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Object Timeline
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Reading Chair Chair
This is a chair. It is dated ca. 1720–30 and we acquired it in 1960. Its medium is turned and joined walnut, leather, brass, tin. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.
INS:
As eighteenth-century English printers began producing more books and members of the upper classes read more, the private libraries of the upper class became important domestic interiors. This chair is one of the earliest examples of specialized furniture with functions specific to reading. Designed so a male reader could sit astride facing the adjustable book ledge, the chair features a candle holder in one arm and a
tray for writing implements in the other. (IDEO)
Wall label from exhibition, “IDEO Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection,” Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, NY.
This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Cockfight chair.
This object was
donated by
Mrs. Paul Moore.
It is credited Gift of Mrs. Paul Moore.
- Argyle Tea Rooms Armchair
- oak.
- Gift of David Byrne and Adelle Lutz.
- 1994-52-1
- Hitchcock chair Armchair
- painted, stencilled and gilded maple wood, caning.
- Gift of Sarah Cooper Hewitt.
- 1931-43-112
Its dimensions are
H x W x D (Book rest and parts not extended): 92.2 x 77.5 x 72 cm (36 5/16 x 30 1/2 x 28 3/8 in.) Open (chair with book rest, candlestick and tray in arm extended): 106 x 95 x 96 cm (41 3/4 x 37 3/8 x 37 13/16 in.)
Cite this object as
Reading Chair Chair; England; turned and joined walnut, leather, brass, tin; H x W x D (Book rest and parts not extended): 92.2 x 77.5 x 72 cm (36 5/16 x 30 1/2 x 28 3/8 in.) Open (chair with book rest, candlestick and tray in arm extended): 106 x 95 x 96 cm (41 3/4 x 37 3/8 x 37 13/16 in.); Gift of Mrs. Paul Moore; 1960-164-16-a/c
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions The Virtue in Vice and IDEO Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection.
