Art Institute of Chicago

Armchair

Artist unknown (American, 18th century)

Date

c. 1740

Medium

Walnut and upholstery

Culture

Philadelphia

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This chair was made by an English or Irish cabinetmaker who had emigrated to Philadelphia. The style of the chair successfully blends the Philadelphia Quakers’ preference for elegant simplicity and functionality with decorative flourishes that were stylish in English work of the period. Some of the decorative elements that embellish the chair are also found on a small group of early Philadelphia-Baroque, “fiddleback-splat” chairs, so named for the curve on the side of the back splat reminiscent of the shape of a violin.

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