Details

Title

Side Chair

Artist/Maker

John Henry Belter (American, born German, 1804-1863), designer and maker

Date

ca. 1855–1860

Medium

Laminated rosewood, white pine, and ash with original applique designs on modern silk upholstery

Dimensions

39 7/8 x 19 1/8 x 27 1/2 inches

Credit

Virginia Carroll Crawford Collection

Accession #

1981.1000.62

Location

On View - Stent Family Wing, Level 3, Gallery 305

While the furniture industry was becoming increasingly mechanized by the 1850s, wealthier, fashionable buyers might purchase a suite of hand-carved furniture like this one by the German-born New York cabinetmaker John Henry Belter. However, even Belter needed the help of steam-pressing machines to produce the deeply undulating curves and pierced, carved edges characteristic of his furnishings. He achieved the necessary construction strength for his designs by laminating thin sheets of hardwoods into a plywood—a process Belter patented in 1849.