Hepplewhite side chair, one of a pair

Stephen Badlam was a leading American furniture maker during the Federal period. He set up his shop in Dorchester Lower Mills, Massachusetts, and was one of a number of furniture makers to mark his furniture with a stamp. Badlam and many of his peers drew inspiration from British design source books such as George Hepplewhite's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide (1788). This chair is one of a pair; the other is currently on view nearby in the MacFarlane Room.