Side Chair

Dateearly 20th Century

Mediumwood (perhaps walnut), leather upholstery

DimensionsOverall: 37 × 19 1/4 × 18 3/4 in. (94 × 48.9 × 47.6 cm)

Credit LineReynolda Estate

CopyrightPublic Domain

Object number1922.2.150

DescriptionDespite the aged appearance of these two farthingale chairs, they are likely revival pieces rather than Jacobean. The chair frames seem to be made of walnut, which was not a favored wood in the 16th century. The straight stiles are plain above the seat and sausage turned below. The sausage-turned stretchers are pinned into the legs about half way up, and the four legs sit on block feet. The richly decorated leather upholstery may be earlier than the frame. Punched and painted with chinoiserie scenes of a domestic life inhabited mostly by females, the European origins of the decoration are betrayed by the use of black-and-white flooring despite the Asian features on the figures' faces. In addition, one figure seems to be wearing blue pantaloons. The frames may have been made in an American workshop, then upholstered by the retailer with material bought from a European source.

A farthingale chair is armless with a wide seat covered usually in high-quality fabric and fitted with a cushion. The backrest is an upholstered panel. Generally, the chair has legs that are straight and rectangular. The type was introduced as a chair for ladies in the late 16th century and was named in England, probably in the 19th century, for its ability to accommodate the exceptionally wide-hooped skirts also called farthingales. An earlier English name was “imbrauderer’s chair,” or “upholsterer’s chair.” The farthingale chair was one of the earliest comfortable upholstered seats.

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

Not on view