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Lot Essay
Beautiful inside and out, this upholstered armchair with lobed back and its mate at Winterthur Museum (fig. 2) are the only two American examples of the form known with hooped arms. The two chairs are further distinguished by their probable ownership by Abraham Redwood (1709-1788), whose portrait appears to depict one of the chairs (fig. 1). While the mate at Winterthur retains its original leather upholstery, the chair offered here provides critical evidence of the chair's framing members. First ascribed to Newport, where Redwood resided, the chairs were later attributed to Boston. As a result of recent research on Rhode Island seating forms and evidence on the interior framework, the chairs are once again thought to have been made in Newport. Exquisitely constructed, this chair is not only a rare survival of the form, but a crucial document of Newport's eighteenth-century chairmaking practices.
The chair's wood use and the remarkable quality of its construction indicate that it was most likely made by a craftsman working in Newport rather than Boston. While maintaining the chairs' possible production in Boston, the most recent research on these chairs, that pursued by Patricia E. Kane and others at The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, give equal credence to a Newport origin. The wide seat rails, framed like an easy chair, are made of cherrywood, which is found with considerable frequency in Rhode Island furniture from this time period and less so in forms from Boston. Similarly, the use of sapwood on the proper left rear stile also points to a Rhode Island origin as this practice was widely used by Newport cabinetmakers throughout the eighteenth century (see for example, the inner door of the clock case in lot 142). It is also possible that the use of mahogany for the entire length of the rear stiles reflects Newport practices. With much of the mahogany hidden, this construction was wasteful of an expensive import and contrasts with the prevalent method of using a secondary wood for the upper and hidden sections of the rear stiles. Newport's merchants had particularly strong ties to the Caribbean during the mid-century, so the maker of this chair, with an abundant supply of mahogany imports, may have sacrificed economy for durability. Furthermore, the precise finishing touches and attention to detail seen in the joining of the frame also points to Rhode Island where chair production was limited as inexpensive imports from Boston were readily available. Producing chairs that were used across the entire eastern seaboard, Boston chairmakers were making their wares in vast numbers and the meticulous details seen on this chair are rarely seen on furniture made in shops with such large output, even forms that were specially commissioned. The unusual interior shaping of the rear stiles is also seen on the chair at Winterthur as revealed by X-ray photography and its purpose is unclear. Carefully laid out with a compass with precisely chamfered edges, this detailing would have been hidden from view. Some Georgian chairs exhibit related shaping, but their rear stiles, covered in fabric, were left exposed in the back, unlike those on the chair offered here. This feature was noted by Joseph K. Ott to be "the whimsy of the maker or his English training," and it is possible that the chairmaker learned his craft abroad and shaped the stiles on these chairs out of habit. Other indicators of fastidious workmanship are the laying out marks for the joining of the arms with the rear stiles and the dovetailed joints of the front legs (The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, RIF1342 and RIF2694; Joseph K. Ott, "Abraham Redwood's Chairs?," The Magazine Antiques (March 1981), p. 673; for a discussion on Boston chair exports, see Joan Barzilay Freund and Leigh Keno, "The Making and Marketing of Boston Seating Furniture in the Late Baroque Style," American Furniture 1998, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1998), pp. 1-40).
Faithful to Georgian designs, the chair offered here represents a form rarely made in early America. The chairs' tripartite lobed back and hooped arms with crook supports are all elements seen on English chairs from the 1720s and as noted by Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, the chair offered here and its mate at Winterthur are the only American-made chairs that incorporate both of these designs. Following the use of hoop designs in legs and upper stiles, arms with bold, hoop-like projects were made in England by 1720 and may have arrived in America soon after. Similar lobed backs appear on Boston and Philadelphia seating forms dating from the 1720s and, arguing for an early Boston attribution for these chairs, Freund and Keno also point out that the bone-like medial stretcher are akin to those made in Boston during the same time period. However, the presence of a design first seen in Boston, does not preclude its later use by a Newport chairmaker and the chairs' use of mahogany primary wood suggests a post-1740 date, when the wood first appeared with considerable frequency in American furniture. Chairs of the same form, also with upholstered backs and crook-arm supports, include a group made in New York that like these chairs have seat rails of significant width framed in the same manner as easy chairs. Though the New York chairs lack the hidden shaping, the rear stiles are constructed almost identically to those of this chair. Continuous with the back legs, the rear stiles have their outer edges affixed with curvilinear members that provide the subtle flare of the back around the juncture with the arms. While the New York examples lack stretchers, their close relationship to the chair offered here and its mate suggests an early example of the affinity between Newport and New York furniture (Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (Winterthur, Delaware, 1997), p. 171; Freund and Keno, pp. 4, 7, 38, fn. 15, figs. 4, 8; see also Leigh Keno, Joan Barzilay Freund and Alan Miller, "'The Very Pink of the Mode': Boston Georgian Chairs, Their Export, and Their Influence," American Furniture 1996, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1996), pp. 295, 305-306, fn. 55; Christie's New York, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 21 January 2006, lot 522).
The chairs were probably owned by Abraham Redwood (1709-1788) of Newport and one appears to be depicted in Redwood's portrait painted in about 1780 (fig. 1). The link between the portrait and the chairs was fully explored by Joseph K. Ott in his pioneering article in 1981. Joseph K. Ott showed that "an old Redwood chair" descended in the family along with the portrait in the late nineteenth century, when Philadelphian Miers Fisher Wright (1850-1890) saw them both in the Newport home of his distant cousin and the great granddaughter of Abraham Redwood (1709-1788), Martha Maria (Ellery) Anderson (d. 1879). While the appearance of the chair seen by Wright is unknown, it is likely that the portrait would be accompanied through the generations by a chair it depicts (or the chair's mate) and that Redwood would have owned such a chair. A prosperous merchant, with extensive business and familial ties to England, Antigua and Boston, Abraham Redwood stands as a likely first owner of such Georgian looking seating furniture and they may have furnished his fashionable Newport townhouse or his country house in Portsmouth. A Quaker, his distaste for overly elaborate forms, such as a gilded looking glass, is documented and these chairs, presumably both upholstered in leather, would probably have appealed to his aesthetic sensibilities. In addition to acquiring goods from Boston, he is also known to have ordered furniture from Newport's leading makers, including Christopher Townsend and John Goddard (Ott 1981, cited above, pp. 669-673; Richards and Evans, p. 173, fn. 1; Luke Beckerdite, "The Early Furniture of Christopher and Job Townsend," American Furniture 2000, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2000), p. 10; Philip Zea, "The Serpentine Furniture of Colonial Newport," American Furniture 1999, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1999), pp. 266-267, fig. 24).
While the chair at Winterthur Museum has no ownership or purchase history prior to its acquisition by Henry Francis du Pont before 1950, the chair offered here was purchased by Israel Sack, Inc. from Mrs. Dexter Hunneman of Hamilton, Massachusetts in 1980. While Joseph K. Ott noted that her husband may have been of descendant of the family of Abraham Redwood's daughter-in-law, Susannah Honeyman (1746-1804), they were probably unrelated. Dexter Richards Hunneman (1894-1952) was a direct descendant of Nicholas Hunneman (Hunniman/Hunnyman) (d. 1778) of Boston and no connection can be made to Susannah's line from Rev. James Honeyman of Scotland and Newport. Dexter's brother, William Cooper Hunneman (b. 1892) settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania and it is possible that the chair entered the Hunneman family from the numerous Redwood family descendants living in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Furthermore, as noted by Joseph K. Ott, Mrs. Dexter Hunneman, an interior decorator, was known to have bought and sold furniture and reportedly had owned the chair for at least forty years prior to 1980, when she sold it to Israel Sack, Inc., so it is likely that the chair left the Redwood family by the early twentieth century (Ott 1981, cited above, pp. 669-673; Richards and Evans, pp. 172-173; Anna Wharton Smith, Genealogy of the Fisher family, 1682 to 1896 (Philadelphia, 1896), pp. 116-117; A. Van Doren Honeyman, The Honeyman Family (Plainfield, New Jersey, 1909), pp. 66, 92, 249-258; Hamilton Directory (1952), p. 893, available at ancestry.com; 1920, 1930 US Federal Census Records; as revealed by the 1920 US Federal Census records, Mrs. Dexter Hunneman was born Alberta R. Merrill and genealogical research reveals no direct ties to Newport or descendants of Abraham Redwood).
The chair's wood use and the remarkable quality of its construction indicate that it was most likely made by a craftsman working in Newport rather than Boston. While maintaining the chairs' possible production in Boston, the most recent research on these chairs, that pursued by Patricia E. Kane and others at The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, give equal credence to a Newport origin. The wide seat rails, framed like an easy chair, are made of cherrywood, which is found with considerable frequency in Rhode Island furniture from this time period and less so in forms from Boston. Similarly, the use of sapwood on the proper left rear stile also points to a Rhode Island origin as this practice was widely used by Newport cabinetmakers throughout the eighteenth century (see for example, the inner door of the clock case in lot 142). It is also possible that the use of mahogany for the entire length of the rear stiles reflects Newport practices. With much of the mahogany hidden, this construction was wasteful of an expensive import and contrasts with the prevalent method of using a secondary wood for the upper and hidden sections of the rear stiles. Newport's merchants had particularly strong ties to the Caribbean during the mid-century, so the maker of this chair, with an abundant supply of mahogany imports, may have sacrificed economy for durability. Furthermore, the precise finishing touches and attention to detail seen in the joining of the frame also points to Rhode Island where chair production was limited as inexpensive imports from Boston were readily available. Producing chairs that were used across the entire eastern seaboard, Boston chairmakers were making their wares in vast numbers and the meticulous details seen on this chair are rarely seen on furniture made in shops with such large output, even forms that were specially commissioned. The unusual interior shaping of the rear stiles is also seen on the chair at Winterthur as revealed by X-ray photography and its purpose is unclear. Carefully laid out with a compass with precisely chamfered edges, this detailing would have been hidden from view. Some Georgian chairs exhibit related shaping, but their rear stiles, covered in fabric, were left exposed in the back, unlike those on the chair offered here. This feature was noted by Joseph K. Ott to be "the whimsy of the maker or his English training," and it is possible that the chairmaker learned his craft abroad and shaped the stiles on these chairs out of habit. Other indicators of fastidious workmanship are the laying out marks for the joining of the arms with the rear stiles and the dovetailed joints of the front legs (The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, RIF1342 and RIF2694; Joseph K. Ott, "Abraham Redwood's Chairs?," The Magazine Antiques (March 1981), p. 673; for a discussion on Boston chair exports, see Joan Barzilay Freund and Leigh Keno, "The Making and Marketing of Boston Seating Furniture in the Late Baroque Style," American Furniture 1998, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1998), pp. 1-40).
Faithful to Georgian designs, the chair offered here represents a form rarely made in early America. The chairs' tripartite lobed back and hooped arms with crook supports are all elements seen on English chairs from the 1720s and as noted by Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, the chair offered here and its mate at Winterthur are the only American-made chairs that incorporate both of these designs. Following the use of hoop designs in legs and upper stiles, arms with bold, hoop-like projects were made in England by 1720 and may have arrived in America soon after. Similar lobed backs appear on Boston and Philadelphia seating forms dating from the 1720s and, arguing for an early Boston attribution for these chairs, Freund and Keno also point out that the bone-like medial stretcher are akin to those made in Boston during the same time period. However, the presence of a design first seen in Boston, does not preclude its later use by a Newport chairmaker and the chairs' use of mahogany primary wood suggests a post-1740 date, when the wood first appeared with considerable frequency in American furniture. Chairs of the same form, also with upholstered backs and crook-arm supports, include a group made in New York that like these chairs have seat rails of significant width framed in the same manner as easy chairs. Though the New York chairs lack the hidden shaping, the rear stiles are constructed almost identically to those of this chair. Continuous with the back legs, the rear stiles have their outer edges affixed with curvilinear members that provide the subtle flare of the back around the juncture with the arms. While the New York examples lack stretchers, their close relationship to the chair offered here and its mate suggests an early example of the affinity between Newport and New York furniture (Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (Winterthur, Delaware, 1997), p. 171; Freund and Keno, pp. 4, 7, 38, fn. 15, figs. 4, 8; see also Leigh Keno, Joan Barzilay Freund and Alan Miller, "'The Very Pink of the Mode': Boston Georgian Chairs, Their Export, and Their Influence," American Furniture 1996, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1996), pp. 295, 305-306, fn. 55; Christie's New York, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 21 January 2006, lot 522).
The chairs were probably owned by Abraham Redwood (1709-1788) of Newport and one appears to be depicted in Redwood's portrait painted in about 1780 (fig. 1). The link between the portrait and the chairs was fully explored by Joseph K. Ott in his pioneering article in 1981. Joseph K. Ott showed that "an old Redwood chair" descended in the family along with the portrait in the late nineteenth century, when Philadelphian Miers Fisher Wright (1850-1890) saw them both in the Newport home of his distant cousin and the great granddaughter of Abraham Redwood (1709-1788), Martha Maria (Ellery) Anderson (d. 1879). While the appearance of the chair seen by Wright is unknown, it is likely that the portrait would be accompanied through the generations by a chair it depicts (or the chair's mate) and that Redwood would have owned such a chair. A prosperous merchant, with extensive business and familial ties to England, Antigua and Boston, Abraham Redwood stands as a likely first owner of such Georgian looking seating furniture and they may have furnished his fashionable Newport townhouse or his country house in Portsmouth. A Quaker, his distaste for overly elaborate forms, such as a gilded looking glass, is documented and these chairs, presumably both upholstered in leather, would probably have appealed to his aesthetic sensibilities. In addition to acquiring goods from Boston, he is also known to have ordered furniture from Newport's leading makers, including Christopher Townsend and John Goddard (Ott 1981, cited above, pp. 669-673; Richards and Evans, p. 173, fn. 1; Luke Beckerdite, "The Early Furniture of Christopher and Job Townsend," American Furniture 2000, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2000), p. 10; Philip Zea, "The Serpentine Furniture of Colonial Newport," American Furniture 1999, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1999), pp. 266-267, fig. 24).
While the chair at Winterthur Museum has no ownership or purchase history prior to its acquisition by Henry Francis du Pont before 1950, the chair offered here was purchased by Israel Sack, Inc. from Mrs. Dexter Hunneman of Hamilton, Massachusetts in 1980. While Joseph K. Ott noted that her husband may have been of descendant of the family of Abraham Redwood's daughter-in-law, Susannah Honeyman (1746-1804), they were probably unrelated. Dexter Richards Hunneman (1894-1952) was a direct descendant of Nicholas Hunneman (Hunniman/Hunnyman) (d. 1778) of Boston and no connection can be made to Susannah's line from Rev. James Honeyman of Scotland and Newport. Dexter's brother, William Cooper Hunneman (b. 1892) settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania and it is possible that the chair entered the Hunneman family from the numerous Redwood family descendants living in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Furthermore, as noted by Joseph K. Ott, Mrs. Dexter Hunneman, an interior decorator, was known to have bought and sold furniture and reportedly had owned the chair for at least forty years prior to 1980, when she sold it to Israel Sack, Inc., so it is likely that the chair left the Redwood family by the early twentieth century (Ott 1981, cited above, pp. 669-673; Richards and Evans, pp. 172-173; Anna Wharton Smith, Genealogy of the Fisher family, 1682 to 1896 (Philadelphia, 1896), pp. 116-117; A. Van Doren Honeyman, The Honeyman Family (Plainfield, New Jersey, 1909), pp. 66, 92, 249-258; Hamilton Directory (1952), p. 893, available at ancestry.com; 1920, 1930 US Federal Census Records; as revealed by the 1920 US Federal Census records, Mrs. Dexter Hunneman was born Alberta R. Merrill and genealogical research reveals no direct ties to Newport or descendants of Abraham Redwood).