Side Chair Maker: Unknown

1760–80

American Decorative Arts

By appointment, Hume Furniture Study

The graceful curl of the carved ribbons surrounding the pierced opening on the crest of this chair and the intertwined streamers on the front seat rail show the skill of the carver. The English cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale published The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Directory in 1754. The design of the back of this chair is partially based on plates XII and XIV in that book and illustrates the influence of Chippendale's designs on late colonial furniture.

Medium

Mahogany, red gum, Atlantic white-cedar, southern yellow pine

Dimensions

39 3/16 × 16 15/16 × 17 1/4 in. (99.5 × 43 × 43.8 cm)
seat: 43 11/16 × 58 1/8 in. (111 × 147.6 cm)

Credit Line

Mabel Brady Garvan Collection

Accession Number

1930.2104

Geography

Made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Culture

American

Period

18th century

Classification

Furniture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
One of a group of chairs acquired from the Misses Biddle, Philadelphia, Pa., Charles R. Morson, New York, N.Y. and Charles W. Lyon, New York, N.Y., by Francis P. Garvan, New York, N.Y.; The Mabel Brady Garvan Collection.
Bibliography
  • Dennis Andrew Carr, American Colonial Furniture: Guide to the Collection, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2004), 12, 16, ill
  • Patricia E. Kane, 300 Years of American Seating Furniture Chairs and Beds from the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1976), 108-9, no. 91, ill
  • John T. Kirk, American Chairs: Queen Anne and Chippendale (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), 86, fig. 81
  • Meyric R. Rogers, "Garvan Furniture at Yale," Connoisseur Year Book, 1960 (1960), 58, fig. 9
  • John Marshall Phillips, "Outstanding Examples from the Mabel Brady Garvan Collections," Bulletin of the Associates in Fine Arts at Yale University 8, no. 2 (February 1938), 44, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

side chairs

Inscriptions

The number "III" is marked on the top edge of the front seat ledge, and "II" appears on the slip seat frame.

Technical metadata and APIs

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