Side Chair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Side Chair
Datec. 1735–1795
Made inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
MediumBlack walnut; black walnut and southern yellow pine
Dimensions42 3/8 × 20 3/4 × 19 3/4 in. (107.6 × 52.7 × 50.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.246
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Pine Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Stylistic differences between this chair and B.69.407.1–.2 represent the two predominant interpretations in Late Baroque Philadelphia chair making. The present example is characteristic of the more complex type, with its three-part, or trifid, foot and vase-shaped banister advancing a dramatic, three-dimensional contour, which, in concert with the scrolled volutes, evokes a sense of movement not realized in the previous chairs. The combination of these elements, depending on the client’s taste and pocketbook, resulted in either a simple or complex expression.


Technical notes: Black walnut; black walnut (slip seat front and sides), southern yellow pine (slip seat back). The construction is typical of Philadelphia chairs from this period (see B.69.69). The seat retains its original upholstery foundation. The seat frame and slip seats are incised I and IIII, respectively.


Related examples: Sack 1950, p. 5; Antiques 81 (March 1962), p. 237; Comstock 1962, no. 167; Heckscher 1985, p. 85, no. 40; Sotheby’s, New York, sale 5500, October 24–25,1986, lot 242; Sack 1993, p. 32.


Book excerpt: Warren, David B., 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 (1884–1959), New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1949; given to MFAH, 1969.
Exhibition History

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
Incised on seat frame: I
Incised on slip seat: IIII

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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

scan from file photograph
c. 1735–1795
Black walnut; black walnut and southern yellow pine
B.69.66
Side Chair
c. 1745–1795
Black walnut; southern yellow pine
B.69.65
scan from file photograph
c. 1730–1775
Black walnut; black walnut and southern yellow pine
B.69.407.2
Armchair
c. 1750–1790
Black walnut; southern yellow pine
B.69.249
scan from file photograph
c. 1730–1775
Black walnut; black walnut and southern yellow pine
B.69.407.1
Side Chair
c. 1730–1775
Black walnut; black walnut and southern yellow pine
B.69.69
scan from file photograph
c. 1760–1800
Black walnut; red gum, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, southern yellow pine, and eastern white pine
B.69.527
c. 1740–1800
Black walnut; southern yellow pine, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, and spruce
B.66.15
Side Chair
c. 1750–1795
Mahogany; eastern white pine
B.2000.16
scan from file photograph
c. 1800–1820
Black walnut, southern yellow pine
B.71.22
Desk on Chest
c. 1860–1890
Black walnut and basswood; southern yellow pine
B.62.48
Armchair
c. 1760–1790
Black walnut; southern yellow pine
B.69.18