This unusual suite of side chairs embodies the final phase of the Classical Revival period in American seating furniture. An aesthetic defined by simplicity and grace, it was widely popular throughout the 1830s and 1840s. In the United States, the style is one that is clearly indebted to the French Restoration and German Biedermeier interpretations introduced by immigrant craftsmen, as well as through the first generation of American design books published by John Hall (Baltimore, 1840) and Robert Conner (New York, 1842).

Chairs in this restrained configuration are surprisingly uncommon, whereas their closely related counterparts with vase-shaped splats and arched backs are exceedingly common. Traditionally, the former has been associated with Joseph Meeks’s or Duncan Phyfe’s shops; however, the simplicity of the form would not discount the possibility of their being fashioned by a number of talented contemporary firms.

The chairs invite comparison with Samuel Foot’s suite of parlor furniture, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a closely related set of sixteen side chairs which descended in the Van Rensselaer family—both of which are associated with the Phyfe firm. Subtle differences between the two groups, notably the chairs’ figured crotch mahogany veneers, their overall height, and the breadth of the splats, suggests a sense of drama, verticality and delicacy that is lacking in the more grounded Foot and Van Rensselaer suites.