Walnut side chair with double panel caned back.
Identifier
FPF040
Title
Walnut side chair with double panel caned back.
Date
1720-1740
Description
Walnut side chair with caned seat and double panel caned back, with cabriole front legs.
Full Description
This walnut side chair has a caned seat and double panel caned back. The back posts, centre splat and lower rail are moulded and carved with leaf work and husk festoons, surmounted by a carved and pierced double-arch crest with scrolls and leaf-work, enclosing two fine-caned panels. The tapered seat has moulded rails and is caned, with shaped aprons to the front and sides. The front legs are cabriole with scrolled ears and pad feet. The raked back legs are turned with squared blocks at the joints and flared heels. There is a turned H-form stretcher with blocks at the joints and a higher turned back stretcher.
The chair has had a number of repairs and restorations which make it somewhat difficult to date. It is comparable with a chair illustrated by Bowett (2009, p.158, Plate 4.29) which is more elaborate but has the same features of a double caned back, carved crest, cabriole front legs, profiled aprons and raked back legs; however it also has a high ‘bended’ back, whereas in the case of FPF040 the back is flat and unusually short. For another bended back chair with cabriole legs, see FPF046.
Chair designs at this period were rapidly evolving and some makers were quicker at adopting new styles than others. In this chair, the back legs are rather more raked than is necessary for the height of the back, and by this time some makers were dispensing with stretchers when the chair had cabriole legs. In terms of proportions, the back is unusually short for the rest of the chair and the steeply raked back legs suggest the chair might originally have had a taller back; however the back does not appear to have been cut down.
The chair has had a number of repairs and restorations which make it somewhat difficult to date. It is comparable with a chair illustrated by Bowett (2009, p.158, Plate 4.29) which is more elaborate but has the same features of a double caned back, carved crest, cabriole front legs, profiled aprons and raked back legs; however it also has a high ‘bended’ back, whereas in the case of FPF040 the back is flat and unusually short. For another bended back chair with cabriole legs, see FPF046.
Chair designs at this period were rapidly evolving and some makers were quicker at adopting new styles than others. In this chair, the back legs are rather more raked than is necessary for the height of the back, and by this time some makers were dispensing with stretchers when the chair had cabriole legs. In terms of proportions, the back is unusually short for the rest of the chair and the steeply raked back legs suggest the chair might originally have had a taller back; however the back does not appear to have been cut down.
Condition
The front seat rail has been replaced.
The side aprons are replaced.
The right front leg is replaced, now with woodworm damage to the foot.
The left back leg has been repaired, with a spliced replacement.
The right back leg is possibly replaced.
The side aprons are replaced.
The right front leg is replaced, now with woodworm damage to the foot.
The left back leg has been repaired, with a spliced replacement.
The right back leg is possibly replaced.
Materials
Walnut.
Cane.
Cane.
Physical Dimensions
H. 105
W. 48
D. 53
W. 48
D. 53
Parker Numbers
5159. 3085.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons, 6th May 1918, from Sinclair Belfort, for £5.0.0
Notes
Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture,1715-1740, Antique Collectors’ Club, 2009, p.158, Plate 4:29.
