Mahogany ‘close’ (or commode) armchair.
Identifier
FPF364
Title
Mahogany ‘close’ (or commode) armchair.
Date
1750-1770
Description
Mahogany ‘close’ (or commode) armchair with pierced fan-back splat.
Full Description
This mahogany armchair has a concave, serpentine crest rail with pointed corners and tapering and slightly splayed back posts. The pierced fan-back splat slots into a ‘shoe’ fitted to the top of the rear seat rail. Out-scrolled, shaped and moulded arms join the sides of the moulded, square-section seat rail; the leather covered drop-in seat tapers towards the back. The chair is raised on square-section legs joined by an H-form cross stretcher and a slightly higher back stretcher. The back legs are raked and have flared heels.
This armchair has been adapted from a ‘close’ or commode chair; the front and side rails are replaced as are the front legs. It would originally have had deeper seat rails, evidenced by the filled mortice slots in the back legs, and probably aprons to the front and side rails to hide the pewter or ceramic toilet pot, set in a wooden seat. There would have been a loose squab cushion on top. The present leather covered drop-in seat is a replacement, with an earlier striped red horsehair fabric underneath.
The pierced fan-back splat first appeared in the 1740s; the earliest documented example is the set of twenty-four chairs supplied by John Willis of St. Paul’s Churchyard to Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1745 (Bowett, 2009).
This chair relates to a set of chairs supplied by Gillow of Lancaster to William Hassell of Penrith in 1774. A design for a fan-back chair from the Gillows’ Coloured Sketch Book is illustrated in Stuart. By the 1780s, the serpentine or undulating crest rail had been replaced by an arched rail. Most Gillow furniture is not stamped or signed. However, the stamp ‘WF’ on this chair may refer to William Fell of Ulverstone, who was apprenticed to Robert Gillow in 1742. Another William Fell of Ulverstone, presumably the son, was working for Gillows in the 1780s (Stuart, 2008).
For another example of a mahogany close chair of similar period in the Frederick Parker Collection, see FPF160.
This armchair has been adapted from a ‘close’ or commode chair; the front and side rails are replaced as are the front legs. It would originally have had deeper seat rails, evidenced by the filled mortice slots in the back legs, and probably aprons to the front and side rails to hide the pewter or ceramic toilet pot, set in a wooden seat. There would have been a loose squab cushion on top. The present leather covered drop-in seat is a replacement, with an earlier striped red horsehair fabric underneath.
The pierced fan-back splat first appeared in the 1740s; the earliest documented example is the set of twenty-four chairs supplied by John Willis of St. Paul’s Churchyard to Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1745 (Bowett, 2009).
This chair relates to a set of chairs supplied by Gillow of Lancaster to William Hassell of Penrith in 1774. A design for a fan-back chair from the Gillows’ Coloured Sketch Book is illustrated in Stuart. By the 1780s, the serpentine or undulating crest rail had been replaced by an arched rail. Most Gillow furniture is not stamped or signed. However, the stamp ‘WF’ on this chair may refer to William Fell of Ulverstone, who was apprenticed to Robert Gillow in 1742. Another William Fell of Ulverstone, presumably the son, was working for Gillows in the 1780s (Stuart, 2008).
For another example of a mahogany close chair of similar period in the Frederick Parker Collection, see FPF160.
Condition
The front and side rails and front legs have been replaced; they have been carefully matched to the rest of the chair when it was converted from a close chair.
The drop-in seat has been replaced in the 20th century and has a red horsehair cover under the present leather.
The drop-in seat has been replaced in the 20th century and has a red horsehair cover under the present leather.
Materials
Mahogany.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 97
W. 66
D. 58
W. 66
D. 58
Marks
‘WF’ incised on the rear of the back seat rail.
Parker Numbers
OM A9. 6211. 364.
Provenance
In the Collection prior to 1993.
Notes
A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, p. 197, Plate 4:108
S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, Woodbridge, 2008, vol. I, p. 151, plate 97; p. 152, plate 100, right; vol. II, pp. 235-236.
S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, Woodbridge, 2008, vol. I, p. 151, plate 97; p. 152, plate 100, right; vol. II, pp. 235-236.
