Painted and gilded beech armchair with upholstered seat and back.
Identifier
FPF198
Title
Painted and gilded beech armchair with upholstered seat and back.
Date
1770-1790.
Description
A shield-back open armchair in beech, carved and painted white with parcel gilt.
Full Description
This delicate beech armchair in neo-classical style is painted white with parcel gilt. It has a shield-shaped upholstered back, the frame moulded and carved with ribbons and husk chains. The centre of the crest is carved as a ribbon knot in three bows. Down-swept short arms and supports meet the tops of the front legs. The stuff-over seat has serpentine sides and front, the rails shaped, moulded and carved. The front legs have squared blocks at the tops carved with paterae, and are turned, tapering and fluted below, ending in ‘toupie’ feet; the back legs are flared. The decoration is part carved and part composition, i.e., moulded and applied. The upholstery is modern.
The neo-classical style developed in England under the influence of the architect Robert Adam on his return from Italy in 1758. The style came to dominate architecture and interior design during the second half of the eighteenth century, during which time there was a great increase in the building of new houses both in the country and in towns and cities, particularly for the newly-rich professionals such as bankers, lawyers and doctors, and a consequent growth in demand for furnishings.
Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide of 1788, which exemplifies the spirit of Robert Adam’s neo-classicism on a more domestic scale, calls armchairs such as this one ‘cabriole chairs’, the term apparently coming from the chair-like seat of the two-wheeled cabriolet carriages that were popular at this period. This chair would have been for a drawing room and would probably have been part of a grand suite which included one or more settees. Beech was used for chairs which were intended to be painted or japanned, since it was cheaper than mahogany and not considered suitable as a show-wood.
The firm of Gillows began making cabriole chairs from the early 1770s. They recommended in a letter of 1789 that dining chairs should be made of mahogany, the dining room traditionally having a more masculine feel to it, but chairs intended for the saloon or drawing room might be painted, unless they were to be moved from one room to the other (see Stuart, 2008). The white and gold decoration, part of which is original, would have matched that of the room, and the upholstery, which is modern, would probably have been covered initially with an expensive silk, as befitted the quality of the chair and its surroundings.
The neo-classical style developed in England under the influence of the architect Robert Adam on his return from Italy in 1758. The style came to dominate architecture and interior design during the second half of the eighteenth century, during which time there was a great increase in the building of new houses both in the country and in towns and cities, particularly for the newly-rich professionals such as bankers, lawyers and doctors, and a consequent growth in demand for furnishings.
Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide of 1788, which exemplifies the spirit of Robert Adam’s neo-classicism on a more domestic scale, calls armchairs such as this one ‘cabriole chairs’, the term apparently coming from the chair-like seat of the two-wheeled cabriolet carriages that were popular at this period. This chair would have been for a drawing room and would probably have been part of a grand suite which included one or more settees. Beech was used for chairs which were intended to be painted or japanned, since it was cheaper than mahogany and not considered suitable as a show-wood.
The firm of Gillows began making cabriole chairs from the early 1770s. They recommended in a letter of 1789 that dining chairs should be made of mahogany, the dining room traditionally having a more masculine feel to it, but chairs intended for the saloon or drawing room might be painted, unless they were to be moved from one room to the other (see Stuart, 2008). The white and gold decoration, part of which is original, would have matched that of the room, and the upholstery, which is modern, would probably have been covered initially with an expensive silk, as befitted the quality of the chair and its surroundings.
Condition
The oval paterae are missing from the tops of the legs.
All four legs have been re-tipped.
The upholstery and cover are modern.
All four legs have been re-tipped.
The upholstery and cover are modern.
Materials
Beech.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 94
W. 61
D. 63
W. 61
D. 63
Parker Numbers
904. 1944.
Provenance
Acquired by Frederick Parker & Sons pre August 1915, when it was valued at £6.10.0
Notes
Susan Stuart, Gillows of London and Lancaster, 1730-1840, Antique Collectors’ Club, 2008, Vol. I, p.181.
A. Hepplewhite & Co, The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, 1788, plates 10, 11 and 12. These can also be found in The Pictorial Dictionary of British !8th Century Furniture Design, The Printed Sources, compiled by Elizabeth White, Antique Collectors Club, 1990.
A. Hepplewhite & Co, The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, 1788, plates 10, 11 and 12. These can also be found in The Pictorial Dictionary of British !8th Century Furniture Design, The Printed Sources, compiled by Elizabeth White, Antique Collectors Club, 1990.
