Side Chair
Period1760 - 1790
MediumWalnut, with hard pine seat frame and corner blocks
Dimensions40.25 × 20.5 × 22 in. (102.2 × 52.1 × 55.9 cm)
MarkingsMarked "IV" inside the front seat rail, and "III" on the seat frame.
ClassificationsSeating Furniture
Credit LineMarshall P. Blankarn Purchasing Fund and Museum Purchase, 1973
Object number1973.10
DescriptionThe side chair features a pointed shell carving in the center of the crest rail, which terminates in splayed corner ears. The vase shaped solid splat is held in place by a molded and stepped shoe. The front and side seat rails are thumbnail molded on their top edges. The bottom edge of the front rail has also been shaped. The side rails are through tenoned into the rear stiles. Cabriole front legs terminate in exaggerated trifid feet. The rear legs have been rounded and rake backward.Curatorial RemarksThe chair is similar to one identified as a "plain chair" in a 1767 drawing by Samuel Mickle which is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Although the chair has corner blocks, through tenons, and an overall design typical of Philadelphia chairs, the accentuated trifid feet, rake of the rear legs, pointed shell, curved front rail, and slight asymmetry of the splat point to a probable New Jersey origin. For a related example also with a Monmouth County provenance, see accession number 1983.421.NotesA strong family history identifies David Meirs (1738 - 1816), a resident of the Cream Ridge section of Upper Freehold, Monmouth County, as the original owner. His estate inventory, taken on 15 October 1816, makes no specific reference to this set of chairs, of which this is numbered "IV." They may be included in the following citation, "Desk, tables, looking glass &c in front room" valued at $35.00. Meirs could have certainly afforded chairs of this quality. The appraisal of his estate came to $10,086.00. That large sum included $2,166.00 in his purse and apparel, $1,815.00 in bills and bonds, and $231.00 in book debts. The chair then passed through six subsequent generations of the Meirs family to William R. Meirs (1894 - 1980), who sold it in 1973 to the Association.
Collections
ProvenanceDavid Meirs (1738 - 1816); to his son Apollo Meirs (1763 - 1855); to his son Thomas Shinn Meirs (1798 - 1859); to his daughter Martha Ann Holmes (1824 - 1920); to her daughter Mary H. Rue (1844 - 1923); to her daughter Anne H. Meirs (1869 - 1951); to her son William R. Meirs (1894 - 1980)
