John and Hugh Finlay
Side Chair
1814
Physical Qualities
Maple, cherry, paint, gilt, 33 7/8 x 20 3/8 x 24 3/16 in. (86 x 51.8 x 61.4 cm.)
Credit Line
The George C. Jenkins and Decorative Arts Funds, by exchange with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Object Number
1972.46.1
The 11 surviving chairs exhibit such fantastic creatures on their tablet-tops as unicorns (BMA 1972.46.2), griffins, sphinxes, and swans (BMA 1972.46.1). The various other classical motifs... include palmettes with drapery on the front legs, anthemions and winged thunderbolts on the siderails, bound fasces on the front rail, and an eagle standard with a laurel wreath and torches at its center on the stay rail of the back. Strong yellow, green and black decoration.
From a set of 12 chairs made originally for Arunah S. Abell's house 'Woodburne'.
Wendy A. Cooper, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Classical Taste in America 1800-1840", June 27-September 26, 1993, no. 78, ill. p. 116, pp. 117 & 292; circulated to Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Dr. David Park Curry, "PAINT! Japanned, Ebonised, Grained, and Polychromed Furniture in the Baltimore Museum of Art," December 2006-
Dr. David Park Curry, "PAINT! Japanned, Ebonised, Grained, and Polychromed Furniture in the Baltimore Museum of Art," December 2006-
William Voss Elder III and Jayne E. Stokes, American Furniture 1680-1880 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore: BMA, 1989, no. 32, pp. 50-51.
Robert Morton, Southern Antiques and Folk Art, Birmingham, Alabama: Oxmoor House, 1976, p. 63.
'Collecting American Art for the Metropolitan 1961- 1966,' Antiques Magazine, April 1967, p. 483, ill.
BMA Today, Summer 2009, p. 18, ill.
Wendy A. Cooper. "Classical Taste in America 1800-1840". Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art; New York: Abbeville Press, 1993, page 116.
On View: American Wing Second Floor, Scott 02
Explore the Collection Further
