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Side Chair

Decorative Arts and Design

This side chair is an intentional, faithful copy of a chair made more than one hundred years earlier by the famous New York City cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe. Made out of the same expensive materials as the original Phyfe chair, it is an example of the Colonial Revival style that began about the time of the United States centennial in 1876 and continued well into the twentieth century. Out of a desire to define themselves and their place in the world, Americans began to look back proudly to their past. They then began to build colonial-style houses and fill them with early American–style furniture such as this chair.
MEDIUM Mahogany, metal, modern damask upholstery
DATES ca. 1926
DIMENSIONS 31 1/4 x 18 x 19 1/2 in. (79.4 x 45.7 x 49.5 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS On back seat rail: white label gummed and printed in black "From / Ernest F. Hagen, / Furniture and Antiques / 213 East 26th St., / New York / [written in pencil] Nov. 1926"; written in pencil directly on seat rail "Mr. Lever / Nov. 1926"
SIGNATURE no signature
INSCRIPTIONS no inscriptions
ACCESSION NUMBER 64.80.22
CREDIT LINE Bequest of H. Randolph Lever
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Mahogany side chair, Klismos style, lyre back, curved crest rail. Curved back stiles terminating in scroll, sabre legs. Carved lyre with five metal strings. Slip seat upholstered in green damask with lyre motif. Chair branded on front seat rail IIII, seat VI on front support. Condition: Good; two cracks on base of lyre, numerous nicks and finish worn.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Ernest F. Hagen Furniture and Antiques. Side Chair, ca. 1926. Mahogany, metal, modern damask upholstery, 31 1/4 x 18 x 19 1/2 in. (79.4 x 45.7 x 49.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of H. Randolph Lever, 64.80.22. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 64.80.22_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 64.80.22_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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