1730-1770

Butaca Chair

Artist/maker unknown

This armchair was made in the port of Campeche, Mexico, from where the export of such "Spanish chairs" gave rise to the name Campeche chair frequently used to describe this form. The short chimney-like finials and the shell-carved arched crest rail evoke the Cathedral of Saint Francis in Campeche, underscoring the relationship between the design of furniture and architecture. The proportions, dimensions, and hammock-like seat—here, with its original stamped leather—point to its use as a chair of ease or, in Spanish, butaca. The Mexican butaca combined elements of seating borrowed from Asian, indigenous American, and European cultures to create by the 1700s this unique design.

From the earliest colonial times, trade in furniture within the Americas was brisk and included butaca chairs. This is the earliest known butaca to survive.