Model #500 Chair
Designer
Charles P. Limbert
(American, 1854 - 1923)
Manufacturer
Charles P. Limbert Furniture Co.
(1902 - 1944)
Dateca. 1906
MediumOak and leather
DimensionsOverall: 33 7/8 × 25 3/4 × 21 1/4 inches (86.04 × 65.41 × 53.98 cm)
Credit LineGift of James E. Laramy in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Object number2021.17
SignedThe original and complete “Limbert’s Arts and Craft Furniture” paper label is still attached to the underside of the proper right armrest as well as the original ink stamp “No.500” on the reverse of the back seat rail.
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionThe Limbert café chair, model No. 500 is constructed of quarter sawn oak with square cut out sides and high slanted arms supported by corbels at the front legs. The upper portion of the solid backrest has a small cut out in the shape of a lotus leaf (?) which can be used as a handle. A large wide horizontal stretcher bar spans between the two sides and rest on the bottom edge of the lower cut out.Gallery LabelOne of the most important American Arts and Crafts furniture makers of the early 20th century, Charles P. Limbert produced distinctive designs based on contemporary Scottish and European models. Embracing Arts and Crafts principles of functional design, honesty of materials and spare use of decoration, Limbert created elegant, reductive works. A scalloped, crescent-shaped cutout in the back is the only ornament in the simple form of this chair, composed of a broad back, wide arm rests and arm supports and a low stretcher. Like many of his contemporaries, Limbert advocated the superiority of handmade objects, although machines were used in the production of these minimal and unpretentious works.
On Limbert in general:
Robert L. Edwards. The Arts and Crafts Furniture of Charles P. Limbert: Two Catalogues (Watkins Glen, NY: American Life Foundation, 1982).
Charles P. Limbert and Company, with a new introduction by Christian G. Carron. Limbert Arts and Crafts Furniture: The Complete 1903 Catalogue (New York: Dover Publications, 1992).
A. Patricia Bartinique and Robert A. De Falco. Kindred Styles: The Arts and Crafts Furniture of Charles P. Limbert, exh. cat. (New York: Gallery 532 Soho, 1995).
Annette Stott, "The Dutch Dining Room in Turn-of-the-Century America," Winterthur Portfolio 37, no. 4 (Winter 2002): 219–238.
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Jean-Pierre Philippe Lampué
1865
2020.11.3.1,2
