Roundabout Chair

Probably Massachusetts, 1730–40
Maple, pine
42 x. 22 x 19 in.
Gift of Edwin Buckingham Sears
1987.1444

This is the chair in which Mary Buckingham sits in the portrait above. According to her grandson, she purchased it during an antiquing trip to Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1890s. In the eighteenth century, these chairs were often used at desks and were called “roundabout” chairs.