Lot Essay
This joined, or wainscot chair, is one of the rarest survivals of Seventeenth-century colonial furniture, and is in a more complete state of preservation than most others of its type, even retaining evidence of its original verdigris paint. Tradition relates that this chiar descended in the family of Nathaniel Bachiler who left England in the late 1640s and settled in Hampton, New Hampshire where many of his relations continued to reside for several generations. Nathaniel Bachiler was the son of Nathaniel (1600-1645) and the grandson of the Reverand Stephen Bachiler (1561-1660) both England. Reverand Bachiler lived in Hampton, New Hampshire for a number of years but before his death returned to England where his son resided (Keyes, "Dennis or a Lesser Light?" The Magazine Antiques (December 1938), fig. 4; New Hampshire Historical Society records).
Joined chairs were first recorded in Essex County inventories in 1636. By 1674 the designation 'wainscot chiar' was used in inventories to describe dramed chairs with wooden seats although the form had been produced in Essex County since 1652. Owned primarily by male landed gentry, joined chairs of thisform would have been outfitted with a large stuffed pillow as noted in the 1650 Ipswich inventory of Thomas Gardner of Salem, one 'ould Joyne chayre with a couer [sic]' and would have held a place of prominence in the main room of the house (Forman, American Seating Furniture (New York, 1988), pp. 134-135, fig. 59).
One of six joined chiars from a yet unidentified shop in Essex County, histories and design features tie them to a craftsman working in either Salem or Lynn, Massachusetts (the other chairs are in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, MA; Danvers Historical Society, Danvers, MA; Winterthur Museum, Wilmington, DE; and the collection of Nina Little). During the seventeenth century, over forty joiners lived in this coastal region of New England. The maker(s) of this chair and the others in its group was likely a first generation immigrant craftsman who came from the area around Devon, England. The S-scrolls, carved lunettes with stylized foliage, and the strapwork of three other chairs from this group all relate to the carving practices associated with northern European mannerist design brought to East Anglia in the 1560s by refugees from the Netherlandish community of Southwark. These carving traditions were continued with little change and brought to communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut by craftsmen from this region (Kane, Furniture of the New Haven Colony (New Haven, 1973). Although carved by a different hand, the motifs on these chairs are closely related to products from the Essex County shops of Thomas Dennis and William Searle who were also from Devon and no doubt formed part of the woodworking community that the maker of these chairs was a part (Forman, fig. 18, p. 148; Trent, 'NE Joinery and Turning before 1700' in New England Begins 3 (Boston, 1982), pp. 502-03, no. 474, fig. 64,no. 475, 476; Trent, Maine Antiques Digest, p. 11C).
The chairs from this group all have identical tiered crests that overhang the stiles, and there is an absence of verticlaly pinned bracket beneath the crest. The arm of each chair shares the same profile design and is held in place by upwardly tapering supports with bulging termini. The legs and supports are shaped in imitation of Tuscan Doric columns in a mannerist tradition formed not by turning but by the use of a saw, drawknife and plane or carver's gouge (Forman, p. 148). The stretchers are all rectangular in form with the rear stretcher raised above the other three in a manner distinct from chairs produced by Thomas Dennis (Keyes, p. 300). The Mrotis and Tennon construction on the crest (?) ?????????? and stretcher base are wedged to each end of the Mortis and are of equal length. The carver of this group, who may have also been the joiner, crafted his designs with hand-driven rather than mallet-driven chisels (Trent, Maine Antiques Digest, 12C). The crests of each chair are carved with a double row of arcades either filled with hatchmarks or left blank; in either instance they are usually surrounded by vertical slashes. The stiles of each chair are filled with double-lined carved S-scrolls with a punchwork ground, and the back panels are carved with various decorative motifs. The lunette and distinctive stylized foliage carved on this chair are present on the stiles and front seat rails of five of the six chairs from this group, the design of which differ from that on furniture from other shops.
A box apparently carved by the same craftsman is illustrated in Kirk, American Furniture in the British Tradition (New York, 1982), fig. 409. For illustrations of the related six chairs see, Randall, American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1965), fig. 120; ockwood, Colonial Furniture II (New York, 1926), fig. 432; Supplement, fig. LXXVII; Forman, American Seating Furniture (New York, 1988), no. 18 and cover; Sotheby's New York, Sale of Bertram and Nina Fletcher Little, ___ October, 1994, lot ___.
Joined chairs were first recorded in Essex County inventories in 1636. By 1674 the designation 'wainscot chiar' was used in inventories to describe dramed chairs with wooden seats although the form had been produced in Essex County since 1652. Owned primarily by male landed gentry, joined chairs of thisform would have been outfitted with a large stuffed pillow as noted in the 1650 Ipswich inventory of Thomas Gardner of Salem, one 'ould Joyne chayre with a couer [sic]' and would have held a place of prominence in the main room of the house (Forman, American Seating Furniture (New York, 1988), pp. 134-135, fig. 59).
One of six joined chiars from a yet unidentified shop in Essex County, histories and design features tie them to a craftsman working in either Salem or Lynn, Massachusetts (the other chairs are in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, MA; Danvers Historical Society, Danvers, MA; Winterthur Museum, Wilmington, DE; and the collection of Nina Little). During the seventeenth century, over forty joiners lived in this coastal region of New England. The maker(s) of this chair and the others in its group was likely a first generation immigrant craftsman who came from the area around Devon, England. The S-scrolls, carved lunettes with stylized foliage, and the strapwork of three other chairs from this group all relate to the carving practices associated with northern European mannerist design brought to East Anglia in the 1560s by refugees from the Netherlandish community of Southwark. These carving traditions were continued with little change and brought to communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut by craftsmen from this region (Kane, Furniture of the New Haven Colony (New Haven, 1973). Although carved by a different hand, the motifs on these chairs are closely related to products from the Essex County shops of Thomas Dennis and William Searle who were also from Devon and no doubt formed part of the woodworking community that the maker of these chairs was a part (Forman, fig. 18, p. 148; Trent, 'NE Joinery and Turning before 1700' in New England Begins 3 (Boston, 1982), pp. 502-03, no. 474, fig. 64,no. 475, 476; Trent, Maine Antiques Digest, p. 11C).
The chairs from this group all have identical tiered crests that overhang the stiles, and there is an absence of verticlaly pinned bracket beneath the crest. The arm of each chair shares the same profile design and is held in place by upwardly tapering supports with bulging termini. The legs and supports are shaped in imitation of Tuscan Doric columns in a mannerist tradition formed not by turning but by the use of a saw, drawknife and plane or carver's gouge (Forman, p. 148). The stretchers are all rectangular in form with the rear stretcher raised above the other three in a manner distinct from chairs produced by Thomas Dennis (Keyes, p. 300). The Mrotis and Tennon construction on the crest (?) ?????????? and stretcher base are wedged to each end of the Mortis and are of equal length. The carver of this group, who may have also been the joiner, crafted his designs with hand-driven rather than mallet-driven chisels (Trent, Maine Antiques Digest, 12C). The crests of each chair are carved with a double row of arcades either filled with hatchmarks or left blank; in either instance they are usually surrounded by vertical slashes. The stiles of each chair are filled with double-lined carved S-scrolls with a punchwork ground, and the back panels are carved with various decorative motifs. The lunette and distinctive stylized foliage carved on this chair are present on the stiles and front seat rails of five of the six chairs from this group, the design of which differ from that on furniture from other shops.
A box apparently carved by the same craftsman is illustrated in Kirk, American Furniture in the British Tradition (New York, 1982), fig. 409. For illustrations of the related six chairs see, Randall, American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1965), fig. 120; ockwood, Colonial Furniture II (New York, 1926), fig. 432; Supplement, fig. LXXVII; Forman, American Seating Furniture (New York, 1988), no. 18 and cover; Sotheby's New York, Sale of Bertram and Nina Fletcher Little, ___ October, 1994, lot ___.