Chair

Object/Artifact

-

Historic Charleston Foundation

Name/Title

Chair

Entry/Object ID

M2018.008.001a-d

Tags

Needs new photography

Description

Group of 4 chairs consisting of 2 armchairs and 2 side chairs; also referred to as "Pinckney Painted Chair."

Context

Part of the Pinckney family's English suite of seating furniture, having tablet back painted with English landscape and pastoral scenes, above turned splat, on sabre legs; armchairs having scroll arms resting on turned supports.

Collection

Nathaniel Russell House

Acquisition

Accession

M2018.008

Source or Donor

Patricia McPherson Rudisill

Acquisition Method

Gift

Made/Created

Date made

circa 1800 - circa 1815

Place

Location

England

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Chair

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Seating Furniture

Nomenclature Class

Furniture

Nomenclature Category

Category 02: Furnishings

Dimensions

Dimension Description

armchairs

Height

34-1/2 in

Width

20-1/2 in

Dimension Description

sidechairs

Height

34-1/2 in

Width

18-3/8 in

Material

Wood, Cane

Colors

Color

Black

Color Notes

painted black with gilt and polychromatic Japanned decoration, gilded cell-pattern diapering

Location

Location

Building

Missroon House

Category

Permanent

Date

February 7, 2023

Provenance

Notes

The four chairs are decorated with English landscapes and thus were likely ownd by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who was born into a wealthy South Carolina rice planting family in 1746. An 1802 invoice from the London firm of Bird, Savage, and Bird to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney details what are possibly the chairs from this Japanned suite. The four chairs were purchased by Mrs. Rudisill's parents in the mid 20th century.

Research Notes

Notes

In the early 19th century, brothers General Thomas Pinckney and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney each ordered a set of English Japanned seating furniture. According to scholars, the chairs owned by Thomas Pinckney were decorated with scenes in Chinoisserie taste. Those owned by Charles Coteworth Pinckney and his wife, Mary Stead Pinckney, have tablets decorated with northern English landscapes, maritime scenes, cathedrals, and abbeys and likely reference the Pinckney family's British roots.

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

January 24, 2019

Updated By

mooreks@wofford.edu

Update Date

January 29, 2025