Shaker Rocking Chair with curious modifications
New Lebanon, NY | c. 1840-1850
Maple, ash, and iron with replaced tape seat
Original red-painted surface
43″ h. (seat: 17″ h.) x 18 ½” w. x 14 ½” d.
Provenance: Robert & Hazel Belfit, Watertown
A compelling oddity for two distinctive modifications: an iron repair to a back post where the post meets the seat, and the addition of a shaped slat fixed across the chair’s finials. The rocker blades appear unusually thin—one has been moved and the other has been broken and repaired. Originally painted red, it appears the chair was given an additional red overcoat later in the 19th century by the Shakers.
Was the repair to the back post the result of an early attempt at steam bending? Is that added bar at the top—so carefully shaped to follow the line of the finials—the prototype of a cushion rail? Or, is it an assistive modification allowing an elder Shaker to rest their head and take pressure off the neck?
Certainly a singular form, this Rocking Chair presents multiple curiosities!
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