback settees, fashioned after English models, are rare in American Rococo furniture, and the few examples known are all linked to Massachusetts. Here, the "owl's-eye" splats; leafy, carved knees; and claw-and-ball feet point to a Boston origin. In addition, Thomas Melville, a Boston merchant and patriot in the Revolution, owned the settee, and it may have been made at the time of his marriage to Priscilla Scollay, in 1774
ProvenanceThomas Melville [Melvill] (16 January 1751 – 16 September 1832) m. Priscilla Scollary (15 August 1755 – 12 April 1833) in 1774; to daughter Mary Melville (16 June 1778 – 3 July 1858) m. John DeWolf [De Wolf or D’Wolf] (6 September 1779 – 8 March 1872) on 23 October 1808; to daughter Nancy Melville DeWolf (23 October 1814 – 8 March 1872) m. Samuel Downer [Downes] (8 March 1807 – 20 September 1881) on 13 October 1836; to daughter Gertrude Melville Downer (24/26 May 1844 – 11 May 1896) m. James D. Scudder (18 October 1841 – 11 May 1896) on 26 May 1864; to daughter Mary Pamelia Scudder (6 February 1865 – about 1950) m. George Bailey Glidden (2 September 1860 – 5 April 1943) on 9 October 1884; to daughter Gertrude Glidden (6 October 1894 – 4 August 1964/66); to niece Jeanne Glidden (about 1922 - ) m. John Higgins of Stratham, New Hampshire; purchased in 1977 (Accession Date: 12 October 1977)