A rosewood open tub armchair with caned seat.

FPF335

A rosewood open tub armchair with caned seat.

1800-1820

A rosewood open tub armchair with caned seat, possibly Indo-Portuguese.

This tub armchair has a curved back and arm bow, with the arms sloping down towards the front, where they are supported on moulded scrolled uprights continuous with the front legs. The back posts are moulded and straight, and continuous with the back legs. The chair has an open back and sides and a compass caned seat with a serpentine front rail. The front legs are moulded cabriole with scrolled ears and fan-shaped carving on the knees. The back legs are also cabriole. All of the legs terminate in turned toes.

This chair is possibly Indo-Portuguese; a similar tub chair from the Cape, dated 1790-1830, is illustrated in Veenendal, 2002. It is possibly derived from quanli chairs made during the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644), translated literally as ‘round chair’. These Chinese chairs were referred to in western literature as ‘horseshoe-back’ chairs, and they can be distinguished by a continuously curved back and arm support, which is fixed into a rectangular seat. Examples of quanli chairs can be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum, nos. FE.72-1983, FE.66-1983.

The back and arm bow is possibly replaced in mahogany.
One ear on the left front leg is missing.
Repairs to back seat rail and front left leg joint.
Cane work possibly original, some damage.

Dalbergia – either Brazilian or Indian rosewood.
Cane.

H. 84
W. 53
D. 48

OM 737.

Not recorded but in the Collection prior to 1993.

J. Veenendal et al, Domestic Interiors at the Cape and in Batavia, 1602-1795, Zwolle, 2002, p. 205, plate 65.
For Chinese chairs of similar form in the V&A collection see:
Armchair | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections
Armchair | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections