Unknown American
Campeche Chair

Public Domain

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Maker Unknown American

CultureAmerican

Titles

Campeche Chair

Datec. 1790–1810

Possible placeNew Orleans, Louisiana, United States

MediumBirch and leather

Dimensions36 1/2 × 26 5/8 × 22 1/4 in. (92.7 × 67.6 × 56.5 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Jas A. Gundry in memory of his father, Judge L. M. Gundry, justice of the Illinois Supreme Court

Object numberB.2001.2

Current Location

The Audrey Jones Beck Building

106 Cameron Gallery

On view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

FURNITURE

DescriptionThe curule or X-base seat form became a symbol of authority in ancient Rome. Use of such chairs spread through Europe and came to North America with the Spanish conquest. The present form developed in Mexico, and examples were exported from the port city of Campeche on the Yucatan peninsula. North American cabinetmakers began to make them in about 1800, and they became popular in New Orleans. Thomas Jefferson used New Orleans-made “campeachy” chairs at Monticello, as well as others made for him by John Hemings, an enslaved cabinetmaker on the plantation.
Provenance[Nancy S. Boyd, Savannah, Georgia]; purchased by MFAH, 2001.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

[no inscriptions]

[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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