Wainscot Chair

Maker unknown · Branford · 1640–60

This chair is the official chair of Yale College presidents. It belonged to the Reverend Abraham Pierson, the first rector of the Collegiate School, now known as Yale College. The Doric-style columns on the turnings of the front legs and arm supports reveal the influence of the classical tradition on seventeenth-century design. The turnings may have been the work of Lawrence Ward, a turner in Branford, Connecticut, from whose descendants Pierson acquired the chair.

Medium

White oak

Dimensions

41.3 x 20.9 x 13.9 in. (104.8 x 53.2 x 35.2 cm)

Accession

1841.1

Credit line

Gift of John E. Bray