Federal White and Green Paint Decorated Maple and Pine Dressing Table with Two En Suite Side Chairs, Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, circa 1830

I.M. Wiese, Roxbury, Connecticut
David A. Schorsch, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1986

"American Radiance: Highlights of the Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum," de Menil Gallery at Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, October 15-December 15, 2002
"Hearth and Home: Architectural Selections from the Collection," New York, American Folk Art Museum, May 20-September 21, 2003
"Surface Attraction: Painted Furniture from the American Folk Art Museum," New York, American Folk Art Museum, September 20, 2005-March 26, 2005

Schaffner, Cynthia V.A. and Susan Klein. American Painted Furniture, 1790-1880, New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1997, pp. 118-19
American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 104, figs. 68A-C

Chairs: no apparent inpainting under blacklight. Table: no apparent inpainting under blacklight.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This set of furniture originally comprised six side chairs and the dressing table.¹ Although the set purportedly was made for the Governor Levi Lincoln home in Worcester, Massachusetts, there is not documentation to support this history.² The furniture is probably of Worcester manufacture, however; the chairs, in particular, with their wooden plank seats and bamboo-turned legs, are characteristic of the Worcester style.³ There was a thriving chair industry in eastern Massachusetts and surrounding areas by the time these chairs and table were made; Worcester alone could boast 155 chair and cabinet manufactories.⁴ This industry supported many hundreds of workers whose activities shed light on the delegation of aspects of production by the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The final step in furniture production was retailing, but before a chair reached a warehouse, it may have passed through the hands of suppliers of chair stock, framers, and ornamental painters.⁵

Slat-back Windsor side chairs of this type were called by several different names, depending upon regional preference. They were also known as five-rods and ball-backs because they had ball-turned spindles. The slat-style crests are framed between the two posts, leading to the term "mortise-tops."6 The chairs and table share similar imagery of New England scenes: a church flying a weathervane, a bridge over a running stream, mill buildings, and a public house with a freestanding signboard. The buildings, staggered in the landscape, are painted a strong yellow with dark pitched roofs. The trees are strongly bisected into light and dark areas, the whole recalling the type of decorative wall painting that was found in homes throughout New England during this period. Although these have been suggested as Worcester views, none of the buildings or landscape settings are specific enough to conclusively identify a locale. -S.C.H.

¹ Two additional chairs are promised gifts to AFAM from Tom and Bonnie Strauss; the remaining two are in a private collection.
² When the furniture was first advertised by I.M. Wiese in The Magazine Antiques 117, no. I (January 1980): 147, there was no mention of an association with Governor Levi Lincoln of Worcester. In June 1986, however, David A. Schorsch advertised in the Maine Antique Digest, pp. 20-21C, that they were from the Governor Levi Lincoln home.
³ Nan Wolverton, Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Mass., letter to the author, July 18, 2000 (AFAM files). Wolverton writes, "You are correct in asserting that the chairs ... are of Worcester County manufacture."
⁴ Donna Keith Baron, "Furniture Makers and Retailers in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Working to 1850," The Magazine Antiques 143, no. 5 (May 1993): 784.
⁵ Evans, "Frog Backs and Turkey Legs," p. 33.
⁶ Ibid., pp. 31-32.