The Mathews County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 27 discussed the fate of an antique chair that Mathews County loaned to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation for study more than 16 years ago.
The campeachy chair, which long sat in the county’s historic courthouse, was identified as possibly related to Monticello in 1975 and was loaned to the foundation in 1998. The foundation oversees Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Charlottesville.
In 2014, the foundation’s assistant curator of decorative arts, Diane Ehrenpreis, undertook a study of campeachy chairs in general and determined that Mathews County’s chair was probably made in Virginia sometime between 1815 and 1825. The piece is likely a reproduction of one of the many models of the campeachy chair that were produced in New Orleans during that period, according to a letter from foundation vice president Susan Stein to Mathews County Administrator Mindy Moran.
Because the chair “does not seem to have a Jefferson provenance, we are hoping to return it to you,” said Stein in the letter. She said that the chair is “an important and relatively rare example of early Virginia-made furniture” and that “we hope you can display it at the Mathews County Courthouse for all to enjoy.” She requested a date for the return to take place.
However, Moran told the board of supervisors during the board meeting on Jan. 27 that the county does not have a suitable place to display the chair.
Supervisor Janine Burns said she doesn’t want the county to forget about the chair and suggested that Moran talk to the Mathews County Historical Society about it.
Supervisor Jack White said that once the historical society’s museum above the visitor’s center in the old Sibley’s General Store has been completed, there might be a place for it there, but that for now it’s in a safe place.
Supervisor O.J. Cole suggested that the chair’s value needs to be assessed for insurance purposes upon its return.
No action was taken on the matter.
The chair’s history
Discovered with a broken arm on the dusty second floor of the historic courthouse in 1975, the Mathews County campeachy chair, which was missing an arm and had split leather on the seat, was subsequently repaired by Catherine Brooks and her husband, the late Elwood Kirby Brooks Jr.
The chair remained upstairs in the courthouse, virtually unnoticed, until 1998, when curators from Monticello visited the county to examine it and received permission from then-Circuit Court Clerk Eugene Callis to take the chair for three months to determine if it was an authentic early-19th century campeachy chair built by Monticello’s slave cabinetmakers. It has been there ever since.
Description
Researchers at the foundation describe the chair as having a half-round crest (top) rail, curvilinear arms and arm posts, back posts that terminate in carved, faceted finials, and flat rather than turned stretchers on the base. While the embossed leather upholstery is different from that of other Monticello chairs, the padded headrest is just like another chair at the Charlottesville plantation. Finally, the Mathews chair has through-mortise joints only in the arms and arm posts, and it’s a bit larger than other campeachy chairs at Monticello.
The foundation checked Monticello’s historic correspondence and visitor accounts for the names of Mathews County clerks of court, judges, and justices, but couldn’t find a link between Monticello and Mathews.
According to an article in “The Magazine Antiques,” the term campeachy is an Anglicized version of “Campeche.” The style of chair is named for the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico and the port city of Campeche on the Yucatán Peninsula, an area known for its trade in logwood.