Side Chair

1700–1720
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 711
Tall, stately, and covered in its original "Russia" leather, this high-back chair is a fine example of the fully developed William and Mary style. It is crowned with a characteristic Boston-school crest rail featuring C-scrolls and foliage. The calfskin leather is of the type made near Saint Petersburg in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Usually dyed red and embossed with a tiny lattice pattern, it was tanned and dressed with bark extracts and oils to make it supple and less subject to decay and insect infestation.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Side Chair
  • Date: 1700–1720
  • Geography: Made in Massachusetts, United States
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Red maple, oak
  • Dimensions: 48 x 18 x 15 in. (121.9 x 45.7 x 38.1 cm)
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 1951
  • Object Number: 52.77.58
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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