A carved crested Spanish foot banister back armchair painted black with rush seat from New Hampshire, circa 1730. This is a replica from one at the Shelburne Museum in Vt., with enhancements and alterations. There is a related armchair at the Yale Art Gallery, but without Spanish feet. 2010. Charlotte, Vt.

I've built sets of side chairs to match original banister back armchairs, that do not exist, and, may never have . I use the same details, scale them appropriately, using the dimensions of other original side chairs as reference. There is a bit of trial and error in this process, but that is how they were all made originally, plenty of re-works , bad ideas and kindling.