Rare Early Southside Virginia Paint Decorated Slat Back Armchair

circa 1710-1740, fine historic paint surface, turned finials, arm supports, and stretchers, woven cord seat, 40-3/4 x 19-1/2 x 18-1/4 in., seat height 16-1/4 in.

Note: A related armchair with similar stretchers and spindles beneath the arms is in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg (acc. no. 1960-179) (see Ronald L. Hurst and Jonathan Prown, Southern Furniture 1680-1830 (1997), pp. 54-56, no. 2, and https://emuseum.colonialwilliamsburg.org/objects/16195/armchair-banister-back). Williamsburg states "The chair exhibits design elements associated with French chair making. Its back features turned spindles set into rails that are square or rectangular in cross section. Although the same features were employed on French chairs, cradles, and other turned forms throughout the eighteenth century, they were not usually seen on British work until the 1790s. Thousands of French Huguenot refugees came to the South beginning in the late seventeenth century. Many eventually settled in the Tidewater Virginia counties of Norfolk and Nansemond, while others founded Manakin Town on the James River west of modern-day Richmond. A scattering of French cultural traditions, including chair making, were thus introduced into Virginia and survived for generations."

Provenance: Private Collection, New York