The thin, two-dimensional quality of this chair’s carving typifies Neoclassical decoration during the Federal period of American design. The delicate swags within a classical shield echo the flat decoration of wall paintings excavated in ancient Roman houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Roman designs made their way to America at the turn of the eighteenth century through publications by prominent English cabinetmakers Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite, the latter of whom developed the shield shape used for this chair.