Early Chair ID help?! Primitive

Hello I was hoping I could get some feedback, ID help on this chair ?.. I am just getting into primitive furniture and this is my first piece. I am not really sure what I have at all... American or English? I'm thinking 1830? Looks to be cut down at the bottom and maybe a repair or two to the back ladders? Each looks different in shape... Any info at all is very appreciated .

 

Welcome!
What chair?

 

My photos are to big and I can't seem to post them.. Is there a trick?

 

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Thank you!

 

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Thank you! Finally got it

 

Looks like a Shaker chair... I used to live in Shaker Hts., Ohio, and they have a museum there! Now as to whether it is older or newer... I don't know how to tell.

EDIT
http://www.shakerhistoricalsociety.org/explore/museum-collection/

 

I thought it was a shaker when I bought it, but then someone told me it was a ladderback and it didn't look to be a traditional shaker made. I am real unsure..

 

If you have a look at the museum, the first page has a very similar chair (although it's a rocker). A Shaker chair can be a ladderback. They're still making them. So I'm still unsure how to figure age. But there are some furniture brainiacs who will be along soon to straighten us out.

 

Certainly in the style of the Shaker ladderbacks but don't think the details are right for this to be Shaker. Certainly an antique chair that has seen better days. Really hard to say how old this is since chairs like this have been made for more than a couple hundred years. It could be 200 years old and showing its age or 100 years old and not very well kept. It does look like someone has attempted to resurrect this at some point.

I am not sure how you could pin this to circa 1830. I would be interested in the thought process that arrived at that date. I do think probably American but this is really not my area of expertise. I would say that it might be worth having someone with better knowledge take a look but the condition issues will damper any enthusiasm experts would have for this. For what it is worth, I think you could safely say it's a 19th century primitive country ladderback.

 

Thanks, Brad!

 

Thank you Gila & Brad for your help!

I got the 1830 timeframe from other shaker examples I have seen floating around online and the reed doesn't look super aged to me like the frame.. So maybe that was repaired around that time.

I know the condition is rough for a fine collector of sorts.. (Being cut off and all) But I am just starting out in this area so it's a good starter for me and significantly lower in price.

I was thinking maybe it could possibly be earlier after finding a similar example in a book tonight. So maybe it's a revival,.. I really don't know.

This is the closest example I could find.
Worth checking out.

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Is the whole chair pegged together the way that back slat is?? Nice! Now why would someone cut the legs down THAT far, unless it was a rocker and the rockers are broken??? I personally think it's a little "rough" for Shaker from what I've seen, but I like it just the same, except for the cut off feet......

 

the back slat is unique huh.. Here are a few more photos. I never thought once a rocker but maybe.. Possibly lowered for a sewing chair or a possible toddler/child? ..


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I think this chair has probably been cut down due to rot. No one would cut a chair this far down to remove rockers or modify height. The structural integrity of the chair has been compromised with the tenon of the stretcher exposed as it is.

Some of the details of this chair appear to be fairly distinctive. In particular, the incised lines and tapering arm supports. Someone who knows about such things might be able to pin this down based on these details.

 

Welcome to the forum!

FWIW, I vote cut down also. Early slat-back chairs did have short legs, low to the ground, with the stretchers only a few inches above the floor, but this one has the bottom stretchers touching or nearly touching the floor. Similar slat-back chairs, AKA ladder-back chairs, were made for centuries, 1500s to the 1900s to yesterday. Some had mushrooms finials like yours while others had more pointed finials. Most automatically think of Shaker when seeing this style, but it's roots begin long before the Shakers. This style chair was well known by the Puritans and Pilgrims long before the Shakers.

A 3 slat-back side chair with low stretchers, probably original reed seat, was passed down to me. I have no idea of the age and doubt anyone else could definitely date it without doing a carbon dating thingy. I haven't tried to have it dated for I **want** to think it started life in the 1600s/1700s rather than being made in the wood shed by one of my great grandfathers in the late 1800s.

Here is an interesting article on slat-back chairs:
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/slat-back-chairs-in-europe-and-america/

--- Susan

 

Lady branch That article was very helpful. I just love the history and look of this piece, unfortunate that it has been cut, but never the less still beautiful after all these years.

When you get around to it, I would love to see a photo of your chair. Thank you for your help.

 

Oh, dear. I'm posting pics of the chair, but pleaseeeeee, nobody tell me it dates from the late 1800s. I want to think it dates from the 1600s-1700s. Ignorance is bliss. I don't ever plan to sell it so value is irrelevant to me. The only provenance I have is that it was stuck away in a back closet of my grandparents. All my mother's life (born 1912) she had been fascinated with it. In the late 1930s after mother married and had a home of her own, she asked her mother if she could have it. My grandmother's reply was, "That old thing?" Grandma thought mother had gone over the edge in wanting that chair. She gladly let Mom have it. Sooooo it at least dates back to c1912. As my grandmother called it old, I bet it was at least as old as her. She was born in 1881. Then again she may have meant old not in age but in worn condition. It could have been made by Grandma's father, a great grandfather, but as my maternal Grandmother and Grandfather's ancestors crossed the big pond in the early 1600s, I'd like/want to think/dream it dates from then. Again ignorance is bliss, and, please, no one burst my bubble.

The chair has been painted some time along the way. The reed seat has some of the paint on it. Because the rungs in front are quite worn and little raw wood showing on them means it has been painted.

Edit: Is this seat called a flat reed?
Another question, would the color of this chair be called milk red?

--- Susan

 

Thanks for the education, Ms. Branch!
So the Shakers didn't invent it... they just did it very well.

 

I really love the reed seating.. And especially the warping in the stretchers. Shows real age. ❤️ Maybe someone out there can pin point a rough around age of both chairs.