Side Chair
1760–85
Medium
Mahogany with oak, maple, and upholstery
Dimensions
93.3 × 54.6 × 44.8 cm (36 3/4 × 21 1/2 × 17 5/8 in.)
Classification
seating
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
120394
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Designs for American furniture of the colonial period were usually based on European precedents, whether from an exact prototype, from designs in pattern books, or from the memory of an immigrant craftsman. In the case of this chair, the craftsman based the design on both an English chair that was imported into Boston sometime around 1750 and on a design plate from Thomas Chippendale’s pattern book, The Gentleman and the Cabinetmaker’s Director, published in 1762. With its delicate proportions a...