Chair (Lolling chair)

Description

Federal-style lolling chair made primarily of mahogany with birch in the front seat rail and soft maple as the side and rear seat rails. The trapezoidal chair back is slightly concave from side to side and is angled back relative to the seat. The arms and the front legs are continuous. The arm rest curves outward and the arm support, which is beaded, is s-curved forward. The arms taper at the handholds and the legs, which have beaded edges, taper at the terminals. The rear legs cant backward and are mounted at an angle. A faded paper label pasted on the inside of the rear seat rail reads: [LEMUEL CHURCHILL, / MAKES AND SELLS / Cabi[net] Furniture and Chairs, / O[F THE] NEWEST FASHIONS A[ND] BEST OF WORK, / AT / [?]N RO[?]]. The chair is upholstered in satin-weave silk with multi-colored vertical stripes of various widths, colored yellow, pink, black, and shades of green, against a beige ground with narrow horizontal white stripes. A narrow cording runs across the top of the chair-back and at the back sides. The fabric on the seat is turned under and nailed to frame, and it is backed and lined with sateen. The current upholstery was applied in the 1960s; the previous upholstery was silk and had a blue, green, and salmon striped and floral pattern. An undated image of the chair shows a third type of fabric with a filigree pattern and a sheen indicating a silk material.