French and Italian Gothic and Renaissance Chairs Before 1630
Seats furniture ranging from simple stools to splendid thrones, some dating from about 1250 BC, have survived in Egyptian tombs. Greeks and Romans developed these types and added elegant couches. All these became prototypes for much later models, and will repay study, but the private collector is unlikely to acquire examples earlier than 1660, Gothic (12thC — mid-16thC), overlapped by Renaissance (I 5thC — early- I 7thC): Stools and benches main seating; gradually, backs added to form backstools, settles. Armchairs for use of master, mistress and honoured guests only.
Norman throne stool of William the Conqueror, before 1100.
Local timbers, especially oak, walnut, beech. Some German throne chairs in steel.
Stools, Gothic: Slab-ended, i.e. boards tenoned into seat at each end to form supports, with or without rails; usually with stretcher(s), the tenons projecting through ends, secured with key wedges.
Armchairs, Gothic: Mainly box-seated,
Roman bronze support for a stool.
panelled backs, enclosed arms.
Stools, Renaissance: Turned legs with rails and stretchers mortised, tenoned and secured with pegs.
Backstools, Renaissance: Italian scabello has slab supports back and front, and third slab, tenoned through the seat, forming the back.
Armchairs, Renaissance: I Turned legs and arm supports, panelled backs, open arms; French caquetoire (gossip chair) has wide seat to accommodate women’s skirts. 2 X-shaped supports at back and front of Florentine (’Savonarola’) type, and at each side of Venetian type; both types originally made to fold, but many rigid.
Settles, Renaissance: The casapanca is an Italian forerunner of the settee — a box-seated chest with back and arms added.
Italian walnut casapanca, about 1600.
Gothic: Stools have buttress-shaped edges to slab ends, pierced rails. Flemish and French armchairs have linenfold panels to backs and box bases. Portuguese throne-chairs are delicately pierced and carved with pointed arches.
Renaissance: Legs turned, rails carved with lunettes, scrolls; back panels of some armchairs inlaid into the solid with floral subjects in contrasting woods. Caquetoires carved with ‘Romayne’work (medallion portraits, often of owners grandly dressed up in Roman helmets).
Armchairs often painted and gilded when new, but few retain original pigments. Most of these are now a mellow brown or silver-grey colour.
Authentic Gothic examples rare, expensive. A Renaissance scabello or caquetoire, though not cheap, is a desirable and interesting object because it can make a powerful first impression in a well-lit and appropriately decorated entrance hall.
Above, Gothic bench, about 1500; below, 19thC bench reshaped to appear Gothic.
Early armchairs
almost always show signs of natural wear – smooth and free of scratches – where countless hands have rested on the terminations of the arms. Sit in the chair, rub your own hands gently over them and ask yourself if they feel right.

CHAIRS: BACK-STOOLS, FARTHINGALES, CANED AND OTHER 17THC SEATS
About 1615-1700
Typical upholstered farthingale chair.
The 17thC saw the widespread introduction of the single chair, referred to at the time as a `back-stool’, literally a stool with a back. Fixed upholstery sometimes replaced loose cushions and after 1660 woven canework introduced from the East Indies  was fashionably seen on the seats, and often the backs too, of most chairs.
Chairs were increasingly made in sets, comprising both arm and single chairs.
Continental (and particularly Dutch) influence was strong on all furniture. Under William and Mary, chair design was greatly influenced by the Huguenot designer Daniel Marot (p. 200).
Three most common types were:
Farthingales: Fashionable about 1615-1660. The name refers to the gap between the seat and back which presumably allowed women wearing hooped farthingale skirts to sit in relative comfort. These were probably
the earliest type of back-stool. At first, they had four matching turned legs joined by four straight and low stretchers. Upholstered seat; low, upholstered rectangular back with uprights covered in same material. Before long, the front legs only were turned back, the back legs being plain, square-sectioned, and slightly splayed. Back raked. Baluster turning replaced about 1650 by bobbin and twist.
Oak dining-chairs: About 1650-1700, many of ‘country’ appearance, but not necessarily of provincial manufacture.
Yorkshire/ Derbyshire chairs, mid to late-18thC.
Regional variations though, the most distinctive being the ‘Yorkshire and Derbyshire’ chair. Despite its name, made in other areas too. Generally square seats, rimmed around the edge. Back with vertical or horizontal slats, sometimes carved. Often a shaped or scrolling top rail. Turned legs at front. After 1660, a new stretcher arrangement became apparent. The plain back, and turned or carved front stretchers, were set higher than before with two stretchers at either side. This type was quickly superseded in fashionable London (and soon elsewhere) by:
canework chairs: First introduced to Britain about 1665. Inexpensive and common, made in large numbers for all types of houses. At first, a squarish seat and back with large gap between. Widely spaced canework. All uprights and stretchers fashionably twist, occa-sionally bobbin, turned. Back uprights ending in finials. Flat arms, slightly shaped. ‘H’ stretchers introduced with additional and higher stretcher at front and back.
In 1670, the height of the back increased. The back top rail was formed as carved cresting, complemented by deep, carved front stretcher. Framing of the back also carved. Swept arms, scrolling over the uprights,
which were still continuous with the legs. S-scrolls sometimes appeared in the design of front legs and increasingly on the front stretcher and framing of the canework on the back. This could be one or two rectangular panels, occasionally an oval.
After 1685, backs grew taller and narrower, with turned column uprights, sometimes fluted. Mesh of canework finer. Cresting sat on, rather than between, the uprights and sometimes matched the front stretcher. Seats smaller, supported on S-scroll and baluster-turned legs, fashionably ending in an inward-scrolling ‘Braganza’ foot, a Spanish feature. Front stretcher often of Dutch bow form.
During the 1690s, caning on back was often replaced by openwork carving and an upholstered seat. Sometimes a serpentine X-frame stretcher, close to the ground and supported on bun feet with tapered legs above and inverted cup knees. Alternatively, the carved
DUTCH IMPORTS
Many almost identical caned chairs were imported from Holland in this period and usually can be identified by thicker and shallower twist turning than English pieces; and by the absence or low position of the rear
stretcher (level with the ‘H’ stretchers). More than one type of turning may be present within a single chair.
front stretcher was set back several inches and tenoned into side stretchers. Legs sometimes formed as broad S-scrolls. Cabriole legs began to appear around 1700.
Oak, walnut. Cheaper beech sometimes used for painted or japanned chairs.
Tenoned joints until about 1685. Thereafter, cresting dowelled on to up-rights and seat dowelled on to legs at front. Chairs of this type made in walnut or beech may be structurally weak. Check for signs of repair.
Turning: Bobbin and twist more fashionable until about 1685, then baluster, but all types used at all times.
Carving: Mostly scrolls, flowers and foliage. By 1685 often pierced. Amorini supporting the crown (signifying the restoration of the monarchy) a popular motif for cresting, even during the William and Mary period. Found as late as 1700.
Victorian reproduction of provincial chair, with inferior carving.
1690s walnut chair of Marot type, with inverted cup knees and Dutch bow stretcher.
Generally polish. Grandest painted or gilt. Sometimes ebonised. During Restoration period fashionably japanned. Sometimes beech ‘grained’ (painted) to simulate more expensive walnut.
VALUES
Singles cheaper than armchairs. Those showing strong Dutch influence, with elaborate carving and swept arms fetch the largest sums, especially the Marot types, with upholstered seats, pierced backs. Generally
increasing in value as they get later and more elaborate.
Oak dining-chair, common from about 1660-1680.
Late-17thC chair with canework seat and back, and scrolled front legs.

1700`s ENGLISH CHAIRS — late 17th century, lighter ‘Anglo Dutch’ designs - antique upholstered or caned chairs - oak chair with cabriole legs - small upholstered antique wooden chair claw foot- mahogany chairs - cabriole legs ebony chair in walnut
In the 1600`s lighter antique upholstered or caned chairs came into fashion. The backs were supported not by a framed panel but by cross pieces covered in leather as in the case of this `Cromwellian’ example with bobbin turned base. c. 1660
Examples such as this oak chair with cabriole legs are also found in which all the members are spiral turned and the seat and back caned. Generally structurally weak if in walnut and so the price is low. c.1760
The Dutch-inspired decorative excesses of the Restoration furniture resulted in this type of chair becoming heavily carved, as in this excellent example. But despite the mass of decoration the basic construction was still the same, except for the bold sweep of the arms. 1675
A good average example of upholstered walnut queen anne antique chair (to which castors have been added in the nineteenth century). c.1685
A more countrified cabriole legs ebony chair in walnut, none the less an interesting example for it has fine colour and shows the start of several future design trends. The centre of the top rail shows the tightly packed curve carved in the pre-Chippendale period and the simple front stretcher, the double bulge turnings found in country chairs of the early eighteenth century. The front legs end in scrolled ‘Spanish’ feet. c. 1690
Backs of the chairs became high and the construction less solid. The opportunity for highly carved decoration is still seized upon; note the exuberant front stretcher and scrolled front legs. However, the thin flat seats were dowelled into the legs and, as the wood used was often beech or walnut, they had nowhere near the strength of the earlier oak examples. This is the key to their relatively low value; many of them are unsuitable for anything other than decorative purposes.
An upholstered chair from the end of the 17th century reminds a gothic gothic. The close carved vertical splats have replaced the long panelled cane backs. Note the graceful serpentine cross-stretchers with a centre finial. The bold curve of the arms helps the fine design but is expensive on material. The seat is now upholstered. Chairs of this type were designed by Daniel Mariot. c. 1690
The high back of mahogany chairs remains as does the decorated leg support which has moved back to become a stretcher. The legs have adopted the new cabriole form as yet without much confidence. Note the awkward square section at the top and the tentative carving on the knee which is in strong contrast to the assurance of the well carved back. c.1700. Value of antique 17th centuries chairs are high and the chairs are easily identified.