Images(3)

Slat Back Rocking Corner Chair

Maker Michael Maps

Period1760 - 1800

MediumMaple, and ash

Dimensions30 × 28.75 × 23 in. (76.2 × 73 × 58.4 cm)

ClassificationsSeating Furniture

Credit LineGift of Garret H. Conover in memory of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Dey Conover

Object number1990.624

DescriptionA slat back rocking corner chair that consists of a continuous, curved crest rail that ends in shaped arms. Other features include three baluster turned stiles supporting the arms and crest rail, and a single front baluster turned leg. Two shaped slats are set between the side and back posts. A pair of rockers with shallow wedge front edges and exaggerated tapered rear points fit into open mortises cut into the bottom of each leg, which are braced with four pairs of sausage turned stretchers.
Curatorial RemarksA very similar corner or roundabout chair was published in an article by Elizabeth Wyman entitled "Furniture of Monmouth County" that appeared in the July 1948 issue of The Magazine Antiques. She attributed it to chairmaker Michael Maps (1728 - 1802) of West Long Branch, an assumption that would not necessarily hold up today. Features that the two chairs share in common are the particular shape of the continuous crest rail and arms, the odd shape of the baluster turnings just below the crest rail, the use of flattened ball turnings on the three rear stiles just above the seat, and the shape of the baluster turning just below the front corner of the seat. The Association's chair includes eight sausage turned stretchers, a hallmark of work attributed to Maps. The chair illustrated by Wyman had plain turned stretchers. And although both chairs have two slats with shaped top edges, the Association's chair slats have straight bottom edges whereas those on the Wyman example were arched. The rockers on this chair, although early, were added at a later date. For another example of a corner chair found in the 1930s in the hands of a Maps descendant, see Central New Jersey Chairmaking of the Nineteenth Century by William H. MacDonald (Trenton: Printed Privately, 1959), 37 - 38 and illustrated after page 28. Of special note are its baluster turnings, use of sausage turned stretchers, and the shape of the two slats that have straight bottom edges and shaped top edges. The MacDonald example, however, had the unusual feature of head rest added at the center of the crest rail, making it somewhat resemble a comb-back Windsor. On the strength of their close similarities, Michael Maps appears to have been the maker of the Association's corner chair. For other examples of chairs attributed to Maps, see accession numbers 1990.611, 1992.520, 2017.2.1, and 2017.703.NotesJacob Dey Conover (1860 - 1926) was born, lived and died on the Conover homestead farm in Middletown village, Monmouth County, a son of Azariah Conover (1821 - 1865) and Emily P. Sherman (1824 - 1893). He served as president of the C. E. Conover company of New York, wholesale agents of dry goods and notions. The firm was founded by and named for his brother Charles E. Conover (1846 - 1891). J. Dey Conover, as he was known, married Lillian L. Wild (1870 - 1925) as his second wife. Garret H. Conover (1894 - 1982) was their son. The family is buried at Fair View Cemetery in Middletown.

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