Upholstered back-rest.
Identifier
FPF395
Title
Upholstered back-rest.
Date
1850-1870
Description
Upholstered back-rest.
Full Description
This back-rest has a rectangular back with a serpentine top, with buttoned upholstery. It has upholstered wing sides and shaped arm rests, which are upholstered only on the inner face. A mahogany square-section ratchet frame with a turned rail at the base allows the angle of the back-rest to be adjusted. The upholstery is possibly original. See FPF389 for a similar back-rest.
This back-rest can probably be categorised as invalid furniture, for use in bed. In The Cabinet Dictionary (1803), Thomas Sheraton describes a ‘bed chair for sick persons’ with an adjustable back that had ‘side wings at top as a fence to the head, projecting out about 5 inches, and two stump elbows’ (Gloag, 1991).
An identical design was included in William Smee and Sons’ Designs for Furniture (Joy, 1994).
In the early 20th century, the firm of J. Foot and Sons was known for their luxurious rest chairs in addition to their invalid furniture: ‘Among items which cannot fail to be acceptable to an invalid there is, for example… A back rest to supplement the pillows, which can be fixed at any angle…’ (Country Life, 1914).
This back-rest can probably be categorised as invalid furniture, for use in bed. In The Cabinet Dictionary (1803), Thomas Sheraton describes a ‘bed chair for sick persons’ with an adjustable back that had ‘side wings at top as a fence to the head, projecting out about 5 inches, and two stump elbows’ (Gloag, 1991).
An identical design was included in William Smee and Sons’ Designs for Furniture (Joy, 1994).
In the early 20th century, the firm of J. Foot and Sons was known for their luxurious rest chairs in addition to their invalid furniture: ‘Among items which cannot fail to be acceptable to an invalid there is, for example… A back rest to supplement the pillows, which can be fixed at any angle…’ (Country Life, 1914).
Condition
Left side hinge replaced.
Materials
Mahogany.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 64
W. 61
D. 44
W. 61
D. 44
Provenance
Not recorded.
Notes
J. Gloag, A Complete Dictionary of Furniture, revised and expanded by C. Edwards, Woodstock, 1991, p. 199.
Ed. E. Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, reprinted 1994, p. 265.
‘For the Sick and Wounded’, Country Life, 26 September 1914, p. 10.
Ed. E. Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, reprinted 1994, p. 265.
‘For the Sick and Wounded’, Country Life, 26 September 1914, p. 10.
