Side Chair

1760–85

Artist unknown (American, 18th century)
Boston

Designs for American furniture of the colonial period were usually based on European precedents, whether from an exact prototype, from designs in pattern books, or from the memory of an immigrant craftsman. In the case of this chair, the craftsman based the design on both an English chair that was imported into Boston sometime around 1750 and on a design plate from Thomas Chippendale’s pattern book, The Gentleman and the Cabinetmaker’s Director, published in 1762. With its delicate proportions and crisp carvings, this chair is one of the boldest expressions of the Boston Rococo style.

Status: On View, Gallery 167
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Artist unknown
Title: Side Chair
Place: Boston (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1760–1785
Medium: Mahogany with oak, maple, and upholstery
Inscriptions: Incised on rear seat rail:"V" original maple slip seat incised on rear rail:"VIII"
Dimensions: 93.3 × 54.6 × 44.8 cm (36 3/4 × 21 1/2 × 17 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Helen Bowen Blair Fund
Reference Number: 1991.266
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/120394/manifest.json

Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 93–95, no. 30.

Mr. and Mrs. David A. Wasson, Cambridge, MA, and Kittery Point, ME; by descent to their nephew, Allen Lamprell, Kittery, ME, by 1990; with Peter Sawyer, Exeter, New Hampshire, 1990; with Israel Sack, Incorporated, New York, by 1991; the Art Institute of Chicago, 1991.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.