Lot Essay
This chair is believed to be one of a set of 262 chairs comissioned by Congress and designed by Quartermaster-General Montgomery C. Meigs for use in the chamber of House of Representatives in 1857.
In 1859 the House of Representatives sold these chairs were at public auction where several were purchased by well known Washington photographers Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner for use in portraits. In 1860 Brady photographed Abraham Lincoln seated in one of these chairs. This portrait as well as another chair from the House of Representatives is now in the Henry Ford Museum and is illustrated in Bishop, Centuries and Styles of the American Chair (New York, 1972), p. 395, figs. 687 and 690
A nearly identical chair sold in these Rooms January 25, 1986, Lot 360
In 1859 the House of Representatives sold these chairs were at public auction where several were purchased by well known Washington photographers Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner for use in portraits. In 1860 Brady photographed Abraham Lincoln seated in one of these chairs. This portrait as well as another chair from the House of Representatives is now in the Henry Ford Museum and is illustrated in Bishop, Centuries and Styles of the American Chair (New York, 1972), p. 395, figs. 687 and 690
A nearly identical chair sold in these Rooms January 25, 1986, Lot 360