Side Chair

Arts of the Americas

1742–90

Artist unknown (American, 18th century)
Albany or New York

This chair is from a set made to commemorate either the marriage of Judge Robert Livingston and his wife Margaret, in 1742, or that of their son Robert and his wife Mary, in 1770. The “RML” cipher-pierced back splat is unique in American chair design of this period. The contrast of the high-style Chippendale design with the crude craftsmanship of the carvings suggests that the chair was worked on by several hands or that it was made by a country craftsman unfamiliar with practices of the more sophisticated port cities. The powerful Livingston family controlled a large estate near Albany as well as land in New York City.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Artist unknown
Title: Side Chair
Place: New York (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. 1742–1790
Medium: Mahogany, white oak, white pine, and beech
Inscriptions: Inscribed on right interior seat rail and on lower surface of front slipseat rail: IIII Inscribed on inner surface of rear seat rail: VII
Dimensions: 108.6 × 58.4 × 54.6 cm (41 3/4 × 23 × 21 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Richard T. Crane Jr. Memorial Fund
Reference Number: 1971.25
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/35702/manifest.json

“Chicago a Wonderful Town,” Key, July 17–23, 1971, 20.
Ruth Davidson, “Museum Accessions,” Magazine Antiques 101, 1 (Feb. 1972), 314 (ill.).
“Queen Anne Side Chair,” Calendar of The Art Institute of Chicago 66, 2 (Mar. 1972), 10–11 (ill.).
Milo M. Naeve, The Classical Presence in American Art (Art Institute of Chicago, 1978), 9 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 91–93, no. 29.

Robert and Margaret (Beekman) Livingston, New York, from about 1750; by descent to Mrs. Wainwright, York Harbor, ME, to 1951; Roger J. Bacon, from 1951; with John Walton, New York, to 1971; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1971.

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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.