Samuel Gragg, Chairmaker
The son of a wheelwright, Samuel Gragg was born in Peterborough, New Hampshire in 1772 and made chairs in Boston from 1801. He died in 1855.
Gragg is best known for his “Patent” bentwood “Elastic” chairs, for which he received a Federal patent in 1808. He also made “bamboo, fancy and commmon Chairs and Settes – all made of the best materials in the most faithful manner” as set forth in his trade card and advertisements. Some of these windsor chairs were branded “S. GRAGG BOSTON” in large block letters.
Gragg’s “Patent” chairs come in two main variations. In the first version the back stiles and seat rails are made of one piece of bentwood, as are five vertical splats extending out to form parts of a splat seat. The sabre form legs are separate pieces and the front legs terminate with carved goat-hoofs. These give the chair its usual “Goat-hoof-foot” name. In the second variation, known as the “fully” elastic version, the stiles and seat rails extend down to form the front legs in one continuous piece. Woods used in both these variations included birch, beach, hickory and oak. Both featured “ornamental painting and gilding”.
Both variations of these chairs were made as side and armchairs, the armchairs being slightly larger and having downswept arms extending from the top crest rail. One “elastic” settee is known to exist.
Stylistically, Gragg’s “elastic” furniture may have drawn its inspiration from the Classical movement sweeping early Federal America, especially the furniture forms of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and most particularly the famous “klismos” chair.
For futher refrence see The Incredible Elastic Chairs of Samuel Gragg by Michael Podmaniczky in the Winter 2003 issue of Winterthur Magazine, pages 14 to 18 (Winterthur organized an exhibition of Gragg’s Elastic Furniture in the spring of 2003. The exhibition also traveled to the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum.) What is believed to be Gragg’s copy of the 1808 patent may be found at the Carrier Library at James Madison Univeristy, Harrisonburg, Virginia.