Walnut open armchair with upholstered seat and back.
Identifier
FPF062
Title
Walnut open armchair with upholstered seat and back.
Date
1725-1740
Description
Walnut open armchair with upholstered seat and back and cabriole legs.
Full Description
This walnut open armchair has a ‘compass’ (rounded) upholstered seat and back, with no gap between the back and seat. The shaped and out-scrolled walnut arms rest on curved supports which are fitted to the seat rails. The chair is raised on front cabriole legs with a carved scallop shell and pendant bellflower on the knees and shaped ears and ‘C’ scroll carving at the edges, which terminate in elongated pad feet. The back legs are raked with pad feet. Parts of the webbing and base cloth are 19th century and there is one red thread caught under a tack – evidence of earlier upholstery; the chair has been recovered in the 20th century with a damask.
This armchair can be compared to a set of twelve side chairs together with two settees and a couch made for the Yellow Drawing Room at Houghton Hall, Norfolk (Bowett, 2009). The inclusion of the increasingly popular shell motif on the knees probably evolved from the leafy scroll or plume found on contemporary Parisian chairs. It has been described as: ‘a metaphor for the more general transition from the baroque to neo-Palladian style in English furniture’ (ibid.). Another similar set of four side chairs with upholstered ‘compass’ backs is at the Treasurer’s House, York (ibid.; NT 592766).
The arms on this chair are replacements in the period style. Armchairs of this type are less common than side chairs, no doubt because often large sets of side chairs were made with accompanying pairs of open armchairs. For similar open armchairs, see one bearing the label Robert Webb, c. 1720-25, illustrated in Gilbert, 1996; an armchair at Paycocke’s House, Essex (NT 717472) and a ‘writing chair’ in Cescinsky, 1929. For similar arms, see a pair of walnut library armchairs, c. 1720, at Houghton (Edwards, 1954).
This armchair can be compared to a set of twelve side chairs together with two settees and a couch made for the Yellow Drawing Room at Houghton Hall, Norfolk (Bowett, 2009). The inclusion of the increasingly popular shell motif on the knees probably evolved from the leafy scroll or plume found on contemporary Parisian chairs. It has been described as: ‘a metaphor for the more general transition from the baroque to neo-Palladian style in English furniture’ (ibid.). Another similar set of four side chairs with upholstered ‘compass’ backs is at the Treasurer’s House, York (ibid.; NT 592766).
The arms on this chair are replacements in the period style. Armchairs of this type are less common than side chairs, no doubt because often large sets of side chairs were made with accompanying pairs of open armchairs. For similar open armchairs, see one bearing the label Robert Webb, c. 1720-25, illustrated in Gilbert, 1996; an armchair at Paycocke’s House, Essex (NT 717472) and a ‘writing chair’ in Cescinsky, 1929. For similar arms, see a pair of walnut library armchairs, c. 1720, at Houghton (Edwards, 1954).
Condition
The arms and one arm support are replaced.
One front leg replaced.
Repairs to the back legs, feet tipped.
One front leg replaced.
Repairs to the back legs, feet tipped.
Materials
Walnut.
Beech (back legs).
Upholstery.
Beech (back legs).
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 97
W. 76
D. 61
W. 76
D. 61
Parker Numbers
OM 610, pattern no. 9100. See Frederick Parker Archive, Box 55, Ms. FPA050, p.13.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons pre 1914 from Brackett for £8.10.0.
Note in folder: ‘New purchase London GH-U’.
Note in folder: ‘New purchase London GH-U’.
Notes
A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, pp. 168, 174-175, Plates 4:50, 4:61.
C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, 1700-1840, London, 1996, p. 463, Fig. 938.
H. Cescinsky, English Furniture Gothic to Sheraton, Grand Rapids, 1929, p. 190.
R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, vol. I, revised edition, Woodbridge, 1954, p. 262, Fig. 111.
C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, 1700-1840, London, 1996, p. 463, Fig. 938.
H. Cescinsky, English Furniture Gothic to Sheraton, Grand Rapids, 1929, p. 190.
R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, vol. I, revised edition, Woodbridge, 1954, p. 262, Fig. 111.
