Leather chair

Unknown

1723–45 · Soft maple, ash · The American Wing

When the Boston upholsterer Thomas Fitch described chairs he was selling as “crook’d back” in early 1723, he was probably referring to side chairs similar to the one displayed here, which is still upholstered in its original, locally tanned leather. Promoted as the “newest fashiond,” the chair has a back panel with a shallow, serpentine curve that conformed to the sitter’s back and must have been a significant advance in seating comfort. Throughout the second quarter of the eighteenth century, the Boston chairmaking industry exported large numbers of these comfortable, practical chairs.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1723–45

Medium

Soft maple, ash

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1909