A QUEEN ANNE CARVED WALNUT SIDE CHAIR

With its rounded stiles, exquisite shell carving, old surface and original upholstery foundation, this chair is an outstanding survival of Boston seating from the Queen Anne era. Chairs of this design have been associated with Newport as a closely related set of four that lack the shell-carving on the knees was owned by Providence merchant Moses Brown (1738-1836). As discussed in the recent volume, Art & Industry, chairs from Boston and Newport can be distinguished by their stretcher design. Here, the conical ends of the medial and rear stretchers lack incised rings, the side stretchers have a small rather than larger rear ring turning and the rear feet are tapered, all details that contrast with Newport-made examples and indicative of Boston workmanship. See Jennifer N. Johnston, catalogue entry, in Patricia E. Kane et al., Art & Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830 (New Haven, 2016), pp. 256, 258, 260; for the set owned by Moses Brown, see the Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, RIF3993.