Ladderback Chair

Artist/Maker
Poynor, Richard “Dick”
Place Made
Williamson County Tennessee United States of America
Date Made
1850-1860
Medium
maple –oak –paint
Dimensions
HOA 36-11/16″; WOA 18-1/4″; DOA 14-1/4″
Accession Number
5641
Description
DESCRIPTION: Ladderback side chair made by Richard “Dick” Poynor. Known as the rosewood-grained, yellow-striped “fancy chair.” The chair has a simple design with its mule-eared back posts secured with a wooden peg in the top slat; the joinery is mortise and tenon. Having three back slats with slightly arched tops and straight bottoms; outlined with yellow paint. The back posts have a decoratively flat front, which is outlined with yellow paint; also having two decorative “X” shaped patterns on each post and two vertical lines at the top of the post on each. The front posts extend out past the seat with yellow paint decoration of horizontal lines and vertical lines; having tapered front feet. Having seven simply turned stretchers; the front, top stretcher has painted yellow decoration. The seat is a tightly woven split oak seat, painted. The primary wood is maple.

MAKER: Born a slave in Halifax County, Virginia, Richard “Dick” Poynor (1802-1882) was likely taught turning and joinery skills by his master Robert Poynor, a craftsman whose estate inventory included various tools, including chairmaking tools. Dick purchased his freedom sometime between 1850 and 1860, settling in Williamson County, Tennessee, where he operated a chair factory along with the assistance of his son James Poynor (1833-1893).

History
According to the donor, this Dick Poynor chair is originally from the Leiper’s Fork Church of Christ, Williamson County, TN. It was sold by the church to raise money for new pews. Before 1871, Dick Poynor was a member of the church, shared with the Leiper’s Fork Primitive Baptist Church.
Artist Biography
MAKER: “Richard “Dick” Poynor was born a slave in Halifax County, Virginia, on June 22, 1802. He moved to Williamson County in 1816 with the Robert Poynor family, settling on the Little Harpeth near the present-day Cool Springs Gallaria. The Poynors were well established as craftsmen in the community, as indicated by Robert Poynor’s estate inventory of 1848, which included “mechanics’ tools, some saddlers’ tools, some shoemakers’ tools, some blacksmithing tools and some chairmakers’ tools.” It is assumed that Robert taught his slave, Dick, the art and mystery of chairmaking.

Dick Poynor seemed to enjoy a special status in antebellum Williamson County that few men of color were able to realize. He apparently could read and write…Despite the racial strife following the Civil War, he remained an honored citizen of the community, as evidenced by his membership from April 1865 until his death on March 27, 1882, in the Leiper’s Fork Primitive Baptist Church, a predominately white congregation. He was buried in the Garrison cemetery near his home. Poynor is still revered as a master craftsman and cherished as part of the history of the Leiper’s Fork area.

Sometime between 1850 and 1860 Dick obtained his freedom and, if tradition is correct, purchased the freedom of hi second wife, Millie. Williamson County court records are silent on the emancipation of Poynor or his wife, but he was listed as posting a bond in 1860, as a freeman of color was required to do, and paying land taxes. By 1851 he had moved from the Robert Poynor farm near Brentwood and was working at his own horse-powered chair factory and hillside farm of 150 acres off Pinewood Road in western Williamson County. Dick Poynor with the help of his son James (1833-1893), produced hundreds of chairs at the factory. The Poynor chair construction was simple. With the knowledge that green wood shrinks as it dries, Poynor drove dry rungs into green posts, assured that the joint would remain tight without nails or glue.

The classic signature of a Poynor chair is found in the gracefully arching mule-eared post secured with a wooden peg in the top slat. Typically, the posts, slats, and rocker arms were made of sugar maple. while the rungs were made of hickory and the rockers of walnut. Dick made armed rocking chairs in several sizes, armless sewing rockers, high chairs for infants, and youth chairs for children. Mostly he made standard straight chairs in three sizes. The Poynor chair could be purchased as a rosewood-grained, yellow-striped “fancy chair” or in the solid hues of red, blue, black, brown and green, all bottomed in finely woven patterns of white-oak splits.” (Caldwell, Hicks, Scala, p.90)

Artist Working Dates
1816-1882
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. Richard H. Warwick.