Manufacturer R.J. Horner
Date:
c. 1890s
Medium:
Birds-eye maple, hard maple, brass, replaced fabric writing surface
Size:
Width: 23 1/8″
Height: 53 1/4″

Why would R.J. Horner and Company, an American furniture maker, scorch and shape maple wood to look like Asian bamboo? This desk demonstrates an appropriation and absorption of Asian aesthetics in response to a mass trend. American magazines of the time declared bamboo the perfect material to furnish a sophisticated summer home.

East Asian-inspired furniture design gained popularity as Chinese bamboo furniture became fashionable in England during the early 19th century. The American consumer became further acquainted with East Asian aesthetics through the militarized initiation of Japanese-American trade in 1856 and the soaring popularity of the Japanese Pavilion at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. The revitalization of American interest in East Asian-inspired aesthetics led to a renewed fad of bamboo furniture at the end of the 19th century.

Friends of the American Wing Fund BMA 2005.155

Hear What a Reporter Wrote in 1893

Transcript

[Aaron Henkin] Here’s an enthusiastic article about the new art furniture that could be seen at the
showrooms of the desk’s manufacturer RJ Horner and Company. This article ran in the New York Times in
1893:
[Speaker 2] Furniture of All the Finest, some remarkable handsome examples to be seen at RJ Horner and
Company. In these days when art is making such rapid strides in so many different directions, there’s no
reason why every American home with any pretension should not be fitted up with the best taste. And when
it is furniture making that is the particular art considered, one can do no better if the fact is to be proved
than pay a visit to the establishment of RJ Horner and Company 61, 63 and 65 West 23rd Street. Here on
exhibition, some delightful examples showing to what an extent this artist progressed. One walks a made a
collection of delightful conceits. There are specimens of the very finest household effects of ancient and
modern pattern.