AFA Autumn 2021

Antiques & Fine Art 69 2021 The Hancock Chair, maker unknown, probably London, England, 1760–1770. Mahogany, beech, and spruce, with reproduction upholstery. H. 44 in., W. 31 in., D. 24 in. Gift of The Rev. Edmund Farwell Slafter, 1883 (R0001). John Hancock (1737–1793) inherited and lived in his uncle’s stone house on Beacon Hill, located to the left of the Massachusetts State House. Built in 1737 by Thomas Hancock (1703–1764) and his wife, Lydia Henchman (1717– 1776), it was filled with fine furniture and objects acquired by Thomas, a wealthy merchant, and added to by his nephew, John. After John’s death in 1793, these objects were dispersed far and wide. This English easy chair is an important survivor. It may have been recorded in the “Great Chamber” in John Hancock’s estate inventory of 1794, as part of a room that contained a large suite of seating furniture upholstered in yellow damask that matched the window curtains. In 1978 fragments of the chair’s original upholstery were used by Scalamandré Silks of New York City, in consultation with Colonial Williamsburg and Winterthur, to manufacture the bright yellow worsted damask that covers the chair today. This chair was once part of a display at the former New England Historic Genealogical Society headquarters on Somerset Street, Boston, of early chairs associated with all six New England states; it is the only one known to survive.