Illustration 150 shows two late Windsor rocking-chairs, the one of
curly maple being several years later than the other, as the rockers,
short in front and long behind, bear evidence. These chairs are owned
by the writer.
The Dutch chair with bandy or cabriole legs and a splat in the back
made its appearance with the early years of the eighteenth century,
and was the forerunner of the Chippendale chair. The first Dutch chairs
have a back similar in form to the Queen Anne chair in Illustration
108, slightly higher and narrower than later backs. They are sometimes
called Queen Anne chairs, and sometimes parrot-back, from the shape of
the opening each side of the solid splat. The stretchers or underbraces
of earlier chairs are retained in the first Dutch chairs, one of which
is shown in Illustration 151, owned by Mrs. Charles H. Prentice, of
Worcester.
[Illustration: Illus. 150.—Windsor Rocking-chairs, 1820-1830.]
The first mention found of claw-and-ball feet is in 1737, when “six
Crowfoot chairs” appear in an inventory. In one of 1750, “chairs with
Eagle’s foot and shell on the Knee” are entered.
[Illustration: Illus. 151.—Dutch Chair (back stretcher missing),
1710-1720.]
A chair is shown in Illustration 152, still retaining the stretchers,
but with the claw-and-ball foot and a shell at the top of the back.
This chair was made about 1720-1730. It belongs to Walter Hosmer, Esq.
Illustration 153 shows a chair also belonging to Mr. Hosmer. It is made
without stretchers, and the splat is pierced at the top.
A chair which retains the form of the Dutch chair, with “Eagle’s foot
and shell on the Knee,” is shown in Illustration 154, but the splat is
cut in an elaborate design, with the centre opening heart-shaped, which
was the shape of the earliest piercing made in the plain splat. This
chair and the one in Illustration 155 are in the Poore collection at
Indian Hill, Newburyport. They show the development from the Dutch to
the Chippendale style. The legs in Illustration 155 are carved upon
the knee with an elaborate form of shell and a scroll. The splat is not
pierced, but has a curious design of ropes with tassels carved at the
top. These chairs were made about 1740-1750. The backs of the last four
chairs are made with the characteristic Dutch top, curving down into
the side-posts with rounded ends, with the effect of back and sides
being in one piece.
[Illustration: Illus. 152 and Illus. 153.—Dutch Chairs, about 1740.]
A style of chair common during the first half of the eighteenth
century is shown in Illustration 156; one chair having turned legs
while the other ends in a Spanish foot. The tops are in the bow shape,
and the splats are pierced, showing the influence of Chippendale
fashions. The splat is alike in both, but the country cabinet-maker who
probably made these chairs may have thought the splat would look as
well one way as the other, and so put one in upside down. They are in
the Deerfield Museum, and were made about 1750.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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