The unfurling vines and blossoming flowers covering this chair frame were carved by mistri, professional wood and stone craftsmen working in Ahmedabad, India. The compositional play of incision, curve, and cutout is a style taught by father to son in the Gujarat region. In 1880, the New York interior designer Lockwood de Forest met prominent Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist Muggunbhai Hutheesing (d. 1889) in Ahmedabad, and together they established the Ahmedabad Woodcarving Company to preserve pre-Colonial Indian craftsmanship and export work to the American market. De Forest incorporated furniture, paneling, and architectural elements by mistri makers in his commissions to decorate entryways, parlors, and bedrooms of wealthy Americans. This chair, whose upholstery is original and also made in Ahmedabad, sat in the living room of Mary Elizabeth Garrett, businesswoman and art patron, at 101 West Monument Street in Baltimore, a townhome, now demolished, that became the first location of The Baltimore Museum of Art. -Brittany Luberda, American Wing Collection Rotation March 2021