Roundabout Chair
Furniture MakerMade by
Unknown
ConservatorUpholstery conserved by
Robert F. Trent
(American)
Date1740-1775
MediumMaple, wool, linen
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (overall height x width x depth): 31 3/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/4in. (79.7 x 69.2 x 64.1cm)
ClassificationsFurniture
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number1984.4.0
DescriptionMaple roundabout clothes stool in the Queen Anne, or late baroque, style, with semi-circular crest and arm rails, turned stiles, a cabriole front leg, and a square upholstered slip seat. The back of the chair is formed by a flat crest rail with an undulating end at each side, atop a semi-circular arm rail with a flat, scrolled handhold at each end. This is supported at the sides and back of the chair by three stiles. Each of the stiles are turned with a slender cone above the seat, and an inverted slender cone below the seat that extends down to a short bulbous foot. The removable slip seat is square, and covered with green wool (later replacement). The slip seat sits just inside the top of four tall seat rails that are joined to each stile and the top of the front leg. The front cabriole leg rests on a pad foot. Knee bracket returns, with a semi-circular, or spur, profile, are applied to the underside of the seat rails where they join each leg. The chair frame has an overall rosewood finish.
Originally, the chair had a pot board, or square board with a round hole in the center, that sat just inside the frame of the seat. The pot board would have supported a cylindrical pewter chamber pot with a deep lip. The pot board and chamber pot are now missing.
Condition: The slip seat frame and stuffing are original, but the upholstery is replaced. The pot board and chamber pot are now missing. Screws have been added to the underside of the arm rail. The block at the top of the front leg has split on the left side. The surface of the wood is scratched and gouged slightly on the seat rails, and more significantly on the cabriole leg. The rosewood finish was added in the late nineteenth century. The finish has worn off of the edges of the arm rest, front seat rails, and high points of the cabriole leg.
Design and Construction Details: The crest rail is constructed of a single piece of wood. The flat arm rail is constructed of two curved sections that are joined with a lap joint in the center. The arm rail is screwed (later additions) to the underside of the crest rail. The arm rail is supported on round tenons at the top of the three stiles. Each seat rail is tenoned and double-pinned into the stiles and the top of the front leg. The knee bracket returns are formed from the solid wood used to make the seat rails. The interior top edge of the seat rails, as well as the block at the top of the front leg, but not the stiles, has a rabbet to support the slip seat. A strip of wood is nailed to the interior side of the front right and back left seat rails to support the pot board.
Upholstered slip seat. The upholstered slip seat consists of the present green wool (later addition), over an undercover, stuffing, sackcloth, webbing, and a square wooden frame with notches in the side and back corners to accommodate the stile. The green wool is tacked to the underside of the frame.
NotesSubject Note: Roundabout chairs, or corner chairs, can be found in Connecticut inventories as early as 1705, when Israel Chauncey's estate was assessed in Stratford. They were made by urban craftsmen up to the time of the Revolution, and continued to be produced by rural chairmakers into the nineteenth century. At times, roundabout chairs were produced en suite with larger groups of furniture, or they were made in pairs. The precise function of roundabout chairs has not been determined. Due to their form, they were well suited for use as desk or writing chairs. Roundabout chairs may have also served as library chairs, as suggested by a portrait of John Bours by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) in the Worcester Art Museum (1908.7). The portrait shows John Bours seated in a roundabout chair with a book in his hand. (Hunt 3/30/2006)Originally, the chair had a pot board, or square board with a round hole in the center, that sat just inside the frame of the seat. The pot board would have supported a cylindrical pewter chamber pot with a deep lip. The pot board and chamber pot are now missing.
Condition: The slip seat frame and stuffing are original, but the upholstery is replaced. The pot board and chamber pot are now missing. Screws have been added to the underside of the arm rail. The block at the top of the front leg has split on the left side. The surface of the wood is scratched and gouged slightly on the seat rails, and more significantly on the cabriole leg. The rosewood finish was added in the late nineteenth century. The finish has worn off of the edges of the arm rest, front seat rails, and high points of the cabriole leg.
Design and Construction Details: The crest rail is constructed of a single piece of wood. The flat arm rail is constructed of two curved sections that are joined with a lap joint in the center. The arm rail is screwed (later additions) to the underside of the crest rail. The arm rail is supported on round tenons at the top of the three stiles. Each seat rail is tenoned and double-pinned into the stiles and the top of the front leg. The knee bracket returns are formed from the solid wood used to make the seat rails. The interior top edge of the seat rails, as well as the block at the top of the front leg, but not the stiles, has a rabbet to support the slip seat. A strip of wood is nailed to the interior side of the front right and back left seat rails to support the pot board.
Upholstered slip seat. The upholstered slip seat consists of the present green wool (later addition), over an undercover, stuffing, sackcloth, webbing, and a square wooden frame with notches in the side and back corners to accommodate the stile. The green wool is tacked to the underside of the frame.
Status
Not on view
