Side Chair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Side Chair
  • One of a Pair
Datec. 1810–1820
Made inNew York , New York, United States
MediumMahogany and mahogany veneer; cherry and ash
Dimensions32 3/8 × 19 1/4 × 22 in. (82.2 × 48.9 × 55.9 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.68.14.1
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

During the early-nineteenth-century Grecian phase of revived classical taste, an attempt was made to create furniture design that was archaeologically correct. However, classical details were often used in ways that had no antique precedent. Thus, New York City craftsmen adapted the lyre, a musical instrument associated with Classical Greece, to the stay rail design of Grecian-style chairs, and the motif was sufficiently popular to be listed as a standard option in the 1810 price book. 

Technical notes: Mahogany, mahogany veneer; ash (front and rear seat rails), cherry (slip seat). While the two Bayou Bend chairs share basically the same design, minor differences of detail, particularly in the lyre, suggest they were originally in different sets. 

Related examples: Winterthur (Montgomery 1966b, no. 73); MMA (Davidson and Stillinger 1985, pp. 146–47, fig. 228; Tracy et al. 1970, no. 27); Sack 1950, p. 61; Milwaukee Art Museum, without the leaf carving on the leg fronts (Jobe et al. 1991, no. 86). A sketch attributed to Duncan Phyfe, now at Winterthur, illustrates a similar chair (Montgomery 1966b, no. 72a).

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


Provenance[Israel Sack, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, June 3, 1943; given to MFAH.

Exhibition History"Theta Charity Antiques Show," Albert Thomas Convention Center, Houston, September 25–29, 1985 (LN:85.31)

Petit Museum of the Theta Charity Antiques Show, September 18–23, 1996, Houston, TX (LN:96.36)

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Side Chair
c. 1810–1820
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scan from file photograph
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c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, red oak, sweetgum, and black cherry
B.60.37.3
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c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, red oak, sweetgum, and black cherry
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B.64.9.1
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c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; with ash, black cherry, eastern white pine
B.64.9.2