Etymologically, wainscot refers to a panel of woodwork. To cover the walls and to make the front faces of the chests, the joiners use the oak. They carve this soft and knotless wood with the geometrical and foliated figures that are popular in rural England at the time of the Stuarts.
The wainscot armchair is a model of oak seat with well-defined features : arms, turned front legs, square sectioned rear legs, low spacers on all four sides, no upholstering. The high backrest surmounted by a crest and the perimeter of the seat are chiseled with a density that reaches extravagance.
Puritan pioneers settling in New England spontaneously reconstitute their previous ways of life. Notables want to luxuriously furnish their main room and use the skills of craftsmen who had emigrated with them.
On January 20 in New York, Sotheby's sells a wainscot armchair from colonial America, lot 723 estimated over $ 300K. Realized around 1650, it belonged successively to only two families, Mansfield in New Haven during its first century and Merriam thereafter. Richard Mansfield, coming from Exeter, was a founder of the New Haven Colony in 1639.
It is a beautiful seat in its category whose contour of the wood pieces has remained simple. Under various layers added over time, the analyzes identified traces of the original pigment in pale Prussian blue.
The chiseled patterns of its backrest are also present in the panels of two chests that are obviously by the same hand. A former ship carpenter named Lawrence Ward was established around 1650 as a joiner and turner in New Haven. He will transfer his business to Newark when this city will be founded by Puritans from New Haven in 1666.
SOLD for $ 375K including premium
The wainscot armchair is a model of oak seat with well-defined features : arms, turned front legs, square sectioned rear legs, low spacers on all four sides, no upholstering. The high backrest surmounted by a crest and the perimeter of the seat are chiseled with a density that reaches extravagance.
Puritan pioneers settling in New England spontaneously reconstitute their previous ways of life. Notables want to luxuriously furnish their main room and use the skills of craftsmen who had emigrated with them.
On January 20 in New York, Sotheby's sells a wainscot armchair from colonial America, lot 723 estimated over $ 300K. Realized around 1650, it belonged successively to only two families, Mansfield in New Haven during its first century and Merriam thereafter. Richard Mansfield, coming from Exeter, was a founder of the New Haven Colony in 1639.
It is a beautiful seat in its category whose contour of the wood pieces has remained simple. Under various layers added over time, the analyzes identified traces of the original pigment in pale Prussian blue.
The chiseled patterns of its backrest are also present in the panels of two chests that are obviously by the same hand. A former ship carpenter named Lawrence Ward was established around 1650 as a joiner and turner in New Haven. He will transfer his business to Newark when this city will be founded by Puritans from New Haven in 1666.
SOLD for $ 375K including premium
The Mansfield-Merriam family Pilgrim-century black-painted, joined, and carved oak wainscot armchair, made in the New Haven Colony, circa 1650 is estimated to sell for $300,000/500,000 at @Sothebys https://t.co/3BpgTNgq7R #antiques #auction #art #NewHaven #Connecticut #antique pic.twitter.com/GlS3LyfvHk
— Maine Antique Digest (@AntiqueDigest) December 27, 2017
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