The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Chair

Chair

c. 1800
designed and made by

attributed to Samuel McIntire

(American, 1757–1811)
America, Salem, early 19th Century
mahogany
Overall: 97.2 x 57.2 x 46.4 cm (38 1/4 x 22 1/2 x 18 1/4 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1962.125
Location: not on view

Description

This chair exemplifies the neoclassic style in America. Design books published by British cabinetmakers transmitted the style to the New World. Indeed, Samuel McIntire found inspiration for this chair in Plate 2 from the 1794 edition of George Hepplewhite's Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer's Guide. The McIntire chair's shield-shaped back, however, is pointed rather than rounded, and the front legs, enriched with carved grapevines, have tapered "spade" feet with ebony applied. McIntire's carving skill brought him great success in Salem, a town half the size of Boston, but where some of the finest furniture of the period was made. This chair comes from a set owned by the Derby family, one of the most prominent in Salem.
  • 1962
    (Israel Sack Inc., New York, NY, 1962, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
  • Cooper, Wendy A. "The Furniture and Furnishings of the Farm at Danvers." M Bulletin (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) 81 (1983): 24-45. 4171643
    Warren, David B., and Ima Hogg. Bayou Bend: American Furniture, Paintings and Silver from the Bayou Bend Collection. New York: New York Graphic Society [in Komm.], 1975. 77
    Flanigan, J. Michael. American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1986. 106
    Davidson, Marshall B., and Elizabeth Stillinger. The American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art u.a, 1985. 139
    Barter, Judith A., Kimberly Rhodes, Seth A. Thayer, and Andrew Walker. American Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1998. 110-111
  • Seminar on American Furniture. Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 2, 1976).
    Neo-classicism: Style and Motif. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
    Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).
  • {{cite web|title=Chair|url=false|author=Samuel McIntire|year=c. 1800|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.125