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| Accession # | 1998.46 |
|---|---|
| Designer and Manufacturer | Kimbel and Cabus |
| Title | Side Chair, Model 304 |
| Date | ca. 1875 |
| Medium | Ash, original stained, gilt, and patent leather upholstery |
| Dimensions | 35 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 21 in. (90.2 x 47.0 x 53.3 cm) |
| Marks | Unmarked |
| Credit Line | Purchased with funds given by the Wigmore Foundation |
| Location | Visible Storage: Case 11, Shelf C (Furniture with Original Upholstery) |
| Description | Side Chair. Wood and original stamped, dark-red dyed, and gilded leather seat and back in the Modern Gothic style. Domed seat with overall pattern of conventionalized rosettes in a diagonal grid with patent leather trim secured by brass tacks at seat rail. Leather on back similarly decorated, but with horizontal band of three pairs of vertically disposed gilded sunbursts. Square profile front legs, raised on casters, with chamfered corners; diamond incised decoration at top block and small incised rosettes on lower leg where horizontal side stretchers meet front legs. Square profile seat rails with incised horizontal zigzag band at front. Square profile back legs set in from end of back seat rail and canted to rear. Back stiles with incised conventionalized floral decoration and chip carving in front above seat rise from canted back legs above join with side stretchers with exposed mortise and tenon construction and terminate in rounded profile. Paired horizontal back cross stretchers above seat connected by five turned spindles support upholstered back secured to stiles by two conical capped dowels at each side. CONDITION: Original leather seat torn and deteriorating; jute webbing ripped and springs distended. Leather on back less worn. Wood frame dry. See Conservation Report in file. Leather seat conserved by Nancy Britton, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Summer/Fall 2000). |
Curatorial Remarks: The significant number of photographs and other images that include this chair (such as the painting at left) suggest its popularity with consumers. It was versatile, serving as part of a dining or parlor suite, and its rectilinear lines, turned baluster spindles between the chair back and seat, and signature Kimbel and Cabus angled rear legs communicated the owner’s preference for Modern Gothic innovation. This example retains its exceedingly rare original leather upholstery, once red and now faded.
