Please enter your email address to view the current issue.

Federal Shield-Back Side Chairs

CP Updated
Federal Shield-Back Side Chairs
Federal Shield-Back Side Chairs

Contact

Email
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Primary wood: mahogany
Secondary woods: yellow birch, Eastern white pine

This pair of chairs was inspired by an original in the Peabody Essex Museum. Similar examples exist in the Winterthur and The Metropolitan Museum of Art collections. The originals were all carved by Samuel McIntire, while the chair makers are unidentified. The construction of these chairs was quite interesting, the back post assembly consisting of 13 separate pieces, five in the splat alone. And then came the carving! The front feet were ebonized, which is consistent with some versions of the chair, but a divergence from the chair at the Peabody Essex Museum.