Fiddleback Rocking Arm Chair

Period1780 - 1830

MediumMaple, ash, and pine

Dimensions41.25 × 25.63 × 15.5 in. (104.8 × 65.1 × 39.4 cm)

ClassificationsSeating Furniture

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Lillian Wilkinson Boschen, 1969

Object number1990.629

DescriptionA rocking fiddleback arm chair with a shaped crest rail, the bottom edge of which curves into the splat. The latter, of vase shaped form, is attached at its base to a simple rectangular shoe. Turned rear posts fit into the left and right ends of the crest rail. Shaped arms end in flattened vertical scrolls, and are supported by baluster turnings. The arm supports are set back from the corner blocks of the seat, and are extended by thin dowel turnings running from the side seat lists to the upper side stretchers. The baluster turned front legs and simple rear stiles are fitted with a pair of curved rockers and braced with pairs of dowel turned front and side stretchers, and a single rear stretcher. The rocking chair retains its early, if not original, woven splint seat.
Curatorial RemarksThe rockers on this arm chair, although early, were added to it at a later date. For examples of rocking arm chairs with this set back arm support arrangement made by the Dominy family of eastern Long Island, see Charles F. Hummel, With Hammer in Hand: The Dominy Craftsmen of East Hampton, New York (Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia for The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1968), 248 - 252.NotesFor biographical information on Mrs. Lillian W. Boschen, an antiques dealer from Freehold, NJ, see accession number 1974.19.2.

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