VERY FINE AND RARE PAIR OF GREEN AND RED PAINTED WINDSOR SACK-BACK ARMCHAIRS, NEW ENGLAND, CIRCA 1790

Wayne Pratt, Woodbury, Connecticut;

Peter Brams Collection, Jackson Heights, New York;

Skinner, Bolton, The Folk Art Collection of Peter Brams, February 25, 2001, sale 2056, lot 1396;

Stephen Score, Boston, Massachusetts.

These remarkable oversized chairs must have been a special order. The back is comprised of five extra large coops outlined by four penetrating, turned spindles with five additional spindles, all bamboo-turned; each arm has a generous swoop in the middle and is supported by a vasiform turned element above a nicely shaped seat; all supported by four, raked bamboo turned legs. It is significant that Charles Santore, who has written the definitive books, The Windsor Style in America Volumes I and II, in a personal communication with Stephen Score, stated that he had never seen its equal before in forty years of looking at Windsor chairs.