April, 1 9 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



J 39 



ton, and is known as the 



Dutch chair, although em- 

 bodying some forms that are 



characteristic of the Queen 



Anne period. About 1840, 



the most decided change 



took place, the colonists hav- 

 ing been successful, causing 



a demand for more elabor- 

 ate designs to furnish their 



homes. These were no 



longer simple houses, but 



large square structures which 



called for finer furniture to 



correspond with the wealth 



of the times. It was then 



that the Dutch chair came 



into existence. 



A good type of the chair 



which was shown about the 



middle of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, just previous to the 



Revolution, came from the 



East through the Dutch. 



Many of these had cabriole 



legs, with eagle claw and 



ball feet, but less squat than 



the former chairs. Dr. Lyon 



is the authority for the sup- 

 position that the ball and 



claw feet shown in these 



chairs was an adaptation of 



the Chinese design of the 



eagle grasping the pearl. 



The first mention we find 



made of the ball and claw 



feet is in an old inventory 



as far back as 1737, when 



six claw feet chairs are spoken of. Many of these chairs 



show wonderful distribution of light and shade, while often 



the shell design shown is the work of an artist. 



The Dutch chair came into general use about the year 



1710 and continued in its various forms for forty years 



or more. It shows many features that are common to 



Chippendale, but it has not the graceful lines introduced 



into the later furniture. 



There is a great variety in the designs of the Dutch chair, 



although all show 

 the same lines and 

 the finish at the top. 

 There are rounded 

 backs with splats of 

 solid wood, some 

 with pierced splats, 

 while others show 

 ornament a- 

 tion which make 

 them in some ways 

 resemble Chippen- 

 dale's work. The 

 majority of these 

 ch a i rs are finished 

 with leather seats, a 

 few having rush 

 bottoms. 



The greatest 

 variety of detail 

 is shown in the 

 legs of these chairs. 

 Some are bandy- 



Walnut veneer "Moll Pitcher" chair in the Osgood collection, Salt 



Massachusetts 



Old Windsor chair with comb-back 



legged, while others are per- 

 fectly straight. The stretch- 

 ers also are varied, some of 

 them showing at the front of 

 the chair, others at the rear, 

 while still other chairs 

 are finished without any 

 stretchers. 



Probably the most unique 

 chair is the Roundabout, 

 which has four legs, but fits 

 perfectly into a corner. They 

 are most comfortable and are 

 not often found, thus making 

 them one of the rarest de- 

 signs. There are so many 

 different styles that it is diffi- 

 cult to tell a collector how to 

 distinguish them. Some show 

 the ball and claw foot, while 

 others show the Dutch influ- 

 ence, and again we find the 

 colt foot in them. A fine ex- 

 ample of the chairs of this 

 period is found in the 

 Nathan Osgood collection at 

 Salem. It has the Dutch 

 foot and leather seat. Origin- 

 ally it stood in the house of 

 Moll Pitcher, the famous 

 soothsayer; there it attracted 

 the attention of many dis- 

 tinguished persons, some of 

 whom undoubtedly sat in it. 



Easy chairs formed a part 

 of the ordinary chamber fur- 

 niture in 1750. They were 

 so finished as to be very 

 cosy, with the high back and sides. Bedrooms in those 

 days were cold rooms, heated only by fireplaces, if at 

 all, and the person seated in one of these well-cushioned 

 chairs was protected from drafts. Owing to the amount 

 of material needed, to cover and stuff one of these chairs, 

 the price was almost prohibitive. Inventories set their 

 price at from one pound to ten, according to the style 

 and fabric used for upholstering. One of this type is in 

 the Mrs. Nathaniel Mansfield collection, which was origin- 

 ally owned by Col. 

 Timothy Pickering, 

 the friend of Wash- 

 ington, and first 

 Secretary of the 

 Navy. It shows up- 

 holstering of excel- 

 lent quality and 

 workmanship, and 

 is an important fac- 

 tor in a fine collec- 

 tion of this style. 



So many kinds of 

 chairs are seen, and 

 they are of so many 

 periods, that it 

 would take a book, 

 entirely devoted to 

 this article of furni- 

 ture, to initiate one 

 into all the myste- 

 ries and fascinations 

 of furniture lore. Early rush-bottom panelled French chair 



