Mid 19th Century Antique Shaker Rocker

Rocking chairs became popular in the United States after the Revolution and up through the turn of the 20th century. The Shakers, a unique craft-oriented religious community, produced rocking chairs both for their own use and for sale to the outside world. This armchair rocker, which has the essential characteristics of Shaker craftsmanship, is most likely a piece made for the ”trade.”

Shaker chairs were usually characterized by their unmistakable slant, the gracefulness and simplicity of design, the round “mushroom caps” hand grips and the shaped blades of the rockers. While most of the furniture produced by the Shakers was for the use of their own community members, in the last half of the 19th century rockers and other pieces were made for sale to the outside world. These pieces – including this unusual rocker — often featured ornamentation that was not typical for the unpretentious Shakers; they were more varied, deliberately, to attract more worldly buyers.

We have had the rocker in our family since the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. My father, a Hudson Valley collector of Americana, attended one of the first auctions held after the dissolution of the New Lebanon Shaker community (often known as the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society). He admired the design qualities of Shaker furniture. We always referred to the chair as the “New Lebanon Rocker.” it is possible that there is a number signifying the size of the rocker underneath the padded seat as Shakers often numbered their chairs by size. However, we never removed the padding that was on the chair when my father purchased it. I do not have any documentation other than my memories of him bringing the chair home from New Lebanon in our first station wagon.
The chair is in excellent condition. We have treasured it, although it does not gleam like a new chair and it has an inappropriate seat padding which should be replaced, perhaps with Shaker-type woven fabric strips.