Older than this Country: Pierre Deyo's Ladder Back Chair

Image of Chair with Cushion on the seat.

(photo credit: Ashley Trainor)

This ladder back chair, owned by Pierre Deyo in his lifetime and by the Deyo family until 1926, is thought to have been built between 1650 and 1700, making it older than the United States.

Object Description

This is a large and heavy, wooden chair in the ladder back style. Wooden slats running the back of the chair are what give this chair it’s trademark name. These panels are smooth to the touch and give comforting back support to anyone resting in the chair. The front poles of the chair are rounded with designs and smoothed out, possibly on a lathe. The entire chair is made of a light wood which retains the imperfections of untreated wood, the parallel support beams that run under the seat match the style of the rest of the chair. It is made of a pale wood, such as oak or pine, with a shellac finish (Giese). The only different section is the seat, which is made of a thin woven wood and painted black. This ladder chair style was popular in the Middle Ages all the way through the eighteenth century (“Ladder Back Chair”). The seat is caving inwards, and is fraying towards the front of the seat. The right leg has some scratches on its finial.

Image of chair with exposed woven seat (photo credit: Ashley Trainor).

Provenance

Pierre Deyo, one of the original patentees of New Paltz, was the first owner of this piece.   It is thought to have been built between 1650 and 1700. He most likely would have bought it from a local craftsperson. When Pierre died in 1708, his land and estate was split between his four sons, Abraham, Christian, Pierre, and Hendricus (“Deyo Family Papers”). This item was considered part of the Deyo household, included within Deyo’s grandson Peter’s will in 1791 (State of New York). The chair remained in the Deyo family up until it was purchased by Historic Huguenot Street from the Andrew LeFevere Deyo estate shortly after his death in 1926.

Narrative

Pierre Deyo (ca 1648-1708) was one of the twelve patentees of New Paltz. Along with the other members of the Deyo family, he was incredibly involved in the community, as evidenced by their extensive collection of records collected and maintained by Huguenot Street. This chair, which today has a home in the Abraham House, is older than the United States, and remained in the Deyo family about as long. The ladder back style–which was ubiquitous at the time–is older still, thought to have originated in Europe in the Middle Ages (“Ladder Back Chair”). The simple, but enduring, style is now very much desired by collectors today, which is a testament to how well-crafted these chairs are.

This style also reveals an important aspect of New Paltz life at this time: their Protestant religion. Protestants tended to favor more simple and less ornate pieces which were more functional than beautiful. The Huguenot settlers were practitioners of a late ancient Christian asceticism. According to Richard Finn, in his book Asceticism in the Graeco-Roman World, this Protestant asceticism is based on Greek morality, and that:

Virtuous living is not possible when an individual is craving bodily pleasures with desire and passion. Morality is not seen in the ancient theology as a balancing act between right and wrong, but a form of spiritual transformation, where the simple is sufficient, the bliss is within, the frugal is plenty (94).