Chair

Lockwood de Forest|Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company

ca. 1881–86 · Probably teak; silk embroidery on linen · The American Wing

This side chair is an example of the "exotic" furniture that Lockwood de Forest designed and produced at the Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company in western India. De Forest's synthesis of straightforward plank construction and solid rectilinear form advocated by design reformers, with Indian, North African, and Near Eastern vocabularies of ornament, is characteristic of the Aesthetic movement. The chair is upholstered with a geometric-patterned and richly embroidered fabric (now worn) made at Ahmedabad and of the type that designers like Tiffany used for exotic effect in Aesthetic-style interiors. This chair may have belonged to a suite purchased by Baltimore & Ohio Railroad heiress Mary Elizabeth Garrett for her home in Baltimore.

Artist

Lockwood de Forest|Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company

Date

ca. 1881–86

Medium

Probably teak; silk embroidery on linen

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, The Overbrook Foundation Gift, 1992