Easy Chair

The fullest Rococo development of the New England easy chair is exhibited in this example, which has acanthus-leaf knee carving in addition to the serpentine cresting, square seat, and claw feet of the standard version, such as 1971.180.32. Easy chairs with such carved legs are rare. Several side chairs with similarly carved legs have Boston histories, justifying an attribution to that city for this chair. One of them (44.55) shares with this chair a distinctive block-and-spindle front stretcher, suggesting that the same turner worked on both pieces. The shaping of the upholstery and the use of a woven silk border follow eighteenth-century precedent.