Sumpter Priddy III, Adam T. Erby, and Jenna Huffman
"The one Mrs. Trist would chuse": Thomas Jefferson, the Trist Family, and the Monticello Campeachy Chair

Figure 1

Charles Bird King, Thomas Jefferson, 1836. Oil on panel. 19 1/2" x 16 1/4". (Courtesy, National Portrait Gallery, 92.110.) Nicholas Philip Trist commissioned this portrait. King copied an earlier likeness by Gilbert Stuart, which was the favorite of Jefferson and his family.

Figure 2

Campeachy chair, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1818. Cherry, rosewood, and lightwood inlays. H. 42 3/4", W. 22 1/2", D. 20 9/16". (Chipstone Foundation; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

Figure 3

Detail of the inlay on the crest of the chair illustrated in fig. 2.

Figure 4

Pen Park, Albemarle County, Virginia, 1888 (Courtesy, Valentine Richmond History Center, V.45.47.335; photo, Robert A. Lancaster Jr.) Pen Park was north of Charlottesville.

Figure 5

Digital reconstruction of the Campeachy chair illustrated in fig. 2, showing it with red leather and the stiles extended above the upper upholstery line.

Figure 6

Henri Elois, Hore Browse Trist, 1798–1799. Watercolor on ivory. 3 1/8" x 2 1/2". (Courtesy, Yale University Art Gallery, 1936.303.)

Figure 7

Charles Auguste Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770–1852), Thomas Bolling Robertson, 1808. Chalk on pink paper. 22" x 16 3/4". (Courtesy, Historic New Orleans Collection, 2011.0408, acquisition made possible by the Laussat Society.) 

Figure 8

Campeachy chair attributed to William Worthington, Washington, D.C., 1815–1820. Mahogany with tulip poplar and yellow pine. H. 37 1/2", W. 21", D. 31 1/2". (Courtesy, Peter W. Patout, New Orleans; photo, Ellen McDermott, New York.)

Figure 9

John Neagle (1796–1865), Nicholas Philip Trist, 1835. Oil on canvas. 15" x 13". (Courtesy, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., Monticello.)

Figure 10

Charles Willson Peale, Hore Browse Trist, ca. 1820. Cut paper. 2 15/16" x 1 1/2". (Courtesy, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., Monticello.) 

Figure 11

Campeachy chair attributed to John Hemings, Monticello joinery, Albemarle County, Virginia, 1819–1820. White oak. H. 43", W. 28 7/8", D. 20 3/16". (Chipstone Foundation; photo, Gavin Ashworth.) Hemings’s chairs are sturdier than the Louisiana prototype (fig. 2) and were more capable of sustaining heavy use on a Virginia plantation. The legs, seat, and back of his chairs are made from 1 1/4" stock, their arms and arm supports from 1" stock, their crests are cut from 7/8" boards, and their stretchers are made from 3/4" stock. The corresponding stock dimensions on the Louisiana chairs are 7/8", 7/8", 3/4", and 5/8".

Hemings’s stock is heavier than that used for the Louisiana prototypes, but he went to con­siderable effort to produce a chair of similar dimensions. The Cabell chair is 43" high, 22" wide across the back, 20 3/16" deep at the feet, and has a crest 12 3/4" in height. On the Trist-Gilmer example, the corresponding dimensions are 42 1/2", 22 1/2", 20 9/16", and 12 1/2".

Figure 12

Campeachy chair attributed to John Hemings, Monticello joinery, Albemarle County, Virginia, 1815–1824. White oak; leather, brass nails. H. 45", W. 27 1/4", D. 33 1/2". (Private collection; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

Figure 13

Campeachy chair attributed to John Hemings, Monticello joinery, Albemarle County, Virginia, 1815–1824. White ash. H. 42 1/4", W. 28", D. 32". (Courtesy, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., Monticello.) 

Figure 14

Edgewood, Nelson County, Virginia, 1888. (Courtesy, Robert L. Self and Briscoe Guy; photo, Robert A. Lancaster Jr.) 

Figure 15

Herman Böye, View of the “University of Virginia, B. Tanner, Sc.,” cartouche on A map of the state of Virginia, constructed in conformity to law, from the late surveys authorized by the Legislature and other original and authentic documents, 1825 (Richmond: State of Virginia, 1859). (Courtesy, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.)

Figure 16

Detail of the iron reinforcements on the chairs illustrated in figs. 11 (left) and 2 (right). (Photo, Sumpter Priddy III.)

Figure 17

Drawing of a single shoulder tenon on the Campeachy chair illustrated in fig. 11.

Figure 18

Detail of the three screws securing one of the half-lapped leg joints of the chair illustrated in fig. 11. (Photo, Sumpter Priddy III.)

Figure 19

Detail of the profiles of the chairs illustrated in figs. 12 (front), 11 (middle), and 2 (back). (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

Figure 20

Detail of the arms of the chairs illustrated in figs. 2 (left) and 11 (right). (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

Figure 21

Detail of the arms of the chairs illustrated in figs. 11 (left) and 12 (right). (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.) 

Figure 22

Detail of the front seat joints of the chairs illustrated in figs. 2 (left) and 11 (right). (Photo, Keith Lackman and Brendan Varley.) The improperly replaced arm support visible in fig. 11 has been correctly restored.

Figure 23

Detail of the front seat joints of the chairs illustrated in figs. 12 (left) and 11 (right). (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

Figure 24

Detail of the three screws securing one of the half-lapped leg joints of the chair illustrated in fig. 12. (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

Figure 25

Detail of the arm supports of the chairs illustrated in figs. 2 (left) and 12 (right). (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

Figure 26

Campeachy chair, probably Albemarle County, Virginia, 1830–1840. Oak; leather, brass nails. H. 49 1/2", W. 24", D. 30 5/8". (Courtesy, Matthews County Circuit Court and Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., Monticello; photo, Sumpter Priddy III and Brendan Varley.)

Figure 27

Campeachy chair, probably Albemarle County, Virginia, 1830–1840. Curly maple. H. 43 3/4", W. 28 5/8", D. 31 1/2". (Courtesy, Anne Ryland Glubiak Collection; photo, Historic New Orleans Collection.)