CHAIRS — country
Windsors did not have a monopoly on pleasing country chairs and designs and serious students of country chairs keep unearthing particular local examples, some of them very attractive. In addition, the nineteenth
century saw the mass-production of many satisfying designs for the enormous demand from the manufacturing towns — for house, office and institution as well as tavern. As the price of poorly made modern chairs continues to rise, so more and more people see the sense in buying chairs of age and character. Prices have therefore shot up over the last few years. This is an area of British furniture where much research is still to be done.
A type known to have been made round Oxford in the mid-nineteenth century. This example in yew wood with the usual elm seat, solidly made (the circle portion is an inch thick), is of very similar design to one drawn by Sheraton, only with the circle enlarged. Yew, of course, increases the price. c. 1850
A typical ‘kitchen’ armchair of the mid- to late-nineteenth century on turned legs, used in institutions and offices as well as homes. Usually made in birch or beech, with an elm seat and stained dark. When stripped,
often a pleasant golden brown colour. Judging by the extreme difficulty of matching up sets — the turning on the back is nearly always different — they were made over a wide area.
Mid- to late 19th century
A Mendlesham chair from the village of that name in Suffolk where the Days, father and son, worked. A superbly designed and executed example in fruitwood. The influence of Sheraton designs is strong.
Early 19th century
A typical ‘kitchen’ or institutional chair with pleasantly Gothic arched and spindled decoration in the back. Shown in several manufacturers’ catalogues and a very similar design shown by W. Smee in 1850. Made of
beech with an elm seat.
c. 1850s    A pleasant nineteenth century kitchen chair of the ‘Roman spindles’ type with robust uprights and bold turning. The half-round cuts in the underside of the top rail help to lighten the appearance. Badly
undervalued. Similar to a Worksop design.
Mid-19th century
A variant, but lacking the balance of the previous example. The debased Windsor splat seems upside-down and sagging. Not a wild success. 1880s
Another country variant which frequently turns up in East Anglia. Sheraton design is apparent.
Early 19th century
A deceptively simple little chair. It has a well dished seat and a charming horizontal splat which looks as though it should be turned and dropped slightly in this example. A good colour would make a set very desirable. 1840-1860
The ‘blade’ back has overtones of 249 but this chair is really a slightly more ornate version of 253
Early 19th century
An even more simple design. Nevertheless, there is a reeding line along the back and uprights and the seat is nicely curved.

CHAIRS — Windsor and related types
Windsor chairs first appeared at the beginning of the eighteenth century, but the bulk were made in the nineteenth century. These chairs were a cheap, comfortable form of seating made in the country for kitchen,
tavern and general public use.
Tom Crispin, the well-known St. Albans dealer specialising in oak and country furniture, has photographed and researched the named examples he has handled over the last twenty years. He published his findings to
date in Volume XIV of Furniture History the journal of the Furniture History Society. We are grateful to both the Society and Tom Crispin for permission to draw on his work in allocating makers and likely dates of
manufacture to the pieces in this section. As a result of Tom Crispin’s researches in parish records, census and trade directories, many dates are later than had hitherto been thought. The main indication of area of
manufacture is to be found in the shape of the arm supports, legs from different areas often having similar designs. North Midlands used turned arm supports as in 241. East Anglia tended to use a shaped front arm
support cut from the solid wood see 242 (a method widely used in late nineteenth century examples in the South), while in the Thames Valley, which includes the High Wycombe area, two methods were used. Early
examples follow 235, later 236 which is made from a stick, a thicker version of the other sticks used.
Value Points:
Yew wood is important to high value but remember that seats are nearly always in elm, even in the finest examples. cabriole legs also help value considerably as do some special shapes of splat. Perhaps the most
sought after splat shape is the Gothic (not shown), but fine early comb-backs and original designs also command high prices.
An early comb-back version with shaped top rail and simple turned legs. It has a gloriously antique quality.
1760-1780
A good quality yew Windsor, with ash back legs, well designed cabriole legs and crinoline stretcher. Identical to named example by William Webb of Newington, Surrey. Set of six
A further development in the comb-back design, all the legs now exhibiting decorative turning and baluster shape. So-called Goldsmith type.
Early 19th century
A classic form — an early nineteenth century yew chair with crinoline stretcher and typical turning. Made right through the middle of the century. 1820-1860
A nineteenth century yew and elm ‘Yorkshire’ Windsor with decorative splat and characteristic ’smoker’s bow’ base chair to which the hooped back is fitted. 1840-1880
A comb-back with good cabriole legs, well-shaped splat and top rail. Thames Valley area — probably by Hewitt of Slough.
Mid-18th century
A typical stickback Windsor of late eighteenth /early nineteenth century design with saddle seat but no splat. The curving arm supports indicate a pre-Regency date. This design appears in Gillow’s cost books in the early nineteenth century, when Gillows offered them for sale in mahogany and elm with cherrywood.
1780-1810    Yew $350 — 450 Ash, elm $200 — 300
Yew crinoline stretcher, front legs and bow. The splat is perhaps too timid. Attributable to John Amos, Grantham, Lincs. c.1810-1840
The lowback version of 238 made over a considerable period of time and until recently to be seen in sets. Very similar to named chairs made in the Worksop/ Nottingham area. 1810-1840
A very typical form of wheelback, mainly in yew. Light and elegant.
c.1820 onwards    Yew $300 — 400 Ash, elm  $140 — 180
A good design with triple pierced splats, a type attributable to Robert Prior of Cambridge. An attractive yew design.
Early 19th century    $400 — 500 Sets about $900 each
An interesting contrast with the last. It has a crinoline stretcher which should make it more desirable, but heavy legs and square arms and, above all, the lack of yew detract.
c. 1820 onwards

CHAIRS — hall and porters
Though grouped for convenience they are in fact complete opposites. The hall chair offers a rock-like resistance to the posterior and the back no comfort. It is almost as though they were designed to impress on those made to wait, the fact they were being made to do so. They were made in sets and were often carved with emblems of coats of arms as if to further enhance the superior position of their owner. The porter’s chair on the other hand was made reasonably comfortable to protect him from the rigours of a job which condemned him to draughts, and if comfortable are very desirable.
Back patterns are normally little guide to date as they continued to be made over long periods. It is the legs which normally provide the key as to age.
Understandably the uncomfortable ones do not command large sums for they have a very limited application to the modern home.
A hall chair of a type usually made in sets — this was one of seventeen. This example shows a highly-carved shell back with a crest motif. The pascal lamb with halo might suggest a religious establishment. The legs
are turned and reeded. 1820-1840
A mahogany hall chair of whimsical design with a pierced back. The design for the base and seat with its curious round dished centre and eccentric stretcher is straight out of Bridgen’s catalogue of 1838.
Typical of the many curved back designs which went on being made throughout the century. The hexagonal legs suggest the 1830s.
A rather unfair porter’s chair with an extremely hard solid seat,on    cabriole    legs,    in mahogany.
1850-1870
Much more comfort; a deeply buttoned hall porter’s chair, well designed to exclude those severe draughts. As the cost of deep buttoning in leather is very high, condition is highly relevant to price. A modern example
costs 800. Mid-18th century
A design of wicker work hooded chair, Welsh ash frame with straw cover. They were made in most areas but survived longest in Monmouthshire and the Severn area. Early 19th century

CHAIRS — late Victorian reproductions of 17th and 18th century designs
The constant Victorian search for new designs ironically led to a revival of interest in eighteenth century designs. Contrary to popular myth, top quality Victorian craftsmen were just as good as their predecessors but, while they accurately reproduced the details of decoration correctly, they often lost the feeling of the original; for example, the Victorians seemed to dislike the large square seats and low broad backs of the Chippendale period, so their renditions are often lighter and more delicate. Similarly, the termination of the back legs, which were normally shaped in good quality designs prior to fashionable Chippendale, are often missing. More telling of course is the lack of age on the unpolished areas of the seat rails and the use of square corner supports rather than the open variety originally used (though these are often replaced, the old rebate marks should still be there). On top quality reproductions the shoulder pieces (supporting the tops of the legs to the frames) are often carefully shaped with a rounded tool, whereas the originals were quickly cleaned off with an ordinary chisel and here particularly age, in the form of dark patination of varying shades rather than stain, should be apparent.
As with Victorian carving originality meant the difference between high value or near worthlessness. Indiscriminating foreign demand has changed this in the last few years to the point where ‘half age’ pieces can be surprisingly valuable. A good long set of Victorian reproductions have increased in value to the point where they are almost worth as much each as a single original example.
A satinwood Hepplewhite-style shield back chair, very much in keeping with the original spirit.
In sets, each A ‘Queen Anne’ chair in mahogany which, apart from the mahogany, gives away its Victorian origin by the seat rail (too shallow) and the cabriole legs (too thin behind the knee and a bit weak in the ankle).
In sets, each Another mahogany ‘Queen Anne’ chair in which the lower half is quite successful but the treatment of the back is too clumsy by far — what is more the back is too high; this style of chair has a lower back if genuine — see the section on Chairs —cabriole leg.
Victorian ‘Chippendale’ chair of quite good quality as far as the back goes, but with golf-club-like feet on the legs, which are too thin and bandy.
In sets, each $150 — 250
Victorian oak Charles II-style chair of quite faithful design —the colour and patination of the wood would be the give away here.
An upholstered version of a Queen Anne shepherd’s crook armchair in walnut. Much too cosy and Victorian and on closer examination no age to the wood.
Late 19th century
Quite a good Victorian `Chippendale’ chair, but, again, the seat rail and the legs are too thin for the real thing.
Reproduction Chinese lacquer and walnut George I chair which has a lot thrown in by way of scrolls and an extraordinary central stretcher curving from the back stretcher up under the seat to the back of the front seat rail. The legs are bandy, and nearer to the Victorian baloon back than anything from the eighteenth century. 1920s
The Victorians’ love of decoration enjoyed to the full in this alleged Chippendale design. Rams’ heads for the cabriole knees and naturally the same animals’ feet. The riband back and the extremities of the top rail, the
front serpentine seat rail, all carrying their full quota of carving. Why, one wonders, were the arms and their supports so neglected The small size of seat is an easy give away to the later date. In terms of their value a
few years ago the price is staggering.

CHAIRS — Chippendale, provincial and country
Trying to arrange such a wide array of chairs in quality order is difficult, and dating even more so. Colour is important and personal preference plays a stronger part in assessment than for London-made pieces which
can be judged against known standards. What is technically not very successful (i.e. 152) can prove very appealing to live with, hence values are surprisingly uniform. Sets of chairs of this period cost about six times the single price for a set of four, and around ten times for a set of six.
One could speculate that the splat is a mixture of Chippendale (top half) and pre-Chippendale (bottom half), but the result is successful. The top rail flows convincingly into the splat. The shell is a pleasing touch and the cabrioles are very well made. The whole effect is successful. c. 1750
Interesting provincial example. The maker has obviously seen a high quality example but has been afraid to do more than a pastiche of the splat design; rightly because his shoulder supports to the legs illustrate his
limitations. What he has got gloriously right is the broad low back and big square seat that no Victorian would ever dream of producing. c. 1760
In oak, with fully upholstered seat. The maker has a reasonable grasp of the Chippendale idea but the splat is a little too broad and the effect is flat and stiff. Nevertheless a pleasing chair. c. 1760
A frequently encountered design which one might describe as provincial rather than strict country — in other words, rather a solid, solemn effect with neither the high decoration of the city example nor the character of
the country. c. 1760    Set of six $2, 000
Made in walnut at a time when most chairs of this quality were in mahogany. The splat is very successful — no carving except some simple gouging at the ends of the top rail. The deep rounded front seat rail and the
solid but elegant cabrioles make this a fine chair. It could pass for a chair from New York State of a slightly later date, and no doubt many do. 1750

CHAIRS — Chippendale, straight leg
For convenience of comparison, this page discusses only examples with straight legs. Some of Chippendale’s finest examples in fact utilised the cabrioles. Many of the backs are slightly lower and the seats slightly wide on some of the very good examples. The prosperous second half of the eighteenth century saw a proliferation of designs and some highly decorative workmanship. Styles include Gothic and Chinese and effects such as riband were used.
A superb museum quality example with top quality splat, the stretchers have pierced frets, and the rest, except the back legs, is blind fretted. Odd chairs of almost this quality can still occasionally be found.
A good Chippendale chair, whose finely carved top rail and decoration on the splat give it style. The legs are moulded and decorated with carefully carved notches, and the boldness of the four intertwining loops in the
splat corresponds to a design in Ince and Mayhew’s Universal System, 1759-1763.
Set of six $12, 000 — 15, 000
A chair of considerably less quality, it has moulded legs and an elegant and reasonably intricate splat, but the top rail lacks carved motifs and the effect is one of solid comfort rather than impressiveness.
An almost country interpretation of the design; the Chippendale splat and legs are there but the main decoration comes from the curl at the extremities of the top rail and the base of the splat, hangovers from the pre-Chippendale period . Compare the design of the splat with those of the three preceding examples. The interlaced strands are a bit close at the top and meet the top rather than flow from it. The chair is in walnut which supports the country made provenance.
Note may not be aesthetically a success but financially it makes the grade. It is precisely this lack of equation between quality and price that makes it essential for the collector to learn to discriminate. c.1770

CHAIRS — upholstered, with open arms
A walnut chair with shepherd’s crook arms and cabriole legs of high quality carving incorporating shell motifs; hipped to the decorated seat rail. It has ball-and-claw feet. The termination of the back legs is interestingly designed. 1720-1730
A leather-covered mahogany chair on cabriole legs with four ball-and-claw feet. Scroll and leaf carving completes the value points on this thoroughly robust piece. c. 1740
A mid-century design of chair with a gadrooned leaf carved front rail and the fine decoration to the cabrioles which end in very successful scrolled feet, as used by Chippendale in some of his designs. Very elegant chair.
Another Chippendale motif, three clustered column carved front legs to give a slightly bamboo effect. The leaf carving on the reeded curved arms is a typical period design. 1750-1770
A variant in the style of the back which gives altogether a lighter appearance, which is however not supported by the thick Chippendale moulded legs; the arms by contrast are excellent. One can well see why the lighter neo-classical designs were so popular. c. 1765

CHAIRS — upholstered 18th century, evolution of wings
Upholstery, like chairs, came late to the general ruck of people. Important personages, not obliged to sit on benches or stools, doubtless padded their important seats with a variety of coverings. For our purposes the upholstered chair can start in the late seventeenth century and go forward from there. The price of upholstered chairs is greatly influenced by the presence of original or contemporary covering fabric.
A late seventeenth century chair with typical scrolled feet and arm supports, with carved front stretcher again echoing these motifs. The silk covering could well be original. The straight high thin sides are typical.
1680-1690
A walnut chair with needlework covering of fine proportion. The turning of the legs, which end in bun feet, and the stretcher and arm supports, is delightful. c. 1670-1680
Another superb walnut wing chair on cabriole legs with scrolls at the top. The arms have an elegant outwards sweep. The only possible criticism is that the legs are, if anything, too thin, lacking the robustness of the period. 1710-1730
258 A sophisticated walnut wing chair of the early eighteenth century with cabriole legs and shaped stretchers. There is iicely scrolled curve inside the knee of the cabrioles, which end in pad feet.
1710-1720 A leather-covered wing chair on cabriole legs in walnut with pad feet. 1720-1730
A slightly later type than 262. It lacks the broad roll of the arms and the straight top is less attractive. The castors are new — the originals would be broad and thin, and the seat looks out of shape. c.1770
Better quality than the previous example with slightly hipped decoration and good ball-and-claw carving. The front cabriole seen on the right of the picture appears in the photograph to be too splayed out. c.1730
A Chippendale design with the typical square moulding to the front legs and stretcher. The wings curve out from the back of the arms and continue the serpentine form of the top rail in a most satisfying manner. A form much admired by reproduction manufacturers. c. 1760
The thinner tapering legs and lack of stretcher suggest a late eighteenth century date. The back and the wings have integrated into a single curve relieved by the pleating.
c. 1780 Still fine quality but a much less grand piece. Moulded decoration on the arms and legs. The same solid four square appearance. c. 1765

CHAIRS — upholstered, without arms
This type of chair enjoyed a long period of popularity. At first the comfort and later the practicality ensured that with period features it continued to be made. The legs provide the clue to date.
Four good square cabrioles, C-scrolls, carved decoration on the knee. Of all these examples this is the only one with ‘movement’ in its back (see also 123 in Chairs — cabriole leg, high back). The period, or at least early tapestry, adds to the value even if it detracts from the usefulness. c.1705
Again legs here clearly proclaim a Queen Anne date and again the use of the C-scroll to decorate the outside of the top of the cabrioles and the use of the cabrioles on four legs is typical. But not the quality of the previous example. c. 1710
The moulded cross stretcher and turned and carved legs indicate an early date. A good well-balanced chair.
c. 1690
A highly individual chair of great character made like the others in walnut. It has a more primitive quality as witnessed by the subdued use of the scroll decoration combined with a highly confident ‘double cabriole’.
c. 1710
A late walnut example. Plain, but notice the less well made cabrioles terminating in high shaped oval pads.
c. 1730
Potential value of needlework disregarded
The serpentine top rail is the only decorative feature on this simple square Chippendale period mahogany example. c. 1750

CHAIRS — upholstered, neo-classical
The upholstered square shaped chairs in the earlier sections were peculiarly British. The high sophistication of the French designs towards the end of the eighteenth century were in strong contrast; and the introduction of the neo-classical designs of the Adams brothers; both resulted in demand from the rich for a less ponderous, lighter, more opulent design.
The examples that follow show the huge gradations in quality that were produced over a period. From sumptuous pieces, that in terms of quality are arguably the match of French designs, to the cosy Victorian mass-produced adaptations of the type. But even here quality varies to a surprising degree.
Adam carved wood and gilt elaborately decorated with paterae and husk. The shaped seats having a design of honeysuckle and scrolls on turned tapered legs carved with acanthus leaves. c.1770
Another Adam design chair with oval back and needlework covering. The fluting of the legs and frieze adds lightness and elegance to the design but it is nowhere near the same quality as the last example. 1760-1770
A mahogany open armchair of Adam influence, with turned legs which are fluted and reeded. An elegant design not flattered by the upholstery. 1770-1780
A Victorian walnut open armchair in the French manner —say Louis XVI — with scroll carving and of very high quality execution. One can clearly see the design moving towards the next example. Now much reproduced in Italy and Spain c.1850
This chair clearly shows the development towards the typical Victorian upholstered chair, see the section on Chairs — upholstered, Victorian. Little remains of the neo-classical. Victorian comfort and the love of curves have taken over. c. 1845