Child's Chair
1 of 5
Object Label
Gardner was a family-run furniture company that secured several United States patents for its innovated seating furniture. The patent on this chair was for the one-piece plywood seat and back, an early use of this progressive material that would reach its greatest utility in the mid-twentieth century. Patents were of two types: technical patents, like the one here, and design patents. Manufacturers used patents to promote their wares as progressive and novel. Gardner exhibited similar chairs at the Centennial exhibition and garnered awards for their ingenuity.
Caption
Gardner & Company (1863–1888). Child's Chair, Patented May 21, 1872. Wood, plywood, brass, 18 1/8 × 8 5/8 × 10 in. (46 × 21.9 × 25.4 cm) mount: 18 × 8 3/4 × 11 in. (45.7 × 22.2 × 27.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Maria L. Emmons Fund, 1998.88. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Collection
Collection
Maker
Title
Child's Chair
Date
Patented May 21, 1872
Geography
Place manufactured: Clarksville (now Glen Gardner), New Jersey, United States
Medium
Wood, plywood, brass
Classification
Dimensions
18 1/8 × 8 5/8 × 10 in. (46 × 21.9 × 25.4 cm) mount: 18 × 8 3/4 × 11 in. (45.7 × 22.2 × 27.9 cm)
Markings
Impressed on back, left of "Y" piercing in rectangle: "GARDNER'S / PATENT / MAY 21 1872"
Credit Line
Maria L. Emmons Fund
Accession Number
1998.88
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