Very Fine and Rare Queen Anne Maple Compass-Seat Open-Armchair, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1755

William Hyslop Abercrombie (1851-1940), Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Boston Queen Anne armchairs are scarce and the rarest of the form have compass seats.  The known examples include one once in the Robb Collection (see Edith Gaines, “The Robb collection of American furniture,” Magazine Antiques, vol. 92, no. 3, (September 1967),p. 326, fig. 8) and another example illustrated in Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture: Early American, (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2007), p. 23 listed as “Best.”