James Chapman Tuttle
James Chapman Tuttle (circa 1772 to 1849) has been credited as the only identified maker of Windsor chairs originating in Salem, Massachusetts. Nancy Goyne Evans in American Windsor Chairs notes that Evans probably marketed the fan-back Windsor first. She adds, “Tuttle’s use of eight spindles in his fan backs when odd numbers were commoner recalls both Boston production and the late work of the Tracy family.”
William C. Ketchum, Jr., in American Cabinetmakers: Marked American Furniture, 1640-1940, identifies Tuttle as a turner and cabinetmaker who worked in Salem from about 1795 to 1815, with a shop on Federal Street in 1796.
According to Ketchum, Tuttle’s output included bow-back, fan-back and birdcage rod-back Windsor side chairs that were impressed “I.C. Tuttle” under the seat. Other chairs have the initials “J.C.T.” Ketchum notes that a transitional slant-lid desk marked “January 1793, J.C.T.”, illustrated in the December 1987 issue of Antiques, has also been attributed to Tuttle.
For an illustration of the “I.C. Tuttle” mark, see Charles Santore, The Windsor Style in America, Volumes I and II, page 284.