Walnut upholstered side chair
Identifier
FPF054
Title
Walnut upholstered side chair
Date
1725-1730
Description
Walnut side chair with cabriole legs, fitted with Parker Knoll upholstery.
Full Description
This walnut side chair has a rectangular padded back with rounded corners and a deep stuff-over seat. The front legs are cabriole with shaped ears and ‘C’ scroll carving at the edges, which terminate in pad feet. The back legs are plain, cabriole and flared, and terminate in pad feet. The chair has been altered in the 1930s to fit steel springs in the seat, with a loose cushion, and is covered in a 20th century red velvet damask with yellow fringe trimming. The back has a vertical strip of 19th century and possibly earlier hessian.
This is a good quality chair of its type, but its proportions and appearance were altered considerably in the 1930s by fitting the Parker Knoll tension springs to the seat. These tension springs were an innovation in upholstery, first introduced in 1932 and became a very successful for the company. This was clearly an attempt to fit them into an antique chair as a model for reproductions. The result is a much thicker seat than the original, and a heavier-looking chair, but presumably more comfortable.
In the 1720s, this type of upholstered chair was supplied in sets to furnish state rooms; for example, a set of six walnut chairs with original crimson damask upholstery, now in the Salon at Erddig, is probably that recorded in the 1726 inventory in the ‘Second Best Bed Chamber’. Another, more elaborate set at Erdigg is the suite of eight chairs and a settee with silvered frames and crimson cut-velvet covers recorded in the Withdrawing Room in 1726 (Bowett, 2009).
This is a good quality chair of its type, but its proportions and appearance were altered considerably in the 1930s by fitting the Parker Knoll tension springs to the seat. These tension springs were an innovation in upholstery, first introduced in 1932 and became a very successful for the company. This was clearly an attempt to fit them into an antique chair as a model for reproductions. The result is a much thicker seat than the original, and a heavier-looking chair, but presumably more comfortable.
In the 1720s, this type of upholstered chair was supplied in sets to furnish state rooms; for example, a set of six walnut chairs with original crimson damask upholstery, now in the Salon at Erddig, is probably that recorded in the 1726 inventory in the ‘Second Best Bed Chamber’. Another, more elaborate set at Erdigg is the suite of eight chairs and a settee with silvered frames and crimson cut-velvet covers recorded in the Withdrawing Room in 1726 (Bowett, 2009).
Condition
Cut-outs in the front and rear seat-rail for a later fitted girth rail, now missing.
Corner braces under the seat are replaced.
Corner braces under the seat are replaced.
Materials
Walnut.
Upholstery.
Steel.
Upholstery.
Steel.
Physical Dimensions
H. 104
W. 58
D. 64
W. 58
D. 64
Parker Numbers
128, 1343
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons before 1914 when valued at £1.17.6.
Notes
A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1714-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, pp. 165-168, Plates 4:42 to 4:49 inc.
Untitled 434850 | National Trust collections
For comparable chairs at Ham House, see: C. Gilbert, P. Thornton, The Furnishing and Decoration of Ham House, Furniture History, Vol. 16, 1980, Figs. 154-156.
See also G. Beard & N. Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840, Phaidon, 1987, p. 97, fig. 5 by William Hallett, c. 1735 and fig. 7 at Warwick Castle.
Untitled 434850 | National Trust collections
For comparable chairs at Ham House, see: C. Gilbert, P. Thornton, The Furnishing and Decoration of Ham House, Furniture History, Vol. 16, 1980, Figs. 154-156.
See also G. Beard & N. Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840, Phaidon, 1987, p. 97, fig. 5 by William Hallett, c. 1735 and fig. 7 at Warwick Castle.
