Nancy Goyne Evans
Design Transmission in Vernacular Seating Furniture: The Influence of Philadelphia and Baltimore Styles on Chairmaking from the Chesapeake Bay to the "West"

American Furniture 1993

Full Article
Contents
  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    Bow-back Windsor side chair, William Cox, Philadelphia, 1788-1795. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple, oak, and hickory. H. 36 7/8", W. 17 3/8", D. (seat) 15 7/8", (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum, acc. 69.232.6.)    

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Bow-back Windsor side chair, northern Maryland, from the Susquehanna River to Fredrick Co., 1800-1810. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple and oak. H. 35 1/16", W. (seat) 15 15/16", D. (seat) 16". (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Winterthur museum.)

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Bow-back Windsor side chair. Michael Stoner, probably Harrisburg, Pa., 1790-1795. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple. H. 37", W. (seat) 19 3/8", D. (seat) 15 1/2". (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Bow-back Windsor side chair, Frederick Co., Md., 1800-1815. Woods and dimensions not recorded. (Photo, courtesy, H. L. Chalfant Antiques.)

  • Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Bow-back Windsor side chair, Andrew and Robert McKim, Richmond, Va., 1795-1802. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple and hickory. H. 35 3/4". (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.)

  • Figure 6
    Figure 6

    Square-back Windsor side chair, Andrew McIntire, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1800-1805. Yellow poplar (seat). H. 35, W. (seat) 16 1/4", D. (seat) 15 1/2". The medial and right stretchers and left rear leg are replaced. (Carnegie Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Drain.)

  • Figure 7
    Figure 7

    Square-back Windsor side chair, Philadelphia, 1798-1802. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple and hickory. H. 34 1/2", W. (seat) 17 3/4", D. (seat) 16". (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum, acc. 56.571.)

  • Figure 8
    Figure 8

    Square-back Windsor side chair with double bows, Joseph Burden, Philadelphia, 1801-1812. Woods not recorded. H. 34 1/2", W. (seat) 16 3/4", D. (seat) 16 1/4". (Independence National Historical Park; courtesy, the Winterthur Library: Decorative Arts Photographic Collection.)

  • Figure 9
    Figure 9

    Square-back Windsor side chair with double bows, Pennsylvania, west of the Susquehanna River at the Maryland border, 1810-1820. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple. H. 37 1/16", W. (seat) 16 5/8", D (seat) 14". (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 10
    Figure 10

    Slat-back Windsor side chair with tablet, Thomas Ashton, Philadelphia, 1810-1815. Yellow poplar (seat). H. 33". (Old Salem, Inc.; photo, courtesy, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.)

  • Figure 11
    Figure 11

    Slat-back Windsor side chair with tablet, Samuel Fizer, Fincastle, Va.,1820-1825. Woods not recorded. H. 33", W. (seat) 17 1/2". (Old Salem, Inc.; photo, courtesy, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.)

  • Figure 12
    Figure 12

    Slat-back Windsor side chair with double bows, southeastern Pennsylvania in the greater Susquehanna Valley, or northeastern Maryland, 1810-1820. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple. H. 34 3/4", W. (seat) 16 3/4", D. (seat) 15 1/4". (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 13
    Figure 13

    Tablet-top Windsor side chair, south central Pennsylvania, Maryland, or the Shenandoah Valley, Va., 1810-1820. Woods not recorded. H. 33 3/4", W. 18 3/4". The front and right stretchers are replaced. (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.)

  • Figure 14
    Figure 14

    Tablet-top Windsor settee, Baltimore, 1807-1815. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple and hickory. H. 36 1/8", W. (seat) 39 1/8", D. (seat) 15 1/8". (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum, acc. 59.3627.)

  • Figure 15
    Figure 15

    Slat-back Windsor side chair (one of two), eastern Pennsylvania, 1820-1835. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple. H. 34 1/4", W. (seat) 15 1/2",D. (seat) 15 1/2". (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 16
    Figure 16

    Slat-back Windsor side chair, Adin G. Hibbs, Columbus, Ohio, 1833-1839. Woods and dimensions not recorded. (Private collection; photo, Jane Sikes Hageman.)

  • Figure 17
    Figure 17

    Slat-back Windsor side chair, Alexander H. and William R. Wood, Nashville, Tenn., 
    1817-1820. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple and hickory. H. 33 1/2", W. (seat) 15 5/8", D. (seat) 15 1/2". (Travellers rest Historic House Museum, Inc.)

  • Figure 18
    Figure 18

    Slat-back Windsor side chair (one of six), Thomas Thompson Enos, Odessa, Del., 1845-1860. Yellow poplar (seat) with birch and beech.H. 32 1/2", W. (seat) 15 1/2", D. (seat) 13 7/8". (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum, acc. 81.70.1.)

  • Figure 19
    Figure 19

    Slat-back Windsor side chair, Jonas Thatcher, Wheeling, W.Va., 1839-1850. Yellow poplar (seat). H. 36", W. (seat) 16 1/4", D. (seat) 15 1/4". (Oglebay Institute Mansion Museum; photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 20
    Figure 20

    William Ferguson Cooper, attributed to Jacob Maentel, New Harmony, Ind., ca. 1842. Watercolor, pen, and pencil on paper. 15 1/2" x 10 1/2". (Historic New Harmony, New Harmony, Indiana.)

  • Figure 21
    Figure 21

    Tablet-top Windsor side chair, Baltimore, 1805-1812. H. 35 3/8". Woods not recorded. (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.)

  • Figure 22
    Figure 22

    Tablet-top fancy side chair (one of three), attributed to John and Hugh Finlay, Baltimore, 1800-1810. Maple, yellow poplar and mahogany. H. 33 1/4", W. (seat) 19", D. (seat) 15". (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum, acc. 57.1060.1.)

  • Figure 23
    Figure 23

    Tablet-top fancy side chair, John Hodgkinson, Baltimore, 1820-1830. Woods not recorded. H. 32", W. (seat) 18". (Private collection; photo, courtesy, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.)

  • Figure 24
    Figure 24

    Tablet-top Windsor side chair, William Cunningham, Wheeling, W. Va., 1828-1840. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple. H. 31 1/8", W. (seat) 16 3/4", D. (seat) 15". (Oglebay Institute Mansion Museum; photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 25
    Figure 25

    Tablet-top Windsor side chair, Lancaster, Co., Pa., possibly Elizabethtown, 1830-1840. Woods not recorded. H. 32 5/8", W. (seat) 16 1/8", D. (seat) 14 7/8". (Philip H. Bradley Co.; photo. Courtesy Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 26
    Figure 26

    Abraham McDonough billhead and bill to Joseph H. Liddall, Philadelphia, 1833 (inscribed). From Carl W. Drepperd, Handbook of Antique Chairs (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1948, p. 160. (Photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 27
    Figure 27

    Tablet-top Windsor settee, Kentucky, 1835-1845. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple and hickory. H. 34 1/2", W. (seat) 77", D. (seat) 20 3/4". (Courtesy, Liberty Hall Historic Site; photo, J.B. Speed Art Museum.

  • Figure 28
    Figure 28

    Tablet-top Windsor side chair, William Coles, Springfield, Ohio, 1840-1850. Yellow poplar (seat) with maple; H. 32", W. (seat) 17", D. (seat) 15". (Private collection; photo, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio.)

  • Figure 29
    Figure 29

    Tablet-top Windsor side chair (one of two), George Turner, Philadelphia, 1835-1842. Woods not recorded. H. 33 1/4", W. 16". (Private collection; courtesy, The Winterthur Library; Decorative Arts Photographic Collection.)

  • Figure 30
    Figure 30

    Child's tablet-top Windsor side chair, Jonas Thatcher, Wheeling, W.Va., 1845-1851. Yellow poplar (seat). H. 30 7/8", W. (seat) 14 1/2", D. (seat) 12 5/8". (Oglebay Institute Mansion Museum; photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 31
    Figure 31

    Tablet-top Windsor side chair (one of four), John Swint, Lancaster, Pa., 1845-1855. Yellow poplar (seat). H. 33", W. (seat) 15 3/8",D. (seat) 14 5/8". (Courtesy of Lancaster County Historical Society, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; photo, courtesy, Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 32
    Figure 32

    Tablet-top Windsor side chair (one of five with a rocking chair), Shenandoah Valley, Va., probably Rockingham Co., 1850-1870. Woods and dimensions not recorded. (Photo, Mint Spring Antiques.)

  • Figure 33
    Figure 33

    Balloon-back Windsor side chair, probably eastern Pennsylvania, 1855-1870. Woods not recorded. H. 33 1/4", W. 18 3/8", D. 20 1/2". (The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg.)

  • Figure 34
    Figure 34

    Balloon-back Windsor side chair (one of six), George Deckman, Malvern, Ohio, 1862-1880. Maple and other woods. H. 33 7/8", W. (seat) 16 1/2", D. (seat) 18 1/2". (From The Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, Copy and Reuse Restrictions apply.)