A rare surviving document of the virtuosity of the American upholstery of the late nineteenth century, this side chair retains its original upholstery. Around the Civil War, increasingly mechanized textile production at both American and European mills made a wide variety of fabrics readily available to an affluent American market. The importance of fabrics and trim in expensive nineteenth-century interiors is evident in photographs of the opulent homes decorated by Herter Brothers and other interior decorating firms.