Philip Burke Antiques

Wagon seat:

a double seat, generally with a two-chair back of slat-back or Windsor variety, usable both as a farm porch settee and a wagon seat.

Walnut:

a dark, close-grained wood plentiful along the Eastern seaboard; some-times to eight feet in diameter. It came into favour with American William and Mary furniture and continued popular throughout the eighteenth century, especially south of New York. Walnut is 'almost a hallmark of Queen Anne furniture'. In Pennsylvania, despite the fashion for mahogany, it was the chief furniture wood up to 1850.

Martha Washing-ton chair:

slender Chippendale-Hepple-white arm-chair with tapered outlines; a 'lady's chair5, with up-holstered, low, shallow seat and high back, which usually ends in a serpentine curve (Fig. 19). So named because Martha Washington is supposed to have used one at Mount Vernon. decoration on bedposts, chair and sofa backs, etc.

Windsor:

whether the American Windsor chair was evolved from the English Windsor or the English corner chair, or both, is not yet certain. In any event, the American development is unique. In the American Windsor the back has no splat and is formed entirely of spindles socketed into a top rail. There are two main types - comb-back, in which the top rail is shaped like the head of a comb; and hoop-, or bow-, back, the top rail bent like half a hoop (Figs. 20 and 21). Four other types are differentiated - low-back, a semicircular horizontal top rail somewhat.

Martha Washington mirror:

walnut or mahogany wall mirror, Georgian style, with handsome gilded mouldings, strings of leaves, fruits or flowers down the sides, a scroll top and a bird finial. The base is cut in a series of bold curves. Made in America from about 1760 to 1800. So named because Martha Washington is supposed to have used one at Mount Vernon. (Same as Constitu¬tion mirror.) Martha Washington sewing-table: oval box-form sewing-table with rounded ends and hinged top. Fitted with drawers and sewing material compartments. The general style is Sheraton but the particular type seems to be an American variant. So named because Martha Washington is supposed to have used one at Mount Vernon.

Web foot:

see Duck foot.

Wheat ears:

Hepplewhite carved orna-ment of wheat ears, used in America by Mclntire, Phyfe and others as low-relief like that of a corner chair; New England arm, a simpler form of the hoop-back; fan-back (which some •authorities think may have been the side chair to the comb-back arm-chair); and loop- or balloon-back, the top rail loop-shaped. American Windsors have saddle-shaped seats of solid wood or, occasionally, rush seats. The legs, simple turned, are pegged into the seat at a rakish angle, adding a final charm to the stick-and-spindle lines. Windsors were first made in or near Phila-delphia about 1725, and were found so comfortable that by 1760 they had become the most popular of all chairs in everyday use. A type fitted with rockers, called the Windsor rocker, is often found.

Wing chair:

upholstered easy chair with a high back, stuffed arms, and wings. Popular in America about 1700-1810. Three types are 'differentiated - Queen Anne, Chippen¬dale and Hepplewhite-Sheraton.

Work-table:

see Sewing-table.

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