Side Chair

Datecirca 1917

Mediumwalnut, flat-weave upholstery, silk

DimensionsOverall: 47 × 21 1/2 × 21 in. (119.4 × 54.6 × 53.3 cm)

Credit LineReynolda Estate

CopyrightPublic Domain

Object number1922.2.42

DescriptionWalnut side chair in the William and Mary style with a slight curve to the back and crest rails carved with Prince of Wales feathers over a pendant shell, the whole enclosed by scrolls. The molded shoulders curve downward into the stiles that terminate in legs that curve backward. The back splat is shaped as a vase and pierced with interlaced scrolls. The outer edges of the stiles and back splat are molded with scrolls. The front cyma-curved legs have paired ram's horns at the knees with pendant bellflowers pointing toward furry hoofed feet. The stretcher is H-shaped and has vertical ornaments in the center that echo the ornament in the bottom rail.

The faded flat-woven upholstery, attached over the seat rail with large brass tacks and conforming to a shaped skirt, displays fanciful hoofed animals surrounded by leaves and flowers on a black ground. Although the fabric is probably original to the chair, it was reattached by William J. Heina & Son, New York City, perhaps in the 1960s.
ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]

Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.

Status

On view

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