Mahogany side chair with tablet back.

FPF409

Mahogany side chair with tablet back.

1800-1820

Mahogany side chair with tablet back and upholstered seat.

This side chair has a concave tablet back rail with reeded mouldings, with square-section back posts and two narrow rails, also reeded; the reeding is lined with black paint. The posts are continuous with flared back legs, narrowed just above the seat, and flared and tapering below. The stuff-over seat is tapered and raised on turned and tapering front legs which terminate in ‘toupie’ feet (toupie is the French term for a spinning top). The close-nailed horsehair cover and upholstery are original, although the cover is badly damaged and the straw and horsehair stuffing are visible. It is rare to find chairs of this period with the original upholstery intact, so this is an important survival.

The tablet top rail became fashionable from around 1800 (Fastnedge, 1965). A similar design was illustrated in The London Chair-Makers’ and Carvers’ Book of Prices for Workmanship, 1807-11, with an option for turned or sabre front legs.

Tablet rail loose.
Original upholstery, the horsehair cover torn leaving stuffing exposed; webbing in poor condition.

Mahogany.
Upholstery.

H. 81
W. 49
D. 47

Purchased by the Frederick Parker Foundation in 2001.

R. Fastnedge, ‘A Manual for Georgian Chair-Makers’, Country Life, 10 June 1965, pp. 1440-1443.
The London Chair-Makers’ and Carvers’ Book of Prices for Workmanship, 1807 with supplements in 1808 and 1811, plate 3.