Set of fourteen side chairs

Robert Adam

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chippendale executed this set of Neoclassical mahogany dining chairs for Goldsborough Hall, in Yorkshire, which belonged to Daniel Lascelles, younger brother of Chippendale's most extravagant patron, Edwin Lascelles, of nearby Harewood House. The set, which originally included fifteen chairs, remained at Goldsborough until 1929, when it was removed to Harewood House, from whence it was sold in 1976. The chairs represent one of Chippendale's most elegant designs: their tapering backs have arched top rails and molded sides headed by beaded paterae and leaf finials; fan-shaped splats with a central patera are encircled and flanked by pendent bellflower swags; and the square, tapering paneled legs are decorated with pendent husks. He produced several sets of these chairs with minor variations, including one, which has not survived, for Lansdowne House, in London. The present set, which has been reupholstered as it was originally with red morocco leather, re-creates in the Museum's dining room from Lansdowne House the unity of design between the furniture and Robert Adam's decoration, which was one of the most notable aspects of this great Neoclassical interior.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art