Name/Title
Chair, sideEntry/Object ID
L.2011.004.1Description
Cabinetmaker unknown
One of a Pair of Side Chairs
Numbered III and V on inside of rear seat rails
Charleston, South Carolina
c. 1745/55
Mahogany
96.5 x 62.9 x 59.1 cm (38 x 24 ¾ x 23 ¼ in.)
Credit Line: Courtesy Middleton Place Foundation, Charleston, South Carolina
Rick Rhodes Photographer
Middleton Place's pair of Charleston mahogany side chairs with slip or "loose" seats marked III and V were part of a set of at least five matching chairs owned by Daniel Huger and his family of Limerick Plantation and Charleston. Between 1730 and 1775, Colonial Charleston had at least 11 cabinetmakers and 11 upholsterers who were working there. In 1748, two cabinetmakers in Charleston were William Lupton [1743] and Thomas Lining [1748].
Rare on colonial furniture this chair and its mate have front cabriole legs with ball and claw foot with extenuated rear claw as well as slender splayed rear cabriole legs. In fact according to Rauschenberg and John Bivens they are two of five surviving cabriole-leg side chairs that can be attributed to Charleston cabinetmakers [Rauschenber and Bivens p. 349]. Carving style and execution namely the indented cabuchons on the kness of its legs and fuffling around the cabochon highlighted with circular gouge cuts surrounded with chip cuts predates most Charleston work of its type 1745-55. In their work, Rauschenber and Bivens indicate that two other pieces as kettle stand [CT84 in a private collection, p. 324-236] and a tea table [CT85 owned by the Charleston Museum pp 326-327] are stylistically related. The cabochon carvings on the kettle stand are almost identical to those carved on the Huger-Middleton chairs.
These chairs in the Middleton collection raise interesting questions regarding design and construction sources. Between 1725 and 1754, Paris was the center for popular design sources, and the "modern taste" or rocaille was the dominant style. The cabriole legs with their distinctive knee cartouches are evidence that the cabinetmaker or his clients the Hugers were influenced by modern rococo style. The carving on these chairs is quite similar to the carving on chairs made by Tillerand recently illustrated in a catalog for the Chatsworth Attic Sale [October 2010]. The Chatworth chairs were identified as combining British and French rococo design elements just as these chairs do. Despite common practice of labeling these chairs Chippendale after the prominent English cabinetmaker, the Hugers and their cabinetmaker would not have been influenced by Chippendale as the chairs predate his famous work which was not published until 1754.
For an extensive analysis of the Huger-Middleton chairs see:
Bradford L. Rauschenberg and John Bivins, Jr. The Furniture of Charleston 1680-1820. Vol I: The Colonial Period (Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, 2003), pp 337-351.
Provenance: Daniel Huger (1742-1799) of Limerick Plantation and Charleston was the same age as Arthur Middleton and like Arthur was sent to Europe for his education. Both men were not only members of the planter class and patriots during the American Revolution but friends. In 1800, shortly after Daniel's death, his son U. S. Senator Daniel Elliot Huger married Arthur Middleton's daughter Isabella Johannes in 1800 shortly after his father's death.Collection
Middleton Place Foundation C/O: Historic CharlestoLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Chair, SideNomenclature Primary Object Term
ChairNomenclature Sub-Class
Seating FurnitureNomenclature Class
FurnitureNomenclature Category
Category 02: FurnishingsIntake
Loan In
L.2011.004Lender
Charles Duell, PresidentDate Received
Jan 12, 2011Date Returned
Feb 1, 2011Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
December 6, 2012Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
December 7, 2012