Chair belonging to Etta Moten Barnett: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a wood chair made of light-colored wood that has been carved and lacquered black. The chair has a tall back rest covered with Asian-inspired style carvings of mythical creatures, flora and fauna. The carvings represent an abstracted mountain with a dragon amid clouds. The front legs are bowed and carved with mythical creatures. The seat is flat, and the front is shallowly carved in a fret pattern. There are numerous chips and areas of loss in the lacquer throughout the piece.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1870-1930
• Manufactured by: Unidentified
• Owned by: Etta Moten Barnett, American, 1901 - 2004
• Type: desk chairs
• Medium: wood with lacquer
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 38 7/16 × 21 5/8 × 17 15/16 in. (97.6 × 55 × 45.5 cm)
• Place used: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Black interiors
• Topic: Broadway Theatre
• Topic: Humanitarianism
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Topic: Women
• Object number: A2022.13.1.2
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.