Mahogany side chair with upholstered drop-in seat
Identifier
FPF137
Title
Mahogany side chair with upholstered drop-in seat
Date
1770-1780
Description
Mahogany side chair with a pierced interlaced splat and drop-in upholstered seat
Full Description
This mahogany side chair has a moulded serpentine crest rail carved with anthemion and acanthus leaves. It has tapering and moulded back posts with a pierced splat with interlaced loops and carved acanthus leaves which slots into an unusual cusped ‘shoe’ at the rear of the seat. The moulding on the upper parts of the back includes a raised and rounded centre which tapers off midway. A padded drop-in seat covered with a 20th century dark red flowered velvet sits on a square-section seat rail. The chair is raised on square-section front legs and raked back legs joined by an H-form stretcher with a higher back stretcher. The striped webbing is 19th century and unusual in being laid only in one direction, under a later 19th century hessian. The chair is in good original condition and was well-made, probably by a provincial maker. It has had arms fitted at one stage, which are now removed.
The chair back is after a design by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) in the 3rd edition of the Director, 1762, Plate XVI, no. 6. This pattern was almost certainly inspired by rococo designs from Continental Europe including those by Gaetano Brunetti (1736) and William De La Cour, as published in his First Book of Ornament (1741) (Bowett, p. 198, Plate 4:111). In 1751, and prior to the publication of the 1st edition of the Director (1754), Matthias Darly, who was to engrave many of Chippendale’s designs in the Director, included several designs for chair backs with interlaced splats in his Second Book of Chairs (1751), reprinted by Robert Manwaring in The Chair-Maker’s Guide (1766) (Gilbert, p. 38 and figs. 74-78).
The dominant feature of this chair-back is the splat, which was cut from a thick board of fine-quality mahogany, carved and pierced and slightly chamfered on the back edges to give a lighter feeling (Hughes, 1966). The chamfering is a normal feature on more sophisticated chairs of the second half of the 18th century. The splat is similar to one that features on a set of twenty-four mahogany side chairs supplied in c. 1765 by John Linnell (1729-96) to Robert Child for Middleton Park, Oxfordshire (Hayward, Kirkham, vol. II, p. 26, fig. 46). This same model chair was commissioned by William Drake either for Shardeloes or his London house in the same period (ibid., pp. 26-27, fig. 47). The design for the Linnell chair is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (E.113 1929).
The chair back is after a design by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) in the 3rd edition of the Director, 1762, Plate XVI, no. 6. This pattern was almost certainly inspired by rococo designs from Continental Europe including those by Gaetano Brunetti (1736) and William De La Cour, as published in his First Book of Ornament (1741) (Bowett, p. 198, Plate 4:111). In 1751, and prior to the publication of the 1st edition of the Director (1754), Matthias Darly, who was to engrave many of Chippendale’s designs in the Director, included several designs for chair backs with interlaced splats in his Second Book of Chairs (1751), reprinted by Robert Manwaring in The Chair-Maker’s Guide (1766) (Gilbert, p. 38 and figs. 74-78).
The dominant feature of this chair-back is the splat, which was cut from a thick board of fine-quality mahogany, carved and pierced and slightly chamfered on the back edges to give a lighter feeling (Hughes, 1966). The chamfering is a normal feature on more sophisticated chairs of the second half of the 18th century. The splat is similar to one that features on a set of twenty-four mahogany side chairs supplied in c. 1765 by John Linnell (1729-96) to Robert Child for Middleton Park, Oxfordshire (Hayward, Kirkham, vol. II, p. 26, fig. 46). This same model chair was commissioned by William Drake either for Shardeloes or his London house in the same period (ibid., pp. 26-27, fig. 47). The design for the Linnell chair is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (E.113 1929).
Condition
Evidence of arms fitted later and subsequently removed.
Materials
Mahogany.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 53
W. 91
D. 53
W. 91
D. 53
Parker Numbers
3810. 3213. 3214.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons on 1 November 1916 from Millar (probably Cecil Millar) for £5.10.
Notes
Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 3rd Edition, London, 1762, Plate XVI.
G. Bernard Hughes, ‘The Modern Chairs of Chippendale’, Country Life, 11 August 1966, p. 345.
Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Antique Collectors' Club, 2009, p. 198, Plate 4:111.
Christopher Gilbert, ‘The Early Furniture Designs of Matthias Darly’, Furniture History, vol. 11, 1974, p. 38 and figs. 74-78).
H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, London, 1980, vol. II, pp. 26-27, figs. 46-47.
G. Bernard Hughes, ‘The Modern Chairs of Chippendale’, Country Life, 11 August 1966, p. 345.
Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Antique Collectors' Club, 2009, p. 198, Plate 4:111.
Christopher Gilbert, ‘The Early Furniture Designs of Matthias Darly’, Furniture History, vol. 11, 1974, p. 38 and figs. 74-78).
H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, London, 1980, vol. II, pp. 26-27, figs. 46-47.
