Carved and gilded beech open armchair with oval back.
Identifier
FPF203
Title
Carved and gilded beech open armchair with oval back.
Date
1770-1780
Description
Carved and gilded beech open armchair with oval back, upholstered seat and back.
Full Description
This gilded open armchair has an oval, upholstered back with guilloche carving on the frame. Out-scrolled arms with upholstered arm pads rest on down-curved supports carved with guilloche ornament. The back is continuous with the back legs. The seat rail is fluted and the stuff-over seat is shaped and has a serpentine front. The chair is raised on turned, part-fluted and foliate carved front legs with carved panels where the legs meet the seat-rail, and they terminate in ‘toupie’ feet (toupie is French for a spinning top). The back legs are moulded and raked. The cream damask cover is modern.
This chair is similar to FPF202, in the neo-classical style of the latter part of the 18th century, inspired by the classicism of ancient Greece and Rome. It is closely related to a pair of chairs purchased from the furniture dealer, Messrs. Harris & Sons by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, for £40 in 1919 (W.35-1919; CIRC 318-1919). The V&A chairs were acquired to provide a ‘time-line’ of styles, and were intended to be a model for chair-makers to study and copy. FPF203 and the V&A chairs are similar to a set of six chairs supplied by John Linnell (1729-96) to Inveraray Castle, Argyll, Scotland, in 1775-78 (Hayward, Kirkham, 1980). Another comparable set of sixteen chairs (together with eight settees) was made for the saloon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, in c. 1780, and is believed to be by Linnell (NT 108598).
Although none of these chairs can be firmly attributed to Linnell, it is possible they were from his workshop based on stylistic grounds supported by circumstantial evidence.
This chair is similar to FPF202, in the neo-classical style of the latter part of the 18th century, inspired by the classicism of ancient Greece and Rome. It is closely related to a pair of chairs purchased from the furniture dealer, Messrs. Harris & Sons by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, for £40 in 1919 (W.35-1919; CIRC 318-1919). The V&A chairs were acquired to provide a ‘time-line’ of styles, and were intended to be a model for chair-makers to study and copy. FPF203 and the V&A chairs are similar to a set of six chairs supplied by John Linnell (1729-96) to Inveraray Castle, Argyll, Scotland, in 1775-78 (Hayward, Kirkham, 1980). Another comparable set of sixteen chairs (together with eight settees) was made for the saloon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, in c. 1780, and is believed to be by Linnell (NT 108598).
Although none of these chairs can be firmly attributed to Linnell, it is possible they were from his workshop based on stylistic grounds supported by circumstantial evidence.
Materials
Beech.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 93
W. 60
D. 53
W. 60
D. 53
Parker Numbers
1972. 4383.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons pre 1911 for £13.10.0.
Notes
H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, London, 1980, vol. II, p. 46, fig. 90, and discussed in vol. I, pp. 126-128.
National Trust, Kedleston Hall:
Untitled 108598 | National Trust collections
This chair is on loan to No 1 Royal Crescent, Bath.
National Trust, Kedleston Hall:
Untitled 108598 | National Trust collections
This chair is on loan to No 1 Royal Crescent, Bath.
