Country 1800's, Southern, Rush Seat, 4 Slat, Ladder-Back Armchair

Details

Description

A beautiful chair bearing all the hall marks of chairs made in the late 1800's in areas located in the … Read more A beautiful chair bearing all the hall marks of chairs made in the late 1800's in areas located in the Delaware Valley including the states of Delaware, Virginia and North Carolina.
This chair is very detailed and likely required expertise and time to create.


We believe this chair possesses all the characteristics of a Delaware Valley Chair, including......pegged construction, tilted back and "Ram's Head" shaped arm, small finials with a "wedding band", cut on the finial. Unusually, the front legs have an added Oak ball foot, possibly for further support. This type of chair may have been painted but it has been refinished, and we do not believe this type of chair from this locale was originally painted.

The original inscribed markings, to mark the locale of the cut with the lathe, are visible throughout the piece. The pegs indicate that possibly the chair is an example of the "greenwood" technique, where the post and rung joints were not nailed but the maker used "greenwood" and as the wood dried and shrank, a strong bond was created.

The rush seat has been added, by a prior owner.

The chair is made of pine, oak and maple.

There are signs of repair, including the addition of additional pegs for support, possible use of glue in the rung joints and the use of nails over at least one broken peg. It is possible that an over finish or new finish, was added many years ago.
We do not represent that the finish is original. See less