A RED-PAINTED OAK FAN-BACK WINDSOR SIDE CHAIR

With an unusual medial stretcher composed of opposing balusters separated by a reel turning, this Windsor side chair illustrates designs seen in late eighteenth-century Rhode Island. Other distinctive features include the double baluster turnings of the backposts, which are almost equal in size (rather than a taller element below a considerably shorter one), and the downward slanting front corners of the seat. Similar details are seen on a fan-back side chair with a chestnut seat attributed by Nancy Goyne Evans to Rhode Island, 1785-1795 (see Nancy Goyne Evans, American Windsor Chairs (Winterthur, 1996), p. 269, fig. 6-61).