Unknown. Side Chair, 19th century. Rosewood, modern upholstery, 35 15/16 x 19 1/8 x 21 7/8 in. (91.3 x 48.6 x 55.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred T. and Caroline S. Zoebisch Fund, 1992.42. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.42_front_PS2.jpg)
Unknown. Side Chair, 19th century. Rosewood, modern upholstery, 35 15/16 x 19 1/8 x 21 7/8 in. (91.3 x 48.6 x 55.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred T. and Caroline S. Zoebisch Fund, 1992.42. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.42_bw_IMLS.jpg)
Unknown. Side Chair, 19th century. Rosewood, modern upholstery, 35 15/16 x 19 1/8 x 21 7/8 in. (91.3 x 48.6 x 55.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred T. and Caroline S. Zoebisch Fund, 1992.42. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.42_threequarter_PS2.jpg)
Side Chair
Decorative Arts and Design
These New York–made chairs are both indebted to the French Rococo style of the mid-eighteenth century, but one is traditionally made and the other incorporates inventive production processes. John Belter’s patented laminated, bent-plywood chair departs further from the eighteenth-century model than the hand-carved Bembé & Kimbel one, suggesting that new production techniques inspired Belter to greater originality and freedom in design. Belter’s chairs became highly fashionable and were made and purchased in great numbers. It seems that by the 1850s consumers were more ready to embrace innovation—particularly in the service of conservative revivalism—than they had been in the early nineteenth century.
MAKER
Unknown
MEDIUM
Rosewood, modern upholstery
DATES
19th century
DIMENSIONS
35 15/16 x 19 1/8 x 21 7/8 in. (91.3 x 48.6 x 55.6 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Decorative Arts and Design
ACCESSION NUMBER
1992.42
CREDIT LINE
Alfred T. and Caroline S. Zoebisch Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Side Chair, rosewood, modern upholstery. Trapezoidal seat with outward curved sides and front, raised on cabriole legs with elaborately carved scroll and leaf motif with centered cartouche and rose at top of each leg. Balloon shaped back with elaborate asymmetrical pierced scrollwork to crest and back of both stiles. Asymmetrical cross support to back pierced, with floral carvings at either side at join to back stiles. Rear legs splayed with square profile, undecorated. Back of chair undecorated. Deep tufted seat with modern gold and dark red stripe floral damask.
CONDITION - Overall very good condition. Structurally stable. Surface with later revarnishing. Top pierced crest broken off at point of old break, but retained. See conservation report 7/28/94.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Unknown. Side Chair, 19th century. Rosewood, modern upholstery, 35 15/16 x 19 1/8 x 21 7/8 in. (91.3 x 48.6 x 55.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred T. and Caroline S. Zoebisch Fund, 1992.42. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.42_front_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE
front, 1992.42_front_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
