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George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). <em>Armchair</em>, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_IMLS_SL2.jpg)
George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). Armchair, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_IMLS_SL2.jpg)
George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). <em>Armchair</em>, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_IMLS_SL2.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). Armchair, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_IMLS_SL2.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). <em>Armchair</em>, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_transp470.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). Armchair, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_transp470.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). <em>Armchair</em>, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_view1_bw_IMLS.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). Armchair, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_view1_bw_IMLS.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). <em>Armchair</em>, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_view2_bw_IMLS.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). Armchair, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_view2_bw_IMLS.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). <em>Armchair</em>, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_mark_bw_IMLS.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). Armchair, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_mark_bw_IMLS.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). <em>Armchair</em>, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_bw.jpg)

George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). Armchair, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_bw.jpg)

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Armchair

Decorative Arts and Design

George J. Hunzinger was perhaps the most progressive American furniture designer of the second half of the nineteenth century. He secured twenty-one patents for innovative folding chairs and beds, new structural designs, and the inventive use of old and new materials. This chair was patented in 1869 and includes Hunzinger's diagonal brace, which allowed for some of the first cantilevered chair seats. Amazingly, the chair retains its original upholstery, giving us further insight into Hunzinger's original design conceit.
DESIGNER George Jacob Hunzinger, American, born Germany, 1835–1898
MEDIUM Wood, original upholstery
  • Place Made: New York, New York, United States
    • DATES designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869
    DIMENSIONS 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS Impressed on back proper right rear stile: "HUNZINGER / N. Y. / PAT. MARCH. 30 / 1869"
    COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts and Design
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1992.208
    CREDIT LINE H. Randolph Lever Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Armchair; wood, wool, and cord. Turned and incised wooden members. Front legs rise diagonally from lower front; attached to outside rear seat rail, intersect with horizontal arm rail, terminate in outward scrolled finials with six graduated spheres on each finial. Rear stiles flare outward above seat rail to support slightly arched balustrade of turned elements and then continue to meet upper rear stiles. Turned arm rail and arm stile connected by quarter circle member. Turned front stretcher has four baluster elements rising to seat rails with drop finials below. Textile stretched between rear stiles to form back with long fringe and floral swag motif on black ground. Deeply tufted arched seat with rolled front, turned wood cap at front sides of roll. Central panel with multicolored floral motif on black ground oriented front to back. CONDITION: See conservation Report in file.
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). Armchair, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_IMLS_SL2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1992.208_IMLS_SL2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
    George Jacob Hunzinger (American, born Germany, 1835–1898). <em>Armchair</em>, designed: 1869; patented: March 30, 1869. Wood, original upholstery, 35 5/8 x 27 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (90.5 x 69.2 x 64.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund, 1992.208. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.208_IMLS_SL2.jpg)

    TAGS

    furniture
    seating
    Victorian chair
    American furniture
    American furniture maker
    wood
    DecArts
    new york furniture
    new york
    IMLS
    hunzinger
    ocre
    chair
    huinzinger
    fringe
    textile
    upholstered
    floral
    carved
    seating furniture
    yellow

    TAGS

    furniture
    seating
    Victorian chair
    American furniture
    American furniture maker
    wood
    DecArts
    new york furniture
    new york
    IMLS
    hunzinger
    ocre
    chair
    huinzinger
    fringe
    textile
    upholstered
    floral
    carved
    seating furniture
    yellow

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