Armchair
Artist
George Jacob Hunzinger
(German, 1835 - 1889)
Date1869
MediumWalnut, black ash, and modern upholstery
DimensionsOverall: 35 1/2 x 26 3/8 x 25in. (90.2 x 67 x 63.5cm)
ClassificationsFURNISHINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, in Part, with Funds from the Mrs. Erving Pruyn Fund
Terms
Object number93.21
On View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextGeorge Hunzinger-designed furniture is recognizable because of its distinctive qualities. The crisply turned members and geometric details of the structural components resemble the parts of the very machines that produced them. Hunzinger secured twenty-one patents between 1860 and 1899. His technical patents include ingenious extension, swivel-top, and nesting tables; folding and reclining chairs; convertible beds; general structural innovations; and novel applications of new and existing materials for furniture construction.
The patented diagonal side braces of this chair that connect the back stiles with the midpoints of the side seat rails-and then become the front legs-suggest the chair could fold, but it does not. The addition of the diagonal brace reportedly increased the strength of the chair.
Upholstery Reconstruction
By the time this chair entered the Museum's collection, its lavish original upholstery had been replaced by a poorly executed twentieth-century interpretation. Several mates to this chair survive with the intact original upholstery and they served as models for the conservation of the MWPAI chair.
When the modern show cover (top layer of upholstery) was removed, remnants of the original dark-red fabric were discovered. The weave structure of the original fabric is called "rep"-a term used to describe a tightly woven, ribbed fabric. Microscopic analysis of the fibers from the original sample showed that it was woven of mohair (hair from angora goats). Mohair was typically used in the nineteenth century in the same instances as wool. Mohair was equally durable, but could be finished to a higher sheen than wool.
To complete the upholstery restoration, museum staff worked with a conservator who removed the modern upholstery, secured the chair frame, retied the original springs to attain the correct seat shape, and reupholstered the chair. Two needlepoint artists followed the color way and pattern of the original tapestry stripes on a chair in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum to recreate the chair back and center panel. Thistle Hill Weavers in Cherry Valley, New York, hand wove the upholstery fabric and elaborate trims and fringe.
