Chair
Artist
Maker unknown
(American, Shaker Community, New Lebanon, New York)
Date1850
MediumSoft maple; cloth tape (Tape seat is late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century)
DimensionsOverall: 40 × 18 5/8 × 14 3/4in. (101.6 × 47.3 × 37.5cm)
ClassificationsFURNISHINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase with funds from the Verne S. Swan Fund
Terms
Object number70.7
DescriptionSlat back & boots for tilting on rear legs. Shaker chair with slat back and flame finials. Books on back legs for tilting.On View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextThe sect known as the Shakers is a Protestant millennial group whose celibate members live in a communal environment. The Shakers are widely recognized for creating a style of American furniture known for its simple elegance. Their designs, a natural outgrowth of the sect's beliefs in simplicity, humility, honesty, and prudence, were attempts to harmonize their beliefs with their surroundings.
This chair has tilters of an early design. Tilters are wooden balls (held in sockets by rawhide cords) that swiveled to ingeniously permit the sitter to lean back in the chair while the rear feet remained flat on the floor.
