AFA Summer 2019

Summer 102 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com an arched nameplate below the winding holes) and the clock movement suggest a Philadelphia origin and possible manufacture by Joseph Wills (circa 1700– 1759) or Jacob Godschalk (d. 1782). 14 Although there is no exact prototype for the patchwork con- struction of the bombé base of this clock, an eastern Pennsylvania compass-seat side chair exhibits a similar response to the problem of creating a boldly curved shape (Fig. 8). As with the tall clock, this anonymous maker demon- strated accomplished woodwork- ing skills to re-create something he had seen, while showing a lack of familiarity with prevailing construction practices associated with the finished form. The seat rails of Philadelphia compass-seat chairs were typically made with solid pieces of wood that were cut to shape, producing considerable wastage. This maker instead used thinner walnut laminations to fill out each of the side rails at the widest dimension, reminiscent of the clock construction. Faint seams in these curved faces show the separate layers of walnut (Fig. 9). These additional layers extended above the rail to form the rims, which position the slip seat. In urban Philadelphia work, seat rims were either sepa- rate pieces of wood glued to the tops of the seat rails, or thicker seat rails were chiseled out to leave integral rims intact. Compass seats were relatively common in urban Philadelphia but not in outlying areas, where this chair was made. Like the clockcase maker, this chair maker transformed a mental image of a compass- seat chair into three dimensions without benefit of direct experience or informed instruction. His effort to overcome inexperience with such chairs is also evident in scored lines along the outside of the seat rims that suggest — but do not mimic — the fuller thumbnail moldings found onmany other chairs of this time. Also, the modeling of the knees, which pinch inward at the sides behind the carved shells, shows lack of familiarity with compass seats. This distortion occurred because knee brackets splay wider on a compass-seat chair than on a square-seat chair; experienced chair makers resolved the transition by creating a thicker knee. These pieces of blockfront and bombé furniture demonstrate the Fig. 8: Compass-seat side chair, Eastern Pennsylvania, 1750–1775. Walnut. H. 40¼, W. 20½, D. 21 in. Private collection.