Bembe & Kimbel Chair in Bronze Thadeus Stevens Monument

Jul 01 2008

Bembe & Kimbel Chair In Thaddeus Stevens Bronze Monument

Published by RareVictorian at 12:32 pm under Research

If you followed the recent posts on Kathie’s Bembe & Kimbel chair, you might be interested to see the chair as part of a recent bronze monument of Thaddeus Stevens created by George Mummert.

Thadeus Stevens Bronze Monument

I received a note from George that states the following:

I used Walter’s 1857 drawing to recreate the chair first in clay then in bronze. I created the bronze larger than the original, it is proportionately 25% larger in every way. A fun and yet tedious project. We often sat in the chair while it was in the studio, despite it being metal, it was quite comfortable to sit in. I chose to tuft the seat and back as the original drawing, though I found some documentation that suggested that Meigs may not have liked the tufted versions. I too found many chairs with slightly different carving details. I also included wheels, many existing chairs have been modified to remove the wheels.

I plan to do the chair as a stand alone piece.

I am attaching two images, one of a close up in clay and on of the finished monument.

George is planning to do another bronze of the chair alone to sell and raise funds for a 501(c)(3) arts organization which he has founded. If you are interested in owning the bronze, please contact us for more information.

(Click the images to expand to a larger size)

Tags: Bembe and Kimbel, Chair, House of Representatives, Thadeus Stevens, Thomas Ustik Walter

4 Responses to “Bembe & Kimbel Chair In Thaddeus Stevens Bronze Monument”

# woodwrighton 01 Jul 2008 at 10:30 pm

Nice work - very cool. I don’t think it said, but where is the statue is located? Maybe I’ll get to see it in person (that depends where it is).
# RareVictorianon 02 Jul 2008 at 11:12 am

Located at the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, PA. Very close to me, so now I’ll have to check it out.
# Kathieon 02 Jul 2008 at 11:14 am

The stoires behind these chairs gets longer and longer. It amazes me how one piece of furiniture is interwoven in our history. If the chairs could talk what we could learn.
# George Mummerton 15 Jul 2008 at 11:19 am

Thanks for the comments, I have learned so much about this interesting piece of furniture and history along the way. The bronze is located at 750 E. King St Lancaster PA 17603.

It was created to honor Thaddeus Stevens for the Thaddeus Stevens College. I have seen photos of both Stevens and Lincoln seated in the Walter chairs.

My website has some images, more to come, about how I made the chair.

Welcome any comments or inquiries on the work - george_mummert@hotmail.com