Iron frame for a reclining armchair.
Identifier
FPF388
Title
Iron frame for a reclining armchair.
Date
1880-1900
Description
Iron frame for a reclining armchair.
Full Description
This iron frame for a reclining chair has a high back with a curved top, now bent out of shape. The seat is square and the angle between the seat and back can be adjusted by means of a geared mechanism. There is an adjustable padded footrest. The arms are curved at the front, and one retains remnants of a padded armrest. The rest of the upholstery has been removed. The chair is on castors. Part of a brass plaque remains under the footrest, inscribed: ‘TONT…’.
This was probably an invalid chair, rather than a comfortable reclining armchair. The frame is functional and inexpensive, suggesting that perhaps the chair was used in a hospital or on military campaigns.
In 1871, an American firm, George Wilson, patented an adjustable iron-frame chair that combined arms and legs in one section with a seat mechanism, suspended in balance. The chair could be positioned to become an easy chair, a parlour chair, a ‘heels higher than head’ chair, a lounger, and a bed. In 1876, Cevedra Sheldon of New York designed one of the most successful reclining chairs of the period, marketed by the Marks Adjustable Chair Company. Fashionable in America and England, the Marks chair was described by a leading British trade journal in 1889 as: ‘constructed to fulfil the requirements of lounge chair, smoking chair, library chair, invalid chair, deck chair and bed’ (Edwards, 1998-1999).
A related brass and iron campaign chair sold Dreweatt Neate, 11 July 2007, lot 250.
This was probably an invalid chair, rather than a comfortable reclining armchair. The frame is functional and inexpensive, suggesting that perhaps the chair was used in a hospital or on military campaigns.
In 1871, an American firm, George Wilson, patented an adjustable iron-frame chair that combined arms and legs in one section with a seat mechanism, suspended in balance. The chair could be positioned to become an easy chair, a parlour chair, a ‘heels higher than head’ chair, a lounger, and a bed. In 1876, Cevedra Sheldon of New York designed one of the most successful reclining chairs of the period, marketed by the Marks Adjustable Chair Company. Fashionable in America and England, the Marks chair was described by a leading British trade journal in 1889 as: ‘constructed to fulfil the requirements of lounge chair, smoking chair, library chair, invalid chair, deck chair and bed’ (Edwards, 1998-1999).
A related brass and iron campaign chair sold Dreweatt Neate, 11 July 2007, lot 250.
Condition
Almost all the upholstery is missing.
Materials
Iron.
Upholstery fragments.
Upholstery fragments.
Physical Dimensions
H. 114
W. 76
D. 71
W. 76
D. 71
Marks
Remains of a brass plaque underneath the footrest, engraved: ‘TONT…’.
Provenance
In the Collection prior to 1993.
Notes
C. Edwards, ‘Reclining Chairs Surveyed: Health, Comfort, and Fashion in Evolving Markets’, Studies in the Decorative Arts, Fall-Winter 1998-1999, Vol. 6, No. 1, p. 51, fig. 10, pp. 52-53, fig. 11.
