Cleveland Museum of Art

Side Chair

Eliphalet Chapin

Date

c. 1775

Medium

cherry

Culture

America, Connecticut, East Windsor, 18th century

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Before becoming one of the best known Connecticut furniture makers of the late 1700s, Eliphalet Chapin worked in New York City and Philadelphia. His furniture shows evidence of that experience. For example, the back of this chair has a splat design found on New York pieces, while the untapered rear legs and the shell carving on the crest rail are typical of Philadelphia workmanship. The use of cherry, however, is characteristic of Connecticut furniture. This chair comes from a set recorded in Chapin's account book as having been supplied to Ebenezer Grant to form part of the dowry of his daughter Anne, who married the Reverend John Marsh of Wethersfield, Connecticut, on December 6, 1775. The set was owned by their descendants until 1986.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.