Side chair

This chair may have been made for Johnson Hall, the home of Sir William Johnson, New York's Superintendent of Indian Affairs. It bears several features often found on New York chairs associated with Chippendale style: bold, almost square ball-and-claw feet; the diaper (diamond-patterned) carving on the knees of the legs; and rounded, tapered rear feet that end in square pads. The Yale University Art Gallery; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Winterthur, Henry du Pont's museum in Winterthur, Delaware; and the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee each own a chair thought to be from this same group. New York City maker Gilbert Ash has been suggested as a possible maker, as their design relates to another chair attributed to him, and records indicate he made the case for an organ Johnson bought for his local church.