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Side chair. Woven rattan and velvet upholstery. Scrolls and wooden beads. Rests on cabriole front legs and tapered back legs.
side chairs
rattan
Chair
"Cherished Possessions": Wicker furniture was aptly suited to the new taste for a lighter, less cluttered look that appeared at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1897, the nation's two largest producers of wicker merged to form the Heywood Brothers and Wakefield Company, with factories and warehouses across the United States and in England, resulting in a virtual world-wide monopoly.
Henry and Cora Laverty of Medfield, Massachusetts, purchased these two pieces along with a wicker rocking chair as part of a set. It is unusual to find wicker seating furniture with its original printed plush upholstery fabric. Surprisingly, given their remarkable condition, these were used in the Laverty family's parlor for nearly a century.
Heywood-Wakefield Co. (Maker)
42 7/8 x 20 1/4 x 21 3/4 (HxWxD) (inches)
Museum Purchase
1992.159.1
Massachusetts (United States)
Gardner (Worcester county, Massachusetts)
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