Side Chair

This elegant side chair, crafted around 1750, offers a fascinating glimpse into changing tastes in 18th-century American furniture. Part of a set originally commissioned for John Wister's Germantown home, Grumblethorpe, it blends elements of two distinct styles. You can see the lingering influence of the Baroque period in the pierced design of the chair's back and the ruffled shell ornament adorning the front seat rail. Yet, the chair also embraces the emerging Rococo aesthetic with its more elaborate carving, the distinctly rectangular shape of the back, and the trapezoidal seat. Made of rich mahogany with tulip poplar and upholstery, its refined form suggests the comfort and sophistication sought by affluent colonial families.