33 
July, i p i6 
Four of the French periods are epitomized in these chairs. The first is a gilded wood arm chair with tapestry upholstering 
from the time of Louis XIV; the second from Louis XV; the third, upholstered in red Genoese velvet, from Louis XVI, and the 
last, mahogany and gilt ormulu upholstered in brocade velvet, represents the Empire 
COLLECTING CHAIRS OF CHARACTER 
A Utilitarian Hobby That Lends 
Individuality and Interest to the Home 
GARDNER TEALL 
Illustrations by Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
T HE old-fashioned idea that a collector 
must arrange his treasures grouped 
together in one place no longer obtains. 
I remember asking one who had re¬ 
turned from a visit to a very interesting 
house if the host and hostess were collectors 
of antiques, curios or 
rare objets d’art. “Oh 
no,” was the reply, “I 
don’t think so. They 
showed me many 
beautiful things, but 
I didn’t see anything 
that looked like a col¬ 
lection.” Later I 
learned that the own¬ 
ers of this house took 
just pride in possess¬ 
ing one of the finest 
collections of early 
furniture in the coun¬ 
try. They, of course, 
realized the interest of considering the 
pieces in their collection as articles to enter 
into the adornment of their home, and not 
as objects to be gathered cluster-wise into 
a museum-looking unit, though even, our 
museums (the Metropolitan Museum of 
An American chair of 
Hepplewhite style of 
the period between 1785 
and 1795 
Art, New York, notably among them) are 
now arranging such of their exhibits as 
furniture in a manner to convey to the 
visitor a full impression of the original in¬ 
tention of the various objects, by giving 
them place in a reconstructed room or ar¬ 
ranging them in the 
representation of a 
part of one. 
Probably no piece 
of furniture holds 
greater interest for 
the collector than the 
chair. Its ancestry 
is venerable, but it 
need not be touched 
upon here. It is true 
that in a magnificent 
Louis Quatorz draw¬ 
ing - room, perfectly 
appointed and his¬ 
torically correct, the 
One of the oldest ex¬ 
amples extant of the 
American rocking 
chair. 1675-1725 
An American chair 
showing Carolean in¬ 
fluences. Made be¬ 
tween 1680-1700 
Sheraton style is pro¬ 
nounced in this Ameri¬ 
can-made chair, 1790-1800 
The group on the lower part of this page are American-made. Here are 
illustrated various forms of the Winsor chair. The wood is hickory. 
They were made between 1750-1775 
An American lyre-back 
chair by Duncan T. 
Fyfe. Early 19th Century 
