Oval back open armchair (frame only).
Identifier
FPF205
Title
Oval back open armchair (frame only).
Date
1770-1790
Description
Oval back open armchair frame, the upholstery to seat, back and arms missing.
Full Description
This beech chair frame has an oval fluted chair back and short curved arms cut to receive upholstered pads, joined to down-swept supports that meet the tops of the front legs. The oval frame is continuous with the back legs. The seat rail is fluted, serpentine at the front and curved at the sides and back. The chair is raised on turned, tapered and part-fluted front legs with octagonal top sections and terminating in ‘toupie’ feet (toupie is French for spinning top). There are carved paterae within square panels where the legs meet the seat rail. The back legs are turned and raked, with ‘toupie’ feet. There are traces of the original paint scheme of ivory and duck-egg blue, as well as gilding, possibly from a later paint scheme. The upholstery has been entirely removed but there are traces of a red material and horsehair.
This neo-classical chair is typical of the early 1770s. The form was used by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) for some of his most important commissions, including sets of chairs at Harewood House, Nostell Priory and Newby Hall, all in Yorkshire (Gilbert, 1978). However, Chippendale’s distinctive models have arm supports that always join the seat rail rather than the top of the leg, as in this example. Contemporaries of Chippendale were supplying related chairs, for example by John Linnell (1729-1796) at Inveraray Castle, Argyll, and Osterley Park, Middlesex (Hayward, Kirkham, 1980) and those attributed to William Ince (d. 1804) and John Mayhew (1736-1811) at Cobham Hall, Kent (Cornforth, 1983).
This neo-classical chair is typical of the early 1770s. The form was used by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) for some of his most important commissions, including sets of chairs at Harewood House, Nostell Priory and Newby Hall, all in Yorkshire (Gilbert, 1978). However, Chippendale’s distinctive models have arm supports that always join the seat rail rather than the top of the leg, as in this example. Contemporaries of Chippendale were supplying related chairs, for example by John Linnell (1729-1796) at Inveraray Castle, Argyll, and Osterley Park, Middlesex (Hayward, Kirkham, 1980) and those attributed to William Ince (d. 1804) and John Mayhew (1736-1811) at Cobham Hall, Kent (Cornforth, 1983).
Condition
The right arm has been replaced in pine.
The back left foot is replaced.
The back left foot is replaced.
Materials
Beech.
Traces of upholstery.
Traces of upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 91
W. 61
D. 61
W. 61
D. 61
Parker Numbers
Painted on the seat rail: ‘205/2151’
Plastic label: ‘OM 2151’. See: Frederick Parker Archive, Box 55, FPA050, Page 178.
Plastic label: ‘OM 2151’. See: Frederick Parker Archive, Box 55, FPA050, Page 178.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons in February 1913 from Clifford for £8 10s.
Notes
C. Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, pp. 106-109, figs. 178-187.
H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, London, 1980, vol. II, pp. 46-47, figs. 90, 92-93.
J. Cornforth, ‘Cobham Hall, Kent – III’, Country Life, 10 March 1983, p. 571, fig. 10.
A closely related chair is shown in H. Cescinsky, English Furniture: From Gothic to Sheraton, Grand Rapids, 1929, p. 363, top left.
H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, London, 1980, vol. II, pp. 46-47, figs. 90, 92-93.
J. Cornforth, ‘Cobham Hall, Kent – III’, Country Life, 10 March 1983, p. 571, fig. 10.
A closely related chair is shown in H. Cescinsky, English Furniture: From Gothic to Sheraton, Grand Rapids, 1929, p. 363, top left.
