Images(2)

Child's High Chair

Maker John A. Clayton

Period1850 - 1890

MediumMaple, and ash

Dimensions34.5 × 15.2 × 23.3 in. (87.6 × 38.6 × 59.2 cm)

ClassificationsSeating Furniture

Credit LineGift of William H. MacDonald, 1958

Object number1983.429

DescriptionThe rear posts of this child's rush bottom high chair flare outward slightly above the seat. They have also been flattened or "rabbit eared" above a ring turning below the seat. Two graduated rectangular slats form the back. The front posts also have a ring turning at their mid point, and are tapered above the seat where they become supports for the turned arms. Four dowel turned stretchers brace the lower legs. The chair retains its original dark finish, stenciled yellow decoration, and woven rush seat. A step below the seat has been removed.
Curatorial RemarksThe high chair was identified as a Clayton product by William H. MacDonald using stencils he had acquired from James H. Clayton. The chair retains its original finish, stenciling, and woven rush seat. A step on the front of the chair below the seat has been removed. The Association's William H. MacDonald Collection includes an assembly bench, patterns, paint grinders, numerous hand tools, and stencils used at the Clayton chairmaking shop, as well as patterns, tools, a rushing stand, and stencils from several other Monmouth County chairmakers.NotesJohn A. Clayton and his son James H. ran one of the more prosperous chair shops in Monmouth County. John A. Clayton was born in 1820, and learned the chairmaking trade from Pierson Thompson (1801 - 1853) at Englishtown, in whose household he was living in 1850 (see accession number 2017.725). About 1855 he moved to Allentown, where he eventually set up his own shop. By the early 1870s, Clayton's son James (1852-1937) entered into a partnership with his father. John Clayton died in 1890 at the age of seventy. New furniture in the shop was valued at the time at $1,660. They also owned a furniture wagon to transport chairs to retailers in Trenton and New Brunswick. Chairmaking ended about that time, although the business was continued by the son as a retail furniture, paint and varnish store for many years. At their peak, the Claytons produced about 1,000 chairs per year. Many tools and decoration stencils from this shop survive in the William H. MacDonald Collection at the Association. Clayton erected a shop building at 9 Pearl Street in Allentown about 1870. It remained in use until shortly before his son's death in 1937. A photograph of the building taken in 1934 by MacDonald shows it after conversion into a dwelling. However, the large second floor shop doors for moving materials in and finished product out still remained in place. The former Clayton shop still stands.

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