Chair
Manufacturer
Coalbrookdale Company
(English, 1709 - 1959)
Designer
Christopher Dresser
(English, born Scotland, 1834 - 1904)
Designer
John Moyr Smith
(Scottish, 1839 - 1912)
Dateca. 1870
MediumCast iron and wood
DimensionsOverall: 52 3/4 × 20 1/4 × 19 7/8 inches, 15 lb. (133.99 × 51.44 × 50.47 cm, 6.8 kg)
Credit LinePurchase: the Charlotte and Perry Faeth Fund
Object number2016.17
Signedunsigned
Inscribednone
MarkingsOn chair back, left side, in cast iron: [cypher for 8 March 1870] "No 239430"
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 127
Collections
DescriptionHigh-backed chair constructed of cast iron, with a wooden seat. The legs are cast scrolled geometric plant and flower forms, decorated with incised lines and zig-zags. The metal back is cast in one large piece and is marked Coalbrookdale with a registry mark for March 8, 1870 as well as a production number, No. 239430. The roundel in the center back of the chair depicts Boreas, the Greek god of the North Wind, as a nude winged figure, blowing wind over land and water. The chair back mimics a scroll, with the dowel handles at the top and at the base of the wooden seat. Below the roundel the chair back is filled with patterns and decoration including sinuous plant forms.Exhibition History
Shock of the Old: Christopher Dresser. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York, March 5-July 25, 2004; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, September 9- December 5, 2004, no.148.
Christopher Dresser was the first modern industrial designer, creating everything from ceramics to wallpaper. This chair is representative of Dresser’s early stylistic blending of motifs and his enthusiasm for designing for industry. He was particularly interested in botanically inspired decoration. For cast iron, he preferred twisting plant forms influenced by Medieval, Byzantine, and Middle Eastern sources. The chair’s clean lines and tall back are enhanced with abundant plant forms and geometric adornment.
Private collection, England;
With H. Blairman and Sons, Ltd., London, by 2016;
Purchased from H. Blairman and Sons by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2016.
Whiteway, Michael, ed. Shock of the Old : Christopher Dresser's Design Revolution . New York: London: New York, N.Y.: Smithsonian, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; in Association with V&A Publications; Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 2004.
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