.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The chair offered here incorporates a number of classic elements of high-style Massachusetts Chippendale craftsmanship. With its blunt-ended ears, gently swelled serpentine curve and uncarved raised center element, the crest is quintessentially Salem. Other regional characteristics exhibited here include the flat splat with interlacing C-scroll with a pierced baluster form and the low-relief knee carving with incised and channeled veining (for a Massachusetts chair with a nearly identical splat, see Kirk, American Chairs (New York, 1972), p. 103, fig. 111).
The most distinctive feature of this chair is its highly-cushioned and radiating shell feet. While unusual, these types of feet can be traced to Salem and are found in several other Massachusetts side chairs (see Sack, American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, p. 678, P3250; Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Williamsburg (Williamsburg, 1974), p. 63, no. 54; Bishop, Centuries and Styles of the American Chair: 1640-1970 (New York, 1972), p. 151, fig. 184; and a set of four Sold in these Rooms, April 11, 1981, lot 500).
The most distinctive feature of this chair is its highly-cushioned and radiating shell feet. While unusual, these types of feet can be traced to Salem and are found in several other Massachusetts side chairs (see Sack, American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, p. 678, P3250; Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Williamsburg (Williamsburg, 1974), p. 63, no. 54; Bishop, Centuries and Styles of the American Chair: 1640-1970 (New York, 1972), p. 151, fig. 184; and a set of four Sold in these Rooms, April 11, 1981, lot 500).