Chair, side

Furniture

Historic Hudson Valley

Name/Title

Chair, side

Entry/Object ID

VC.58.247

Description

Side chair: yoke shaped cresting rail set over tops of stiles and secured by dowels; vase-shaped solid splat, with rear edges bevelled, set into cross-rail above seat; stiles, raked sharply inward and backward, turned in shape of vase, inverted trumpet form, vase, and bulb; rush seat with corner blocks, both marked "D.Coutong": two round-turned stretchers each side, one at rear, set low; front stretcher turned in vase, bulb ring, bulb, vase forms; front legs, immediately below seat blocks, turned delicately in vase and collar shapes, descending in more bulbous-turned modified trumpet shapes to terminate in toed-out pad-on-double-disk feet feet; red grained paint over blue-green paint); maple (stiles, front legs, cresting rail, seat rails); pine (splat, cross-rail); hickory (stretchers); stamped on each corner block, "D.Coutong".

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

David Coutant

Attribution

Maker

Notes

Dates: 1768 - 1799 Date made: r. 1768 - 1799

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Inscription

Transcription

See description

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Overall

Height

40-1/2 in

Width

20-1/4 in

Depth

19-1/2 in

Dimension Notes

Display Dimensions: 40 1/2 x 20 1/4 x 19 1/2 in. (102.9 x 51.4 x 49.5 cm)

Material

rush, Maple, Pine, hickory

Condition

Notes

Remarks: Details of condition: Rush seat and red-grained paint apparently old, but not original. Graining slightly touched-up.

General Notes

Note Type

Curatorial Remarks

Note

The stamp "D.Coutong'" has occasionally, and mistakenly, been taken to read "D.Goutong." Coutong, who branded each corner block, seems to have been the maker rather than the owner; but his name appears in no list of American cabinet-makers, including B. Ginsberg's personal compilation. Several chairs in the collection bear this stamp: VC.58.247 and VC.59.234-235, Peculiarly uneven sides of upper portion of splat is common also to VC.59.234-235, also branded "D.Coutong." Possibly a result of maker's template irregularities. (Information provided by Nancy Goyne Evans, Registrar, Winterthur Museum, 5/17/1976). David Coutant (Cautant) is listed in the New York City directories between 1786 and 1794 as a Windsor and rush bottom chairmaker. In the volume Historic New Rochelle (1938), Herbert B. Nicholas says that he worked in that town and was the son of Jacob. The Time context is that period at the turn of the century. The 1790 census shows Coutant in the South Ward of New York City, and in 1800 is listed in Westchester County. Coutant probably left New York about 1794-5. The New-York Historical Society has references to Coutant's work for the Beekman and Livingston families from 1788-93. The COUNTANG brand on the chairs is a misspelling on the part of the die maker-possibly because that is the way the name was pronounced or sounded to others.

Note Type

StorageNote

Note

Home Location: Historic Hudson Valley, Van Cortlandt Manor, Lean-to Room