This roundabout chair has been traditionally known as the “Starr Memorial Chair.” Eliza Allen Starr (1824-1901) moved to Chicago from Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1856, and it was probably she who commissioned the chair to be made. The form, the roundabout or corner chair, is an 18th century one, but the size and the elaborate carving, complete with the phrase, “VIVE EN ESPOIR” (live in hope) place it in a later time.
Roundabout Chair. ca. 1880. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/1977-40/. Accessed on December 5, 2024.
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