Side Chair (part of a set)
c. 1885
Medium
Painted maple, with vinyl
Dimensions
101.6 × 43.2 × 48.2 cm (40 × 17 × 19 in.)
Classification
seating
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
122120
Art Historical Context
This elegant side chair, crafted around 1885 by Louis Comfort Tiffany, exemplifies the artist’s early forays into furniture design during America’s Gilded Age. Best known today for his luminous stained-glass lamps and windows, Tiffany also led an expansive studio that produced complete interiors, treating furniture as an integral part of a unified decorative scheme. Created as part of a larger set, the chair reflects Tiffany’s belief that beautiful, handcrafted objects should elevate daily life. Made of painted maple, the chair’s surface treatment allowed Tiffany to introduce color and patter...