Mahogany side chair with pierced splat and upholstered seat.
Identifier
FPF243
Title
Mahogany side chair with pierced splat and upholstered seat.
Date
1780-1800
Description
Mahogany side chair with pierced splat and upholstered seat.
Full Description
This mahogany side chair has a serpentine crest rail with tapering upright posts, channel moulded on the front face, and a pierced vase-shaped splat, moulded and carved with scroll and leaf-work. A stuff-over seat with a serpentine front is covered in a 20th century cream and light blue striped material; the seat rails are ash. The chair is raised on tapering square-section and chamfered legs joined by H-form stretchers and a higher back stretcher. The back legs are flared.
This chair is probably by a provincial maker; the use of ash for the seat rails is indicative of a provincial rather than London practice, where beech was the commonly used wood for seat rails. Also, the chair is relatively plain and the workmanship is not of the standard typically found in furniture by London makers.
The design of the back may have been influenced by those featured in George Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, 3rd edition, 1798, specifically plates 2, 4 and 6 (White, 1990). It is also similar to ‘Backs for Parlour Chairs’ in Thomas Sheraton’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book, 1st edition, 1793, plates XXV and XXVIII (ibid). Furniture makers used these pattern books as a guide to fashionable styles but would often simplify the designs to suit their customers’ requirements and to make their chairs more affordable.
There is a similar set of six chairs at Dinton, Wiltshire (National Trust).
This chair is probably by a provincial maker; the use of ash for the seat rails is indicative of a provincial rather than London practice, where beech was the commonly used wood for seat rails. Also, the chair is relatively plain and the workmanship is not of the standard typically found in furniture by London makers.
The design of the back may have been influenced by those featured in George Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, 3rd edition, 1798, specifically plates 2, 4 and 6 (White, 1990). It is also similar to ‘Backs for Parlour Chairs’ in Thomas Sheraton’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book, 1st edition, 1793, plates XXV and XXVIII (ibid). Furniture makers used these pattern books as a guide to fashionable styles but would often simplify the designs to suit their customers’ requirements and to make their chairs more affordable.
There is a similar set of six chairs at Dinton, Wiltshire (National Trust).
Condition
The splat is split in several places, with old repairs.
The upholstery is modern.
The upholstery is modern.
Materials
Mahogany.
Ash.
Upholstery.
Ash.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 97
W. 53
D. 61
W. 53
D. 61
Parker Numbers
887. 2014.
Provenance
Not recorded but in the collection prior to 1993.
Notes
National Trust, Dinton. See:
Dining chair 261288.1 | National Trust collections
E. White, ed., Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1990, pp. 86-8, Plates 1, 4 and 6 and 95, Plates XXV and XXVIII.
Dining chair 261288.1 | National Trust collections
E. White, ed., Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1990, pp. 86-8, Plates 1, 4 and 6 and 95, Plates XXV and XXVIII.
