Description

This chair exemplifies the neoclassic style in America. Design books published by British cabinetmakers transmitted the style to the New World. Indeed, Samuel McIntire found inspiration for this chair in Plate 2 from the 1794 edition of George Hepplewhite's Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer's Guide. The McIntire chair's shield-shaped back, however, is pointed rather than rounded, and the front legs, enriched with carved grapevines, have tapered "spade" feet with ebony applied. McIntire's carving skill brought him great success in Salem, a town half the size of Boston, but where some of the finest furniture of the period was made. This chair comes from a set owned by the Derby family, one of the most prominent in Salem.