SAPFM Museum Furniture Collection

Child's Board Rocking Chair

Child's Board Rocking Chair, 1750–1800, Yellow-poplar, white pine, soft maple
Date
1750–1800
Medium
Yellow-poplar, white pine, soft maple
Dimensions
28.5 x 14.9 x 12.5 in. (72.4 x 37.9 x 31.8 cm) · Diam. 43 in. (109.2 cm)
Form
Chair
Origin
United States
Museum
Yale University Art Gallery
Accession
1930.2293
Credit line
Mabel Brady Garvan Collection
Board construction—a furniture-making method in which pieces of wood are fitted together with rabbeted joints fastened with nails—was the easiest and least expensive way of making furniture in early America. Woodworkers with the most rudimental skills could and did make furniture in this manner from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The technique was used primarily for simple chests but rarely for seating furniture, with the exception of chair tables, settles, and children's rocking chairs.
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