Production v. Community

We have used a lot of terms in reference to chairs both in this blog and in our product descriptions. As a result, we thought it would be helpful to begin to review some of those terms in this and future blog posts. Probably the most important characterization of Shaker chairs begins with a simple question. Was this chair made for use within the community or is it a chair that was made for sale to the "world". Inherent in this question is whether this chair is made completely by hand or whether elements of machine work begun to creep into the production. Most Shaker chairs that you find are of the latter variety. Starting in the 1870's, Shakers began producing chairs for sale to the world in earnest. At the same time they began to adopt more modern production techniques. In the beginning of this time period the chairs were mostly still made by hand, and at the end (in the late 1930's) most of the components were machine made and even many were purchased from outside vendors. We will discuss more about these "Production" chairs in later blog posts, which all came from the center of chair making for the Shakers, the Mount Lebanon Community. Every once in a while you find a "community" chair made in Mount Lebanon which was always the center for chair making in Shaker world. A community chair is a pre 1870's chair, as we have touched on, made by Shakers for use by Shakers in a community. Even rarer still is a community chair made by community other than Mount Lebanon. Shaker chairs, no matter from which community, share many common characteristics with any turner's slat back chair which were commonly found in the United States, especially in the northeast. This makes sense given that most of the craftsman joined the Shakers from that area of the country and brought in many cases their previously existing carpentry skills and designs to the fold. However, the Shakers perfected the trend toward simplicity in such New England style slat back chairs. The Shakers omitted all ring turnings on back posts and the front posts have almost no turning as well with some later chairs adorned by simple vase turnings between seat and arms. The back slats generally are graduated, chamfered and have a gentle sweeping curve on top and flat at the bottom. Most rockers are fitted into slots at the base of the posts. The arms typically have a flat top sometimes capped with a mushroom or have a drop scroll which was also common in the region. Scribe marks are often found on the back post where the slats are joined. Seats are typically splint, woven tape or rush. These are all common hallmarks of a shaker community chair. Styles changed slightly over time periods and different communities had variations. We will try to review some of those as we find different chairs. The chair pictured below was a recent acquisition. It is stunning! I love the Tiger maple with its distinctive dark lines. Elliptical pommels with collar on lower third, straight back posts which increase from a strong collar to scribe mark for top slat, 4 slightly arched back slats lightly hand chamfered and joined into post the topmost secured by wooden pins, front posts decreasing in diameter above the seat to larger collar for receiving the arms, all indicate a provenance of Mount Lebanon in the mid 19th Century. This chair was acquired from a reputable auction house and comes from the Shaker Collection of Charles R. Muller, who along with Timothy Rieman, co-authored The Shaker Chair, a well known book on, you guessed it, Shaker Chairs. I believe it is also featured in the book. We can't wait to bring you more awesome chairs and some more blog entries to help you identify them!

ning at top and increase in diameter to straight bottom section,