Baltimore, Maryland, ca. 1820
Tulip poplar and maple
Catalog no. 50
Side Chair
Baltimore or Frederick, Maryland, ca. 1825
Maple
“Fancy” furniture, so called because of its imaginative painted decoration, was produced in coastal cities from New England to South Carolina, but Baltimore was the undisputed capital of the painted-furniture industry. The most elaborate Baltimore fancy chairs featured ornamentation akin to that on the blue example to the left. It has gilded and stenciled classical figures and foliage enhanced by freehand application of paints, washes, and tinted varnishes meant to simulate the costly gilt bronze mounts then being used on European furniture. Less expensive chairs like that on the right omitted the freehand decoration, relying instead on unembellished mono- or polychromatic stenciled decoration.
The blue ground color on the chair on the left is unusual. Baltimore chair makers advertised that they painted furniture in “all colors,” although grounds of red and yellow, and, slightly later, black or rosewood graining are far more common. The varnished blue on this chair may represent a specific order by the original owner.