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Lot Essay
Displaying hallmarks of the William and Mary style, such as the scrolled crest, double outscrolling arms, shaped crest, baluster-turned stretchers and Spanish feet, this chair is a rare survival of the earliest form of the easy chair made in America. Only seven other William and Mary easy chairs have been located, all of which are in public collections.
Four of these chairs and the chair offered here were made in the same shop. Comprising double-baluster turnings of identical layout and proportions, the medial stretchers on the chair offered here and those in the collections of Winterthur Museum, the Chipstone Foundation and Colonial Williamsburg are identical (figs. 2 and 4; Forman, American seating furniture, 1630-1730 (Winterthur, 1988), cats. 87, 89, pp.363, 365; John Walton, Antiques (April 1974), p.652). The same stretchers appear on a related easy chair that is from the period 1695 to 1705 and is one of the earliest American easy chairs known (Forman, fig. 186, p. 358), suggesting that the shop that made this chair operated not long after. One chair at Winterthur (fig. 2) displays the same style of crest and similar tapered-column side stretchers as those on the chair offered here. Displaying variations in the crests, skirts, side stretchers and feet the chairs at the Chipstone Foundation (fig. 4) and Colonial Williamsburg illustrate different options made by the same shop. A second chair at Winterthur also displays the same turnings, but has a straight crest and corresponding skirt as well as arm supports set back from the front seat rail, suggesting it was made in the same shop, but at a slightly later date (Forman, p.366). Made in competing shops, the chairs illustrated as figs. 1 and 3 display variations on the baluster-turned stretchers.
Stripped of its extensive upholstery, including an ample cushion, the chair frame only hints at its use as a comfortable seat with protection from drafts. Recent research of the upholstery of other surviving William and Mary easy chairs provides clues to the materials, methods and appearance of this chair's original upholstery. The chair at Colonial Williamsburg retains its original upholstery foundations on the two wings and bears traces of a crimson wool covering. Most interesting is the discovery of holes left by the first set of brass tacks that ran along the lower edge of the skirt and also form diamond patterns on the skirt's pendant lobes. Traces of a similar fabric in green were found on the chair at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (fig. 3; see Fairbanks, "A decade of collecting American decorative arts and sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston," Antiques (September 1981), p. 595).
As a form first introduced during the William and Mary era and employing expensive coverings, such chairs were made in small quantities and only for the most style-conscious and affluent members of colonial society. Three of the above chairs, including the chair offered here, have known histories, all with prominent figures in the Boston area. The chair in fig. 3 was first owned by Samuel Franklin, a first cousin of Benjamin Franklin and a chair in the collection of Bayou Bend descended in the Parsons family of Ipswich (Warren, Bayou Bend, Houston, 1975, cat. 17, p.11).
THE DOGGETT FAMILY OF BOSTON
The chair offered here descended in the Doggett family of Boston and, along with a sampler signed by Lydia Doggett and dated 1780, was purchased in the early 1960s from Brewster Doggett (d. 1996) of Wiscasset, Maine (see Henry Aron, Antiques (April 1963), p.371). The sampler depicts a house that closely resembles a late 19th century view of the Sea Street (now Federal Street) mansion of Noah Doggett (1727-1805) and was probably worked by his daughter, Lydia (1775-1815). Too young to have been the chair's first owner, Noah may have inherited the chair from his father or grandfather, or possibly the parents or grandparents of either of his wives, Mary Clark and Mary Alline. Interestingly, Noah's father Samuel (1685-1746) was an active participant in the Wiscasset Company, which settled vast tracts of land in Maine during the early eighteenth century and, in the middle of the twentieth century, the last Doggett family member to own the chair lived in Wiscasset, Maine.
Built in 1767, Noah's "mansion" was a prominent five-bay house located near the First South Church, where the family worshipped. During the Revolutionary War, the family removed to Newburyport while their Boston house was occupied by British troops. Assuming the chair and the sampler were owned together by Noah in the late eighteenth century, their subsequent descent was along the male family lines and, excluding those who moved away from Boston, comprise only those listed above. For more information on the Doggett family, see Doggett, A History of the Doggett-Daggett Family, Boston, 1894.
Four of these chairs and the chair offered here were made in the same shop. Comprising double-baluster turnings of identical layout and proportions, the medial stretchers on the chair offered here and those in the collections of Winterthur Museum, the Chipstone Foundation and Colonial Williamsburg are identical (figs. 2 and 4; Forman, American seating furniture, 1630-1730 (Winterthur, 1988), cats. 87, 89, pp.363, 365; John Walton, Antiques (April 1974), p.652). The same stretchers appear on a related easy chair that is from the period 1695 to 1705 and is one of the earliest American easy chairs known (Forman, fig. 186, p. 358), suggesting that the shop that made this chair operated not long after. One chair at Winterthur (fig. 2) displays the same style of crest and similar tapered-column side stretchers as those on the chair offered here. Displaying variations in the crests, skirts, side stretchers and feet the chairs at the Chipstone Foundation (fig. 4) and Colonial Williamsburg illustrate different options made by the same shop. A second chair at Winterthur also displays the same turnings, but has a straight crest and corresponding skirt as well as arm supports set back from the front seat rail, suggesting it was made in the same shop, but at a slightly later date (Forman, p.366). Made in competing shops, the chairs illustrated as figs. 1 and 3 display variations on the baluster-turned stretchers.
Stripped of its extensive upholstery, including an ample cushion, the chair frame only hints at its use as a comfortable seat with protection from drafts. Recent research of the upholstery of other surviving William and Mary easy chairs provides clues to the materials, methods and appearance of this chair's original upholstery. The chair at Colonial Williamsburg retains its original upholstery foundations on the two wings and bears traces of a crimson wool covering. Most interesting is the discovery of holes left by the first set of brass tacks that ran along the lower edge of the skirt and also form diamond patterns on the skirt's pendant lobes. Traces of a similar fabric in green were found on the chair at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (fig. 3; see Fairbanks, "A decade of collecting American decorative arts and sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston," Antiques (September 1981), p. 595).
As a form first introduced during the William and Mary era and employing expensive coverings, such chairs were made in small quantities and only for the most style-conscious and affluent members of colonial society. Three of the above chairs, including the chair offered here, have known histories, all with prominent figures in the Boston area. The chair in fig. 3 was first owned by Samuel Franklin, a first cousin of Benjamin Franklin and a chair in the collection of Bayou Bend descended in the Parsons family of Ipswich (Warren, Bayou Bend, Houston, 1975, cat. 17, p.11).
THE DOGGETT FAMILY OF BOSTON
The chair offered here descended in the Doggett family of Boston and, along with a sampler signed by Lydia Doggett and dated 1780, was purchased in the early 1960s from Brewster Doggett (d. 1996) of Wiscasset, Maine (see Henry Aron, Antiques (April 1963), p.371). The sampler depicts a house that closely resembles a late 19th century view of the Sea Street (now Federal Street) mansion of Noah Doggett (1727-1805) and was probably worked by his daughter, Lydia (1775-1815). Too young to have been the chair's first owner, Noah may have inherited the chair from his father or grandfather, or possibly the parents or grandparents of either of his wives, Mary Clark and Mary Alline. Interestingly, Noah's father Samuel (1685-1746) was an active participant in the Wiscasset Company, which settled vast tracts of land in Maine during the early eighteenth century and, in the middle of the twentieth century, the last Doggett family member to own the chair lived in Wiscasset, Maine.
Built in 1767, Noah's "mansion" was a prominent five-bay house located near the First South Church, where the family worshipped. During the Revolutionary War, the family removed to Newburyport while their Boston house was occupied by British troops. Assuming the chair and the sampler were owned together by Noah in the late eighteenth century, their subsequent descent was along the male family lines and, excluding those who moved away from Boston, comprise only those listed above. For more information on the Doggett family, see Doggett, A History of the Doggett-Daggett Family, Boston, 1894.