Pair of Hall Chairs

CC0 Public Domain Designation

c. 1720-30

Back and seat panels: Canton (now Guangzhou), China; frame: England

This chair, part of a set commissioned by British politician Robert Walpole for Houghton Hall in England, combines both Asian and European design elements. The back and seat are crafted from Chinese lacquer and mounted on an English frame of gilded wood. In the early 1700s Europeans could not replicate the distinctive lustrous finish of Asian lacquer, made from layers of dried tree resin, so they relied on imports of the material. The lacquered panels here were likely made in Canton (now Guangzhou) and shipped flat to England, where they were assembled by a furniture maker.

Status: On View, Galleries 231-233
Department: Applied Arts of Europe

Title: Pair of Hall Chairs
Place: England (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.: 1715–1725
Medium: Options
Dimensions: Each: 112.1 × 59.1 × 56.9 cm (44 1/8 × 23 1/4 × 22 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Neville and John Bryan in honor of Ellenor Alcorn
Reference Number: 2018.619.1-2
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/198302/manifest.json

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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.

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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.