Side chair (one of a pair)
John Welch
(American, 1711–1789)
Margaret Fayerweather Bromfield
(American, 1732–1761)
about 1750–60
Object PlaceBoston, Massachusetts
Medium/TechniqueWalnut, white pine, maple, original needlework seat
DimensionsOverall: 97.8 x 55.9 x 46.7cm (38 1/2 x 22 x 18 3/8in.)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Jean Wagniere, in memory of her mother Henrietta Slade Warner (Mrs. Henry Eldridge Warner)
Accession number68.840
On View
Not on viewClassificationsFurniture
Collections
These chairs are an elaborate version of a conventional Boston design. The standard shape-curved crest rail; solid, vase-shaped splat (back); rounded seat; and cabriole (S-curved) front legs-is ornamented with shells on the knees and crest rail. The execution suggests the hand of John Welch, Boston's premier carver. The chairs descended in the Fayerweather and Bromfield families; family tradition indicates that Margaret Fayerweather embroidered the seat covers.
Inscriptions"V" scratched into seat frameProvenanceOwned by Henry Bromfield, a Boston and London,merchant, and his wife (m. 1749) Margaret Fayerweather (1732-1761) who, family tradition says, did the needlework seats. Descended in the Bromfield-Weld family. By 1872, possibly owned by Mrs. I.H.T. Blanchard, Harvard, MA; by descent to Miss Margaret Bromfield Slade, Boston; by descent in 1943 to Henrietta Slade Warner (Mrs. Henry Eldridge Warner), Lincoln, MA; by descent in 1955 to her daughter, Mrs. Jean Frederic Wagniere (Margaret Warner) Wagniere, Switzerland; 1968, year-end gift of Mrs. Jean Frederic to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 8, 1969)
About 1740–60
1730–60
1730–50
about 1740
about 1760-1790
