Side Chair
ca. 1800
1 of 2
Caption
Side Chair, ca. 1800. Mahogany, red gum, ash secondary wood, modern horsehair upholstery, brass tacks, 39 1/4 x 21 1/4 x 18 1/2 in. (99.69 x 53.97 x 46.99 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Matthew Scott Sloan Collection, Gift of Lidie Lane Sloan McBurney, 1997.150.7. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Title
Side Chair
Date
ca. 1800
Geography
Place made: New York, United States
Medium
Mahogany, red gum, ash secondary wood, modern horsehair upholstery, brass tacks
Classification
Dimensions
39 1/4 x 21 1/4 x 18 1/2 in. (99.69 x 53.97 x 46.99 cm)
Credit Line
Matthew Scott Sloan Collection, Gift of Lidie Lane Sloan McBurney
Accession Number
1997.150.7
Frequent Art Questions
These chairs are so beautiful!
They certainly are! These chairs are in the neoclassical style and were made by an American craftsman who was looking to English pattern books for ideas. The backrest is in the shape of a shield, which was a style popularized by the London cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite. The carving on the chair back is very finely done, particularly in the rippling cloth swags!I'm curious about this chair. Was it something one would see in a household during this era or was it for a business? Was it affordable when it was made?
This side chair is from around 1800, and was made in New York! You can see chairs of a similar type in the Cane Acres Perry Plantation House, on of our period rooms on the fourth floor. As in the period room, they would have been found in a house. The owners of Cane Acres were wealthy, but this style of chair was popular and could be made at different price points, depending on the type of wood used and the intricacy of the carving.
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