The Story Continues

Recently, we blogged about an amazing community chair from the Enfield, Connecticut community of Shakers. As we discussed in that blog, the story behind the chair was that it was purchased from "Shaker Ed" who was an old picker who did some work for the Shakers at the Enfield, CT community as it was closing. He was often paid for his work with goods. This chair was supposedly one such transaction. While the story may be technically correct and this chair may have actually COME from the Enfield, Connecticut community, upon further examination, we don't believe this chair was actually MADE there.

First, a little background. the Watervliet, NY community and the New Lebanon, NY (later know as Mount Lebanon) community were very close in proximity and as result there was a steady flow of people, skills and goods between these two communities. Accordingly, Watervliet community chairs and New Lebanon community chairs (as opposed to later production chairs which are more distinct) are very similar and it can be difficult to determine which of these two communities originated a particular chair. Additionally, a close relationship existed between the Enfield, Connecticut community and the community at Watervliet, NY. This was partly because John Meacham, who was one of the organizational geniuses who led the order, also established the Enfield, CT community. So again, there was a strong flow of people. skills and goods between these two communities. As a result, we see a similarity in design to their chairs. Finally, it should be noted that Mount Lebanon was the main community for the production chairs in the Shaker order. There are probably more Mount Lebanon chairs than chairs from all other communities combined.

The two areas on Shaker side chairs that are most helpful to distinguish a side chair's origins are the pommels and back slats. The rear posts and stretchers can also be informative, but not as distinct. Arm chairs provide additional characteristics for identification purposes with contoured front posts and arms. However, in the instance of this chair, we do not have those as guides.

With respect to the pommels, chairs from all 3 communities have similar elliptical shapes; however, the Enfield, Connecticut pommels are slightly more flattened at the top while the Watervliet and Mount Lebanon are more pointed. This distinction can be difficult to notice, especially in pictures. The Enfield, CT pommel has a slight concave indentati0n part way down and a sharper one near the neck, while the pommels from both Watervliet and New Lebanon have two sharper indentations. Again, this distinction can be difficult to notice, but the subject chair seems closer to the Watervliet/Mount Lebanon ideal.

With respect to the back slats, Mount Lebanon chairs typically have back slats that are not highly arched, all the same size (not graduated), with tops that are typically flat (not chamfered). Chairs from both Watervliet NY and Enfield, CT have arched, graduated and chamfered back slats. On the subject chair we see back slats that are arched, graduated and chamfered, but just slightly. Overall, the impression of these back slats to our eye is more like the uniform slats of a Mount Lebanon chair even though they do contain some elements of the other type.

So while we don't have any reason to doubt that his chair resided at the Enfield, CT community, given (i) the significantly larger amount of chairs produced at Mount Lebanon, (ii) the know free movement of chairs from Mount Lebanon to both the Watervliet, NY and Enfield, CT communities and (iii) overall characteristics of the chair, we believe this chair most probably was made at Mount Lebanon and found its way to Enfield, CT.

Trying to unravel the sometimes unsolvable mystery of where any given chair originated is part of the fun of collecting Shaker! If you have different ideas on the origins of this chair, please send us a note and let us know your thoughts!