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Monkey Garden Seat, shape no. 589
Minton & Co. debuted the Monkey Garden Seat in its display at Paris Exposition Universelle of 1855, marking it as a model created within the first five years after the firm introduced majolica, the colorfully-glazed earthenware. The firm continued to produce this model for at least twenty more years when it was displayed at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, a worlds fair that took place in 1876. Its enduring appeal can be credited to its playful design, perhaps the most whimsical of the garden seat forms produced by the company. The monkey figure likely depicts a rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), a species native to South, Central, and Southeast Asia. This figure, with the tufted cushion on its head, would likely have been used in a conservatory or garden where tropical plants sourced from across the world were brought into the 19th-century domestic sphere in Europe and North America.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Nick Boston Antiques, London, by 1993; purchased by Deborah and Philip English, Baltimore, 1993; given to the Walters Art Museum, 2024.
Exhibitions
| 2021-2022 | Majolica Mania. The Bard Graduate Center, New York; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
Measurements
H: 19 × W: 14 3/8 × D: 14 3/8 in. (48.3 × 36.5 × 36.5 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Deborah and Philip English, 2024
Location in Museum
Hackerman House at 1 West Mount Vernon Place: First Floor: Parlor
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
48.2930