Chair
- Object Name:
- Chair
- Object ID:
- 1965.051
- Creator:
- Ravenna, Giovanni Battista
- Place of Origin:
- Lavagna, Italy
- Date:
- 1830-1850
- Description:
- Side Chair (Chiavari style), made in Italy, owned by Franklin Pierce. Bowed rectangular crest rail having rolled top, flared ends, and extending beyond juncture with stiles; narrower horizontal rail with undulating upper and lower edges, framed between stiles halfway from seat to crest; tapering stiles, rectangular in section with rounded backs, cut on fronts to receive crest rail. Cane seat; all four seat rails curved on outer edges. Front legs are turned with attenuated baluster and ring elements and extend above height of seat rails. Tapering rear legs, oval in section. Attenuated baluster and ring turned front stretcher; rear stretcher and two on each side, plain and cylindrical. Original paper label on bottom of seat, written in French, reads: "[FA]BRIQUE DE C[HAISES] / DITES LEGERES [accent marks on the e's] / DE J. B. RAVENNA / a Cavi de Lavagna, pres de Chiava[ri] et Magasin de ces Chaises a Genes. / Strade Bal___ 130." (See translation of label in Notes field.) Dark brown lacquered finish. Right top corner of crest rail slightly damaged. Pieces broken off ring turnings both on front stretcher and front legs. Large break and smaller ones in cane seat.
- Material:
- Wood
Grass
Cherry
Wicker - Dimensions:
- H-34 W-17.375 D-17.375 inches
- Provenance:
- Chair from the White House of President Franklin Pierce. One of a set used in the East Room of the White House during his Presidency. Others of the set have since been returned to the White House, and another is in the Pierce Homestead (Note that White House does not have chairs, and suggests that different chairs were in the East Room).
- Credit Line:
- New Hampshire Historical Society Purchase
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