Side Chair

Samuel McIntire

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This vase-back chair originally was made for the wealthy Salem merchant Elias Hasket Derby. The chair is part of a larger set, two pieces of which are at Bayou Bend (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston), and one in the Karolik Collection (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). The design of these chairs is an enriched version of plate 2 from George Hepplewhite's "Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide" (London, 1788). The carved grape clusters in the lunette at the base of the splat and suspended from bowknots at the top of each leg are a motif traditionally associated with the work of Samuel McIntire, a Salem carver and architect.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art