Like a klismos chair sketched on an ancient Greek vase, this vigorous Baltimore-made piece has a dramatically raked back and rear saber-shaped legs that seem to thrust the trapezoidal seat forward. The designer controlled this sense of motion with abruptly vertical front legs derived from Roman, rather than Greek, chairs. Capping an array of green and black ornament, including an eagle standard quirkily set sideways to decorate the small stay rail, is a magnificently painted tablet back. Here, spirited swans center the flourishing scroll derived from Thomas Sheraton’s Cabinet- Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing-Book (London, 1793). The suite of 12 chairs was eventually housed at Woodburne, a large house owned by an entrepreneurial Baltimorean, Arunah S. Abell (1806 – 1888). Eleven of the 12 chairs survive today.