Walnut side chair with cabriole legs and drop-in seat.
Identifier
FPF050
Title
Walnut side chair with cabriole legs and drop-in seat.
Date
1720-1730
Description
Walnut side chair with a curved solid splat and drop-in seat, on cabriole legs with pad feet
Full Description
This walnut side chair has a tall narrow back and a solid rectangular splat, which are curved in both planes. The scrolled convex crest rail joins turned and tapering back posts that terminate in ring-turned carving. The carved cusped motif at the base of the splat is taken from a Chinese lotus design. The splat is tenoned into a raised ‘shoe’ on the rear seat rail. The drop-in upholstered seat with tapering sides has been replaced and is now covered in a modern green damask fabric. The chair has four cabriole legs with c-scrolls at the knees, and which terminate in pad feet. The seat rails are cut away for a lighter effect.
This type of chair, with its distinctive curved splat and back posts designed to fit the human form, first made its appearance in England in the early 18th-century, inspired by Chinese chairs. They were referred to as ‘India back’, since India was then understood to mean anywhere east of the Mediterranean, including China; other terms for these chairs were ‘bended’, ‘crook’d’ or ‘sweep’ back chairs. The introduction of the ‘India back’ is considered ‘the most radical and far-reaching design innovation of the eighteenth century’ (Bowett, 2009). The earliest documented chairs with this type of back were recorded in the ‘Right Hand Parlour’ at Canons Ashby in November 1717 (ibid.).
Chairs of this type and date were mostly made in the solid from walnut, as in this example, or mahogany. It is usual for them to bear little or no carving. A similar settee is illustrated in Symonds, 1953.
This type of chair, with its distinctive curved splat and back posts designed to fit the human form, first made its appearance in England in the early 18th-century, inspired by Chinese chairs. They were referred to as ‘India back’, since India was then understood to mean anywhere east of the Mediterranean, including China; other terms for these chairs were ‘bended’, ‘crook’d’ or ‘sweep’ back chairs. The introduction of the ‘India back’ is considered ‘the most radical and far-reaching design innovation of the eighteenth century’ (Bowett, 2009). The earliest documented chairs with this type of back were recorded in the ‘Right Hand Parlour’ at Canons Ashby in November 1717 (ibid.).
Chairs of this type and date were mostly made in the solid from walnut, as in this example, or mahogany. It is usual for them to bear little or no carving. A similar settee is illustrated in Symonds, 1953.
Condition
This chair has been over-cleaned.
Drop-in seat replaced.
Drop-in seat replaced.
Materials
Walnut.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 112
W. 56
D. 61
W. 56
D. 61
Marks
This chair is stamped ‘VIII’ on the front seat-rail indicating it was one of a set of at least eight chairs.
Parker Numbers
529
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons in 1913 for £1.0.0.
Notes
A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, pp. 156-157, Plate 4:24. See also p. 47, Plate 1:38 where this chair is illustrated.
R.W. Symonds, ‘A Chair from China’, Country Life, 5 November 1953, pp. 1497-1499, fig. 9.
R.W. Symonds, ‘A Chair from China’, Country Life, 5 November 1953, pp. 1497-1499, fig. 9.
