AFA Summer 2018

2018 Antiques & Fine Art 119 blocks (which the chairmaker would have left for purposes of shaping by the upholsterer) into triangular peaks and creating rigid stitched rolls inside the canvas edges (Fig. 8a). Without the rigidity of the stitched rolls, the side and particularly the front edges of the seat failed, thus causing the seat’s loss of its leather show materia l and subsequent changes to its foundation. Did the upholsterer make a rookie mistake or consciously choose to save time and money by cutting corners? We will never know. But if the English upholsterer knew that his cha ir wa s being ordered from fa raway Maryland, he may have thought that he could get away with shoddy workmanship. Colonial clients, including George Washington, did complain about the costs and workmanship of English goods, but it is unclear how often their concerns were satisfactorily addressed. 1 A Philadelphia armchair attributed to Thomas Affleck with a history of ownership in the Penn family illustrates how the edges of a properly upholstered boxy seat should appear (Fig. 9). When a chair survives in only its bare frame, the search for evidence is far more difficult than when some or all of the textiles survive in place. The myriad of nail and tack holes in a circa-1760 Williamsburg, Virginia, easy chair made in the Anthony Hay shop (Fig. 10) may initially seem impossible to decipher, but a closer examination of the holes allows us to identify where webbing strips and linen were tacked to the frame. This evidence supports the use of stuffed rolls along the front of the seat rail, the curved elements of the wings, and the crest (top of the back). These stuffed rolls combined with the chamfer on those upper elements of the frame would have provided a softly rounded profile for the back and arms of the chair. Distinguishing iron tack holes from brass nail holes can be as simple as seeing a line of perfectly spaced holes, impressions of the round heads, or even finding a hole with a brass nail shank remaining. This easy chair had a very Fig. 8: Back stool, England, ca. 1765. Mahogany, beech; linen, canvas, straw and hair stuffing, leather, wool threads, brass, and iron. Museum Purchase (1980-186). Fig. 8a: Front corner of figure 8, showing the top section of the leg that was left uncut.