Mahogany side chair with carved and pierced splat.
Identifier
FPF158
Title
Mahogany side chair with carved and pierced splat.
Date
1760-1770
Description
Mahogany side chair with pierced splat and upholstered seat.
Full Description
This mahogany side chair has a serpentine crest rail with pointed scroll ends above a pierced vase-shaped splat carved with double ‘C’ scrolls, cabochon and acanthus leaves. The splat is flanked by slightly flared, tapering back posts. A stuff-over seat with tapered sides is covered in close-nailed red leather; the chair was reupholstered in 1985, although the horsehair may have been reused. The chair is raised on square-section chamfered legs with pierced brackets; the back legs are slightly flared.
The chair is based on a design published in the 1st edition of Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754), plate XII, and subsequently as plates XIII and XIV in the 3rd edition (1762). It is the only chair back design which appears in all three editions of the Director, suggesting it was a popular model. In the 1762 text, Chippendale states: ‘The front Feet are mostly different, for the greater Choice… The Seats look best when stuffed over the Rails, and have a Brass Border neatly chased; but are most commonly done with Brass Nails, in one or two Rows’.
A set of six chairs corresponding to this design was possibly supplied by Chippendale to Nostell Priory, Yorkshire in c.1765 (Gilbert, 1978).
The chair is based on a design published in the 1st edition of Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754), plate XII, and subsequently as plates XIII and XIV in the 3rd edition (1762). It is the only chair back design which appears in all three editions of the Director, suggesting it was a popular model. In the 1762 text, Chippendale states: ‘The front Feet are mostly different, for the greater Choice… The Seats look best when stuffed over the Rails, and have a Brass Border neatly chased; but are most commonly done with Brass Nails, in one or two Rows’.
A set of six chairs corresponding to this design was possibly supplied by Chippendale to Nostell Priory, Yorkshire in c.1765 (Gilbert, 1978).
Condition
The chair was restored and re-upholstered in 1985; it was finished with varnish which obscures much of the detail and makes judgments on authenticity difficult.
The shoe is loose.
Front and side seat rails are replaced and the rear rail is strengthened.
Brackets at front legs are later.
Four spliced feet.
The shoe is loose.
Front and side seat rails are replaced and the rear rail is strengthened.
Brackets at front legs are later.
Four spliced feet.
Materials
Mahogany.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 97
W. 61
D. 61
W. 61
D. 61
Parker Numbers
Plastic label: ‘PATTERN’
OM 2384. See Frederick Parker Archive, Box 55, FPA050. Page 181.
OM 2384. See Frederick Parker Archive, Box 55, FPA050. Page 181.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons in March 1913 from Kennedy’s for £8.0.0.
Notes
Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 1st edition, 1754, plate XII; 3rd edition, 1762, plates XIII and XIV and p.3.
C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, Vol. 1, p. 174; Vol. 2, p. 83, fig. 131.
C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, Vol. 1, p. 174; Vol. 2, p. 83, fig. 131.
