Armchair

Art Historical Context

This elegant armchair, crafted by Owen Carter Jones around 1867–, exemplifies the refined tastes mid-nineteenth-century European furniture design. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Applied Arts of Europe department, the piece measures just under a meter in height and combines function with decorative sophistication. Its classification as seating underscores how such objects served both daily comfort and artistic expression during the Victorian era. The chair’s rich materials—mahogany accented with purpleheart, ebony, harewood, holly, and brass—reveal a masterful approach to marquetry a...