Painted and gilded oval back armchair.
Identifier
FPF241
Title
Painted and gilded oval back armchair.
Date
1780-1800
Description
Painted and gilded oval back armchair with upholstered seat.
Full Description
This beech armchair has an oval back formed as three concentric ovals; the inner oval has a painted classical urn, and is enclosed by the second oval formed of radiating bars; the outer oval frame has a moulded frame and is supported by eight radiating foliate carved bars. The sides of the back frame are continuous with the back legs. The short, curved arms meet curved arm supports which terminate in scrolls where they join the seat rail. The stuff-over seat is tapered at the sides and straight across the front. The chair is raised on tapering square legs at the front, and the back legs are slightly raked. The chair has been re-painted with an ivory base and green bellflower pendants, while the back has parcel-gilt on the radiating bars and blue swags around the central oval. The upholstery is also replaced.
This is a good quality chair, with a complex back, but the repainting is poor and completely obscures the original decorative scheme. Painted beech chairs were popular in the late 18th and early 19th century; they could be decorated in colours to complement upholstery, hangings, carpets and painted decoration in drawing rooms and boudoirs, which tended to be brighter and lighter than in earlier periods, although darker schemes remained popular for dining rooms and libraries. In 1768, the breakfasting closet at Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire, was described as having: ‘window shutters, the doors and the front of the drawers [let into the wall] all painted in scrolls and festoons of flowers in green, white and gold; the sofa, chairs and stool frames of the same’ (Country Life, 1927).
In another example, a painted settee from Kyre Park, Worcestershire, c. 1768, is painted with mythological ovals after the artist, Angelica Kauffmann (ibid.). Chair frames with more limited space for such decoration had small panels of flowers, festoons and trophies applied to the splat or crest rail. One of the most important sets of painted seat-furniture is that designed in 1776 by the architect-designer, Robert Adam (1728-92) for the Etruscan Room, Osterley House, Middlesex (Tomlin, 1972).
A comparable chair to this one (FPF241) is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (W.52-1946; Tomlin, 1972).
This is a good quality chair, with a complex back, but the repainting is poor and completely obscures the original decorative scheme. Painted beech chairs were popular in the late 18th and early 19th century; they could be decorated in colours to complement upholstery, hangings, carpets and painted decoration in drawing rooms and boudoirs, which tended to be brighter and lighter than in earlier periods, although darker schemes remained popular for dining rooms and libraries. In 1768, the breakfasting closet at Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire, was described as having: ‘window shutters, the doors and the front of the drawers [let into the wall] all painted in scrolls and festoons of flowers in green, white and gold; the sofa, chairs and stool frames of the same’ (Country Life, 1927).
In another example, a painted settee from Kyre Park, Worcestershire, c. 1768, is painted with mythological ovals after the artist, Angelica Kauffmann (ibid.). Chair frames with more limited space for such decoration had small panels of flowers, festoons and trophies applied to the splat or crest rail. One of the most important sets of painted seat-furniture is that designed in 1776 by the architect-designer, Robert Adam (1728-92) for the Etruscan Room, Osterley House, Middlesex (Tomlin, 1972).
A comparable chair to this one (FPF241) is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (W.52-1946; Tomlin, 1972).
Condition
The chair is re-painted and the upholstery is modern.
Front right leg part restored
Front right leg part restored
Materials
Beech.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 99
W. 56
D. 56
W. 56
D. 56
Parker Numbers
OM 1683.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons on 6th June 1912 from Thornton Smith for £7.10.0.
Notes
‘Painted Furniture of the Late 18th Century’, Country Life, 5 November 1927, p. x, p. xliv, fig. 7.
M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1972, cat. no. J/1, pp. 78-79; P/13, p. 136.
M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1972, cat. no. J/1, pp. 78-79; P/13, p. 136.
