A magnificent exception to the rule that all eighteenth-century American furniture conforms to standard models is this great Masonic armchair from Boston. Such ceremonial chairs, of richly carved Rococo design, were all the rage for the masters and wardens of Masonic lodges in the provincial cities of mid-eighteenth-century England. However, none is known from Philadelphia, the center of Rococo fashion in America, and but one—our new acquisition—from all of New England.

The chair, twelve inches taller than normal, is monumental. Its back is composed of Masonic symbols: fluted columns (King Solomon's temple), rusticated arch (arch of heaven), compass and square (faith and reason), mason's level (equality), serpent swallowing its tail (rebirth), and trowel (cement of brotherly love). Its legs—with brilliantly executed flat-carved, acanthus-leaf knees and raked-back talon-ball feet—are characteristic of Boston, but the lodge for which it was made remains a mystery.

This impressive icon of Freemasonry and colonial woodwork is remarkably well preserved. The mahogany's undisturbed finish has deep red, luminous highlights, and the gilding on the feet is original (some of the other gold was added later, probably in 1790, the year painted on the back of the splat). The striped horsehair seat covering, though Neoclassical in style, also appears to be original.