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Side chair
English
1780s
Medium/Technique
Painted wood (beech?) with modern upholstery
Dimensions
Overall: 90.2 × 52.4 × 50.2 cm (35 1/2 × 20 5/8 × 19 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Horace Wood Brock
Accession Number2020.496.1
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsFurniture – Seating and beds
In the late 18th-century, Scottish-born architects Robert and James Adam led a revolution in interior design. Rooms painted in pale colors and embellished with delicate neoclassical ornament became all the rage. These chairs with carved and painted decoration in green, salmon, and gold demonstrate how formal furniture was coordinated to fit with the new style. Several cabinetmaking firms, including Hepplewhite in London and Gillows in Lancaster, popularized the taste for neoclassical design in the 1780s, though the maker of this chair is not yet identified.
DescriptionSide chair (one of a pair) with painted and carved decoration on shield back with cut-out design of an anthemion or honeysuckle flower, with serpentine front seat rail and cabriole legs.
ProvenanceSold at Christie's, Ven House, Somerset, June 21-22, 1999, lot 1050 (as a pair). Sold by the dealer Maller & Co. to Horace Wood Brock. 2020, gift of Horace Wood Brock, Gloucester, MA to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 16, 2020)