CORNER OR ROUNDABOUT CHAIR
Attributed to Thomas White (d. 1788)
1756 – 1766
Perquimans County, North Carolina
Walnut with yellow pine
HOA: 30 1/8”, WOA: 26 3/8”, DOA: 18 1/2”
Gift of Mr. Joseph B. Cheshire, Jr. (acc. 3777.1)
The Thomas White corner chair in MESDA’s collection features a splat design that is also related to Newport, Rhode Island examples and suggests a very strong Newport influence on White’s cabinetwork. Newport Quakers included John Goddard (1723-1785) and his cabinetmaking kinsmen in the Goddard and Townsend families. Thomas White was an influential member of the Quaker community that flourished in northeastern North Carolina during the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries and maintained strong ties to their Pennsylvania and New England brethren.
