Bidspirit auction | SET OF FOUR WINDSOR CHAIRS

SET OF FOUR WINDSOR CHAIRS - Eastern Massachusetts, early 19th century, mixed woods. Birdcage windsors with crest medallions and bamboo turnings. Includes one armchair and three side chairs. 34.75” high. On the underside of one chair is an old note indicating that the chairs were part of a set of 12 originally belonging to James and Rebecca Dunan of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Rebecca White was born in 1754 and married James Duncan, Jr. (1756-1821) on January 26, 1790 (the note suggests that the chairs were bought at the time of their wedding, but likely it was 10-20 years later). They had at least two children, Samuel White Duncan (1790-1824) and James Henry Duncan (1793-1869). Rebecca (sometimes Rebekah) died in 1834. The Duncans are buried in Pentucket Cemetery in Haverhill, Massachusetts. James Duncan succeeded his father in a lucrative shipping and mercantile business, and he had a neoclassical home built for his family, the parlor of which, known as the Haverhill Room, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Their son James Henry Duncan served in the Massachusetts legislature and in U.S. House of Representatives. For more of Dunan, see https://haverhillpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/James_Duncan_Jr_Papers_Finding_Aid.pdf. For more on their house in Haverhille, see: https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/the-american-wing/period-rooms/haverhill-room. Provenance: From the Lifetime Collection of a Northeast Ohio Dealer Condition: Paint is early 20th century and flaking, chairs are solid and sturdy.