Embroidered Chair Back
1755–65
Medium
Linen embroidered with wool and silk threads
Dimensions
32 x 25 in. (81.3 x 63.5 cm)
Classification
Chair back
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Philip Holzer, 2003
Accession Number
2003.480
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of colonial American domestic arts with *Embroidered Chair Back by Mehitable Starkey created between 1755 and 1765. This exquisite linen panel, measuring 32 x 25 inches, was meticulously embroidered with vibrant wool and silk threads, a functional chair component into a showcase of needlework mastery. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, it entered the collection as a gift from Philip Holzer in 2003, celebrating the ingenuity of early American craftswomen. The design bursts with lively motifs—men and women amid deer, animals, and trees—evoking ...