Painted beech armchair with oval anthemion back.
Identifier
FPF226
Title
Painted beech armchair with oval anthemion back.
Date
1780-1800
Description
Painted beech armchair with oval anthemion back and upholstered seat.
Full Description
This painted and partially gilt armchair has an oval back with openwork carving in the form of an anthemion. Out-scrolled arms with flower-head paterae carved on the arm terminals join down-swept supports. A shaped stuff-over seat with tapering sides and a serpentine front is covered and close-nailed with a modern flowered print. The chair is painted and decorated with pendants of husks and berries. It is raised on cabriole legs at the front with fan motifs painted at the top of the legs and terminate in rounded feet; the back legs are square-sectioned and flared. The upholstery includes the original base cloth and webbing, and a sample of the previous cover is tacked to the webbing.
This chair retains its original painted finish of orange and white on a black ground, which reflects the colours of decorated ‘Etruscan’ vases such as those in Sir William Hamilton’s collection, published between 1767-76, in d’Hancarville’s Collection Of Etruscan, Greek And Roman Antiquities From The Cabinet Of The Honble. Wm. Hamilton. Hepplewhite wrote in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide that: ‘for chairs, a new and very elegant fashion has arisen within these few years, of finishing them with painted or japanned work, which gives a rich and splendid appearance to the minuter parts of the ornaments… and by assorting the prevailing colour to the furniture and light of the room, affords opportunity, by the grounds which may be introduced, to make the whole accord in harmony, with a pleasing and striking effect to the eye’ (Hepplewhite, 1788).
A set of six satinwood armchairs with a similar anthemion back was supplied by John Linnell (1729-96) to Nathanial Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale, at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, c. 1775-80 (Hayward, Kirkham, 1980).
A pattern for a chair with an oval back carved with a pierced anthemion and a serpentine front seat-rail is in the Gillows’ Workmen’s Price Agreement of 1785, and a similar chair in the Estimate Sketch Books in March 1785 was priced at £11s 8d. The Gillows’ Waste Book describes such chairs supplied in the same period to a John Shaw for export on the ship Barbara as: ‘Honeysuckle pierced ball’ [ie, baluster] (Stuart, 2008).
For comparable chairs with anthemion backs in the Frederick Parker Collection see FPF242 and 376.
This chair retains its original painted finish of orange and white on a black ground, which reflects the colours of decorated ‘Etruscan’ vases such as those in Sir William Hamilton’s collection, published between 1767-76, in d’Hancarville’s Collection Of Etruscan, Greek And Roman Antiquities From The Cabinet Of The Honble. Wm. Hamilton. Hepplewhite wrote in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide that: ‘for chairs, a new and very elegant fashion has arisen within these few years, of finishing them with painted or japanned work, which gives a rich and splendid appearance to the minuter parts of the ornaments… and by assorting the prevailing colour to the furniture and light of the room, affords opportunity, by the grounds which may be introduced, to make the whole accord in harmony, with a pleasing and striking effect to the eye’ (Hepplewhite, 1788).
A set of six satinwood armchairs with a similar anthemion back was supplied by John Linnell (1729-96) to Nathanial Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale, at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, c. 1775-80 (Hayward, Kirkham, 1980).
A pattern for a chair with an oval back carved with a pierced anthemion and a serpentine front seat-rail is in the Gillows’ Workmen’s Price Agreement of 1785, and a similar chair in the Estimate Sketch Books in March 1785 was priced at £11s 8d. The Gillows’ Waste Book describes such chairs supplied in the same period to a John Shaw for export on the ship Barbara as: ‘Honeysuckle pierced ball’ [ie, baluster] (Stuart, 2008).
For comparable chairs with anthemion backs in the Frederick Parker Collection see FPF242 and 376.
Condition
The chair is in good original condition, with original paint decoration.
The webbing and base cloth is original, the cover modern.
The webbing and base cloth is original, the cover modern.
Materials
Beech.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 94
W. 61
D. 58
W. 61
D. 58
Marks
Stamped under front seat-rail ‘TW’.
Parker Numbers
OM 739, pattern no. 2118. See: Box 55. FPA050. Page 14.
1950.
1950.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons, in stock 1915, valued at £7.10.0
Notes
A. Hepplewhite & Co., The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, 1778, p. 2
H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, London, 1980, vol. II, p. 48, fig. 95; vol. I, p. 113
S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Antique Collectors’ Club, 2008, vol. I, p. 135, fig. 1B, no. 17; p. 176; p. 175, Plate 138.
For similar chairs see also:
Armchair 1139574.1 | National Trust collections
M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1982, p. 134, fig. P/10.
A pair of chairs sold by Christie’s at Ven House, Somerset on 22 June 1999, lot 1050.
A set of chairs sold by Thomas Roddick Auctioneers, on 19 October 2000.
H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, London, 1980, vol. II, p. 48, fig. 95; vol. I, p. 113
S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Antique Collectors’ Club, 2008, vol. I, p. 135, fig. 1B, no. 17; p. 176; p. 175, Plate 138.
For similar chairs see also:
Armchair 1139574.1 | National Trust collections
M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1982, p. 134, fig. P/10.
A pair of chairs sold by Christie’s at Ven House, Somerset on 22 June 1999, lot 1050.
A set of chairs sold by Thomas Roddick Auctioneers, on 19 October 2000.
