Table & Chairs Vignette, with Details of Each Piece

A Classic Example of Early Connecticut Craftsmanship
Turned Great-Chair With Oversized Pommels
Early red paint
New London County, Connecticut
Circa 1700
Maple and ash
Although this outstanding New London County turned-chair has sustained some damage and loss, it retains the characteristics that define its type. The slats retain their original elaborate, shaped profiles that are lost or damaged on many other examples. The posts have been extended 3" below the original lower stretchers. The finials are intact save for the replacement of a small section of their rounded front faces that was once removed to accommodate a horizontal brace. An ancient loss of approximately 40% of the proper-left handgrip has been restored. The splint seat is exceedingly old and may date to the 18th-century. The red paint is also probably of 18th-century origin. Extensive tool marks are visible beneath this pigment, indicating that the chair has never been refinished or heavily cleaned. One of the side seat rails projects through the back-post. This is not evidence of damage or restoration. When the chair was made, the turner miss-bored the mortise for the seat-rail and drilled entirely through the post. Rather than abandoning the post, he simply drove a wedge through the protruding back end of the seat-rail to secure it in place.
A group of some thirty highly distinctive, slat-back turned great chairs represent the single largest recognizable group of 17th-century New England chairs. Although varying slightly in design and execution, the chairs are configured with impressive lemon-shaped finials, posts turned with deep urns, and heavy sequences of incised lines. The deeply scored barrel-form arms are set in angled mortises, raking sharply from back to front. Three slats designed with upper edges shaped with the profile of opposing brackets form the back. Instead of the ball-form handgrips common on 17th-century turned-chairs, the front-posts terminate in massive pommels that often exceed the diameter of the posts by 300%. This latter feature constitutes the most iconic diagnostic trait and an indication of the high value of these chairs when new as the added work involved in their creation substantially increased labor and cost.
Many of the chairs were discovered in the Eastern Connecticut towns of New London, Norwich, Colchester, Lebanon, and Preston under circumstances that indicate that they chairs had yet to reach antique status when they were found, it is unlikely that they had not strayed far from their point of manufacture. The stylistic elements of the New London County chairs deviate substantially from 17th-century English chair design practice. The extravagant finials and shaped slats are far more consistent with Dutch turning tradition. Although no craftsmen of Dutch descent have been documented in Eastern Connecticut, the possibility exists that an as yet unidentified artisan from the Nederland's may have been living and working in the vicinity of New London. This chair is an emblematic example of the group, possessing the full set of highly recognizable structural and ornamental traits.
References
A nearly identical chair is in the collection of Winterthur Museum and is illustrated in American Seating Furniture, 1630-1730, p. 126, catalog entry 15.
Price: $62,500
621-17

A Rare And Beautiful Wooden Chandelier
American, expandable
Maple and chestnut
Circa 1800
Understated provincial elegance...the flat arms holding turned candle sockets are received by the block that has been crisply relieved; wooden thumb screw secures the arms and allows for adjustment. (Height: 18-inches; can be extended to 21-inches square.)
Price: $16,750
175-23

"United" Redware Plate
Measures 12-inches in diameter.
Price: $6,250
262-1

Slip Decorated Redware Charger
Measures 13-inches in diameter.
Price: $5,600
SG222

William And Mary Gate-Leg Table
In 19th century red faux-grain paint...
New England, maple
Circa 1720-1740
This table, probably from southeastern Massachusetts, with oval overhanging drop-leaf flanking the straight apron with drawer and two gates which support those leaves; block, baluster, and ring-turned elements are found on the gates, legs, and stretchers above the shaped and turned feet. The table remains in good condition including original butterfly hinges and dry mostly red paint. (Width: 45-inches; top measures 13.75-inches deep; depth of leaf: 19.5-inches; height: 27.25-inches.)
Price: $8,950
HRI34

Turned great-chair with oversized pommels and tallest finials...
Early, large and substantial
New London County, Connecticut
Circa 1680
Ash
This monumental chair may fill this gap in the object record. While the chair assumes the basic configuration of archetypical New London County turned-chairs, it exhibits subtle structural and ornamental variations that suggest a probable earlier date of manufacture. Overall, the chair is larger and more substantial than the standard New London County turned-chair. The posts are massive, exceeding 2.5-inches in diameter. The finials are the tallest and most robust examples known. The posts are turned with a dense sequence of urns, rings, and incised lines that reflects the compressed character of mid 17th-century turned ornament. Additionally, the chair is constructed entirely of ash, a wood more familiar to immigrant turners than the maple used for the pots of virtually all other New London County turned-chairs.
Condition
This New London County great-chair has sustained some loss and damage during the course of its use. However, the visual and academic importance of the chair balances any issues of condition. When old upholstery was removed, the shaped profiles were lost from the upper edges of the slats. These missing elements have been restored based upon the pattern of other intact New London County turned-chairs. The posts have been extended about 6", although the lower row of stretchers is intact. Probably during the 19th-century, a horizontal brace was installed behind the finials. This addition necessitated the removal of the back profile of the finials and top section of the posts, a missing element also recently restored. The present coat of black paint dates to the 20th-century.
References
Another New London County turned-chair with unusually heavy ash posts is owned by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and is illustrated in American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection, p. 2; catalog entry f-2. Other information is available by request.
Price: $28,500
621-18

If you are interested in buying any of these items, please call (978) 597-8084 or email David Hillier at drh@aaawt.com or Lynn Morin at lfm@aaawt.com

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