Painted beech armchair with caned seat.
Identifier
FPF281
Title
Painted beech armchair with caned seat.
Date
1790-1810
Description
Painted and gilded beech armchair with caned seat.
Full Description
This beech armchair has a scrolled tablet rail painted with polychrome cherubs on a blue ground. Below the crest rail there are six vertical fluted bars above an interlaced moulded guilloche set between two moulded rails. Tapering and moulded back posts are continuous with the square-section and flared back legs. Down-swept arms terminate in scrolls above down-swept supports with carved lion’s paws resting on turned and fluted columns at the tops of the front legs, which are sabre-form, fluted and tapering. The seat rails are channel-moulded and gilded to resemble panels. The painted decoration in ivory and parcel-gilt is original but worn. The caning in the seat is original. A 20th century brown velvet squab cushion is now missing.
This chair relates to a design in Sheraton’s The Cabinet Dictionary (1803), plate 3, no. 2. It illustrates the emergence of a new fashion whereby the height of the chair back was reduced and the arms start at a higher point on the back posts, just below the crest rail. The frame is lighter overall, and in this example is a derivation of the neo-classical style popular during the Regency period. In 1794, Hepplewhite advised that: ‘Japanned chairs should have cane bottoms, with linen or cotton cases over cushions to accord with the general hue of the chair (Hepplewhite, 1794).
This chair relates to a design in Sheraton’s The Cabinet Dictionary (1803), plate 3, no. 2. It illustrates the emergence of a new fashion whereby the height of the chair back was reduced and the arms start at a higher point on the back posts, just below the crest rail. The frame is lighter overall, and in this example is a derivation of the neo-classical style popular during the Regency period. In 1794, Hepplewhite advised that: ‘Japanned chairs should have cane bottoms, with linen or cotton cases over cushions to accord with the general hue of the chair (Hepplewhite, 1794).
Condition
The right arm is replaced.
The cane is original, with some damage.
A 20th century squab cushion recorded in 1993 is now missing.
The cane is original, with some damage.
A 20th century squab cushion recorded in 1993 is now missing.
Materials
Beech.
Cane.
Cane.
Physical Dimensions
H. 84
W. 54
D. 56
W. 54
D. 56
Parker Numbers
OM 3726. See Frederick Parker Archive, Box 55, Ms. FPA050, page 81.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons on 22nd June 1914 from Adamson for £1.10.0.
Notes
Thomas Sheraton, The Cabinet Dictionary, 1803, plate 3, no. 2.
A. Hepplewhite & Co., The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, 1794, p. 2.
A. Hepplewhite & Co., The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, 1794, p. 2.
