Chair (one of a set of six)
Unknown Artist
ca. 1695
Medium
Walnut, caning; velvet not original to frame
Dimensions
Overall: 55 1/4 × 20 1/4 × 17 in. (140.3 × 51.4 × 43.2 cm)
Classification
Woodwork-Furniture
Culture
British
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
Accession Number
14.40.797
Art Historical Context
This elegant walnut chair, one of a matching set of six crafted around 1695 in Britain, invites us into the refined world of late Stuart interiors. Standing at over 55 inches tall, it exemplifies the grandeur of period furniture designed for formal spaces like drawing rooms or grand halls in prosperous households. Its slender, vase-shaped splats and cabriole legs reflect the transition from rigid Restoration styles toward the more fluid, comfortable forms influenced by William III's Dutch court. Fashioned from richly grained walnut—a favored wood for its durability and decorative figuring—the...