Antique Country and Kitchen Chairs
CHAIRS country and kitchen : rush-seated, 1860-1930
We have started this section off with the William Morris Sussex rush-seated chair again. This is appropriate, because the chair was a genuine country type Ire-discovered’ by the Morris firm and typical of country work
which had continued uninterrupted by the vagaries of fashion. Many of the chairs in this section are of typical country type or mass-produced simple chairs suitable for kitchens and the dining room. They are reasonably durable, suitably-priced, very functional in design and mostly pleasing to look at.
This chair may be seen on the right-hand side of the William Morris catalogue advertising the ‘Sussex’ range of rush-seated chairs. Originally they were birch, ebonised or stained dark green, using Ford Madox Brown’s
discovery of a green stain. The design of the chair is said to be traditional, and it is stronger than it looks. The posture required of the sitter is a bit severe. Note the way that the inclined arm supports go right through the seat rail and down into an extra cross stretcher, where their finely-tapered ends locate through the stretcher, like dowels, to add to strength. These chairs set a fashion for many other rush-seated types.
1865-1895
A variation on the previous design, using the same arm-support extension down through to an extra cross-stretcher. The back design is a variant on the ‘wavy-line’ ladder-back. c. 1870
A bamboo rush-seated chair in which the influence of William Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Japanese or ‘quaint’ style are gaily intermingled. By the 1870s, leading firms were producing bamboo
furniture cheaply to cater for the popular Japanese vogue. In this chair the traditions of Sussex and Tokyo have been determinedly blended. 1870-1910
A fruitwood chair designed by Ernest Gimson. The rush seat is conventional. Note the careful proportion and
the spacing of the ladder back a very satisfying chair to look at.
Not all country chairs were made by simple country craftsmen. This oak armchair with rush seat was probably designed by R. Norman Shaw about 1876 and retailed by William Morris. It rests at the Victoria and Albert Museum, who note that it was at the Tabard Inn, Bedford Park. The high back, with turned uprights and simple straight splat, owes a good deal to early 18th century chairs, but the turning on the front legs is much later in concept. c. 1876
A cleaned-off rush-seated armchair with an unusual back incorporating wavy, slightly ‘quaint’ slats with pierced circles in them. Made of birch and originally stained black. c. 1885
A rush-seated ‘art nouveau’ chair with round-capped uprights to the back which are echoed by the front legs. Although it looks simple, it is a deceptive chair, in which the plain oak surface in the back has a simple
fielded panel carved in it and the spacing of the flat cross slats beneath has been very carefully designed and proportioned. It is a chair of traditional country ancestry but redesigned in a modern, arts and crafts form
which indicates an architect behind it somewhere. 1890-1910
A chair by Liberty’s of London of rather solid oak splat construction in the ‘art nouveau’ manner.
Four small rush-seated chairs of mass-produced type in sub-Sheraton designs which were intended for kitchen or dining room use. A large variety of this type were turned out in Edwardian times. 1900-1920
A bobbin-turned yew chair with rush seat designed by Ernest Gimson. The bobbin-turning dates back to the 17th century and the style is derivative of that earlier period. Evidence again of the late 19th and early 20th
century desire to get back to simpler and more natural styles. c. 1905
A remarkable example of a low-backed ladderback chair with rush seat illustrated by Maurice Adams in 1926. The distinctive top rail is derived from the ‘Macclesfield’ design of country chair originating in 1790-1830. It is almost a faithful reproduction but the back design is not quite true. Would probably be sold nowadays as an ‘early 19th century’ chair. 1920-1930
Quite elegant ladderback rush-seated chairs of a design not far from Ernest Gimson and traditional types but, in fact, modern chairs from Maurice Adams 1926 catalogue. 1920-1940
The spindle and ladderback country chair was also made throughout the 19th century and much reproduced in the 1920s and 1930s when both types suited the vogue for oak ‘Jacobean’ dining rooms. Both these
examples are straightforward copies of early 19th century chairs taken from Maurice Adams’ 1926 catalogue. There were many producers of such chairs. On the left is a spindle-back rush-seated chair of a Lancashire
or Yorkshire type made from the 18th century onwards. On the right a `wavy-line’ ladderback of similar dating. Both are popular country chairs and have continued to be sought after. It is likely that many 20th century versions, with a bit of wear knocked into them, would be sold as being of much earlier date.
A rush-seated ladder-back chair of a mass-produced type, post-First War, which has used the fashion set by Morrisian and country chairs for its design. Compared with architect-designed types, it does not quite come off because the back is a little too long and clumsy, with its square uprights set at an uncomfortable angle, for the turned front legs. Nevertheless, made in a pleasant birch or beech, a cheerful chair for ‘country’ style kitchens or dining rooms. 1920-1935
Tags: 1860 1930, Adams, armchair, arts and crafts, arts and crafts movement, CHAIRS, example, oak, Victoria, william morris, Yorkshire