Walnut corner armchair with shaped seat, scrolled back and cabriole legs.
Identifier
FPF083
Title
Walnut corner armchair with shaped seat, scrolled back and cabriole legs.
Date
1730-1740
Description
A corner armchair in American black walnut and elm, with a shaped seat, solid back with scrolled top, out-swept arms and four cabriole legs.
Full Description
This unusual corner chair, mainly in American black walnut, has a saddle-shaped seat in the manner of Windsor chairs, and the back is shaped and profiled, with a curved ‘paper scroll’ at the top. The arms are formed as a boldly curved bow and end in outwardly flaring scrolls, resting on slender turned column supports which rise from the tops of two of the legs. The seat rails are made of elm, cross-grain veneered in walnut. The four cabriole legs have shell carvings on the knees and terminate in pad feet.
Corner chairs were often associated with writing or dressing, and as such would have been seen from the back as well as the front. In this case the back leg is treated in exactly the same way as the other three, and the back itself is fully finished, whereas on most chairs of this period the backs were given a more basic, and less expensive, treatment.
Such chairs were seldom made in sets or pairs, but usually as individual items, and are referred to in contemporary inventories as ‘dressing chairs’ (Bowett, 2009). Although this chair is well made it lacks the degree of sophistication expected of a London maker. For example, the arm supports seem rather incongruous and the use of elm as a secondary wood is unusual in metropolitan work. It was perhaps the work of a competent provincial maker. The leathered squab cushion is of a later date.
Corner chairs were often associated with writing or dressing, and as such would have been seen from the back as well as the front. In this case the back leg is treated in exactly the same way as the other three, and the back itself is fully finished, whereas on most chairs of this period the backs were given a more basic, and less expensive, treatment.
Such chairs were seldom made in sets or pairs, but usually as individual items, and are referred to in contemporary inventories as ‘dressing chairs’ (Bowett, 2009). Although this chair is well made it lacks the degree of sophistication expected of a London maker. For example, the arm supports seem rather incongruous and the use of elm as a secondary wood is unusual in metropolitan work. It was perhaps the work of a competent provincial maker. The leathered squab cushion is of a later date.
Condition
One arm support replaced.
Veneer patched on front seat rail.
Squab not original.
The patinated surface that was present when the chair was acquired for the Frederick Parker Collection, and is visible in an early photograph, has unfortunately been cleaned off, although the chair retains its mellow colour.
Veneer patched on front seat rail.
Squab not original.
The patinated surface that was present when the chair was acquired for the Frederick Parker Collection, and is visible in an early photograph, has unfortunately been cleaned off, although the chair retains its mellow colour.
Materials
American black walnut.
Elm.
Squab cushion.
Elm.
Squab cushion.
Physical Dimensions
H. 99
W. 76
D. 69
W. 76
D. 69
Parker Numbers
3837. 4919.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons on 15 May 1916 from White for £38.0.0.
Notes
Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740, Antique Collectors’ Club, 2009, p.188-9.
Exhibited at the British Antique Dealers’ Association’s Exhibition of Art Treasures at the Grafton Galleries, London, 1928, no. 89. Although in the exhibition catalogue it was described simply as an ‘armchair’, the tall narrow back with its paper-scroll cresting sometimes gave rise to the erroneous idea that this was a barber’s chair.
Exhibited at the British Antique Dealers’ Association’s Exhibition of Art Treasures at the Grafton Galleries, London, 1928, no. 89. Although in the exhibition catalogue it was described simply as an ‘armchair’, the tall narrow back with its paper-scroll cresting sometimes gave rise to the erroneous idea that this was a barber’s chair.
