AFA Summer 2020

Antiques & Fine Art 83 2020 Side chair. London, England, ca. 1725. Walnut, beech, and gold leaf. Museum Purchase (1957-177, 1). As they do today, furniture fashions changed over time in the eighteenth century. Curves and the visual movement they create came to dominate furniture designs beginning in the 1720s. With its rounded seat, cabriole legs, vase-shaped splat, and curved crest rail, this chair epitomizes the era in which it was made. The addition of carving and gilding to the sinuous frame make this chair one of the finest examples of its day. It was originally part of a suite that included at least a dozen matching chairs, a pair of triple chair-back settees, and four stools. They furnished one of the elegant rooms at Worsborough Hall in Yorkshire, England.