Side Chair

Henry Ingle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Furniture historians debate whether this chair and its companion (1971.180.16) originated in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, or South Carolina. Although the molded front legs, stretchers, and serpentine-front saddle seats are more frequently found in Philadelphia seating furniture, the secondary woods used in the seat frame-yellow pine and oak-are more typical of a southern locale. The design of this chair's back was taken directly from George Hepplewhite's "The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide" (1788). Carved chairs with upholstery over the rail were formal enough for a parlor setting, but the durable horsehair cover made them suitable for use in the dining room as well. This chair and its companion form a set with ten straight-front side chairs (1971.180.18–.27).

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