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Accession #	64.243.6
Title	Armchair
Date	1750-1800
Medium	Mahogany, upholstery
Dimensions	40 1/4 x 25 1/4 x 17 3/4in. (102.2 x 64.1 x 45.1cm)
Marks	no marks
Inscriptions	no inscriptions
Signed	no signature
Credit Line	Gift of Robert W. Dowling
Location	American Identities: Art Making / Centennial Era
Description	Armchair. Mahogany, shaped back, scrolled crest above a pierced lace-like splat; flaring, outward scrolled armrests; shaped seat upholstered with red brocade with red floral pattern; curved skirt; front cabriole legs terminating in formalized claw and ball feet, plain curved back legs. CONDITION: Part of proper left front foot missing; armrests worn and loose; proper left side of rail back broken but is restored; proper right side back rail attached with iron hinge.

Curatorial Remarks: About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.

Mahogany furniture was the epitome of 18th-century high style and luxury. Such pieces were valued not only for the wood’s beauty and its ability to be carved into complex forms, but also its durability and resistance to insects and rot. Fabricated from the finest mahogany in a Mexican cabinet-making workshop, this chair was destined for the sitting room of a wealthy white Spanish colonist. To convey affluence and status, the owner would have wanted the most stylish European designs. The chair’s quintessentially European origins are seen in the curved legs, ball-and-claw front feet, rounded back with a lace-like frill, and overall solidity and restraint.

This chair’s mahogany was harvested in Honduras or Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In fact, the majority of the mahogany used for such furniture came from solid blocks or planks of wood from old-growth trees found in the Caribbean. The wood was harvested and processed by enslaved labor, overseen by white settler colonists. By the early 19th century, mahogany had been over-harvested. Cabinetmakers turned to fabricating chair and table legs, seat backs, and tabletops from local woods covered in thin veneers, or layers of wood.

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Gallery Label

The epitome of eighteenth-century luxury, mahogany furniture was valued not only for the beauty of the wood and its hardness—allowing it to be carved into complex forms and motifs—but also for its durability and resistance to insects and rot. The wood for this chair was harvested and processed by enslaved African laborers in the Caribbean, who were overseen by white settler colonialists. It was then transformed by furniture makers in Mexico into a chair carved with designs that originated in Europe. By the early nineteenth century, mahogany had been over-harvested and furniture makers began turning to more economical woods and fabrication techniques.