Armchair

Thomas Brooks (1811–1887) ran a successful furniture-making business at the corner of Fulton and Sand Streets, near the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. This chair was part of a large order placed with Brooks and paid for on June 4, 1872, by Judge Nathaniel Holmes Clement for his house in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The purchase is documented by a bill of sale, a rare surviving nineteenth-century example, and offers us a vital glimpse into the past. The bill informs us that Clement paid $425 for a walnut sofa, two armchairs, and four "window" chairs, all upholstered in silk. The chair is rendered In the Renaissance Revival style that was popular in the United States from the late 1850s. The style is characterized by classical-inspired motifs such as the carved dolphins, acanthus leaf, and roundel on the crest of the chair and by bold turned decoration, as seen in the legs.