Norfolk, Virginia, or New York, New York, 1790-1800
Mahogany with ash and white pine
Catalog no. 34
This chair is remarkably similar to examples from New York City, but it is considerably stockier than most New York models and its large angular spade feet are unlike those on New York chairs. The object's deviation from New York standards and its history of ownership on Virginia's lower Eastern Shore suggest that the chair was made in nearby Norfolk. Records confirm that a number of New York furniture makers migrated to Norfolk after the Revolution, which resulted in a surprising array of Norfolk furniture that closely resembles New York prototypes.
Although it is likely this chair was made in a Norfolk shop, the piece may represent one of the many New York imports available in Tidewater Virginia at the time. In either case, the chair offers eloquent testimony to the changing cultural and economic forces at work in post-Revolutionary Virginia.