William and Mary period  walnut armchair -  oak Queen Anne period country chair - Walnut Queen Anne period corner chair

An oak armchair of c.1680. Note that the stretchers also exhibit twist turning as well as all the uprights. The back carving is well executed with the top rail and front stretcher showing two cherubs supporting a coronet  ‘boyes and crownes’. These chairs, taken singly, are still somewhat undervalued although sets are a specialist demand and command high prices. The back and seat were probably caned originally.
Three more late seventeenth century country chairs - c.1690 in oak, showing the variations possible in the back. The squab seats have been added for comfort. It is interesting not only to see the similarity of leg and
stretcher construction but the variations possible in the turning of them.
Price Range: Single $30  $40 Pair $70  $90
Value points: Quality of execution and carving of back
Late seventeenth century  William and Mary period  walnut armchair, c.1695. Curved and moulded stretchers. Note the bulb turning and ‘bun’ feet  to be seen on other pieces of the period such as side tables and chest
stands. The wool or hair upholstery is covered with velvet with bullion braiding. Note also the curvature of the arms to balance the stretchers.
Price Range: $120  $150 for this quality. Chairs of this period tend to be uncommon and wide variations occur depending on condition and quality.
Value points: Walnut
Balancing of design of arms and stretchers  Quality of turning
William and Mary period walnut chair c.1700 with cane back. A marked development in design from the previous example. The high cane back and square section joining of the back legs has been retained but the new form of leg  the cabriole — has appeared, introduced to England by foreign workmen. The cabrioles in this example finish in hoof or pied-de-biche feet. This is an early form of Continental influence. The transition between the high backed cane chairs of the seventeenth century and the finely carved cabrioles of the eighteenth century is to be seen. The Victorians were fond of making hall chairs of this type but usually lost proportion in legs and stretchers.
An oak Queen Anne period country chair, c.1710. The back splat is of the shape typically associated with the period. The termination of the uprights is very interesting because the line has been carried into the top rail
and over to a pointed termination where the splat joins it. The front rail is rather heavy, but shaped, and the cabriole legs are gently curved, ending in simple pad feet. The rather rigid back legs and lack of rake
emphasize the country origin. The solid seat has a typical shallow moulding around it, probably originally fitted to retain a squab cushion.
A superb walnut armchair of about 1720 raised on high quality cabriole legs decorated on the knee with criss cross carving and small tassels, the ends terminating in ball and claw feet. The back is of unusual shape but the solid splat of walnut veneered on oak is found on less good examples. The shepherd’s crook arms are well proportioned. The thick rim round the drop-in seat is typical of the period, as is the shell motif repeated on the cresting rail. A side view would show the pronounced rake of this top quality chair.
Price Range: $500  $700
Queen Anne period walnut chair c.1710 of early design. The now famous splat shape is evident but the high back is retained, although a curve in the rake of the back has emerged - the spoon back. There is a shaped
and moulded stretcher but in this case the cabriole legs terminate in simple pad feet. The height of the back and the square section of the back legs are retained from the previous century. An interesting feature
peculiar to Q. A. workmanship is the slightly raised planed moulding at the bottom of the frame just under the seat, rather like cockbeading. cabriole-leg side tables and chest stands of the period sometimes
exhibit the same feature.
Walnut Queen Anne period corner chair with inlaid diamond pattern in boxwood. Turned stretchers and uprights. Typically shaped splats in figured walnut. Drop-in seat. cabriole legs ending in pad feet; note the shell motif carved on the front cabriole, a  factor of quality. This chair is possibly of country origin.
Price Range: $100 - $150. Generally a man’s taste.
Value points: Quality of execution, i.e. proportion, grace of cabrioles, shell motifs etc.
All legs cabrioles  (sometimes the back and side legs are left straight or turned, detracting from value).
A Queen Anne period country walnut chair, c.1710, which was originally rush-seated. The front legs are cabrioles and the turned stretchers between the legs have square joints. The presence of stretchers tends to
distract somewhat from the line of the cabrioles and is generally assumed to be a feature of the chairs of the earlier part of the period. The back legs and uprights are also turned, a feature frequently found on chairs of
this period. The plain back splat is curved and the rush seat was of the drop-in type. The cabriole legs end in pad feet and the design and execution of the chair is of good quality for country furniture. Instead of fitting shoulder pieces at the sides of the cabriole knees, the flat facets are covered with
round knobs, glued on.
Price Range: Pair $80 - $110 Four $250 - $400 Six $500 - $700
Value points: Quality of cabriole and back
Note the cabrioles on this example are slightly bandy and knee (top) is too heavy for the foot.

Chippendale Mahogany Armchair - Mid-18th Century Chair in Mahogany - George II Period Chair - A Victorian Button-Back Mahogany ‘Ladies’ Chair with Cabriole Legs

UPHOLSTERED CHAIRS
Value points: Early examples with original upholstery even if in worn condition command a premium over the range quoted, often by an appreciable amount if the work is of fine quality. The position is reversed in the case of Victorian Chairs where the upholstery is usually of ordinary quality. Clearly most purchasers would pay a premium for good new quality material.
Early 18th century wing armchair with cabriole legs in walnut. Upholstered in leather. This is a fine example and well illustrates the three dimensional quality of the design. The wings sweep into the arms of this fine quality chair, which is as comfortable to sit in as one might imagine. Note the shape of the back legs; this feature is not normally well imitated by later craftsmen.
A George III wing armchair upholstered in leather. Note the square stretcher and leg construction of ‘Chippendale’ design. The curve of the wings is pleasant but the arms are a little stiff.
N. B. As these chairs command high prices there is a grave temptation to make a set of legs in the Georgian style and cover the modern frame with leather. Such examples usually lack the fluency of curve which was
found in better class examples.
A Chinese Chippendale mahogany armchair with upholstered back and arms. The bamboo motif is evident. The front legs are a remarkable achievement of craftsmanship and the nicely-scrolled brackets add considerable balance. The upholstery covering is of typical period design.
Mid-18th century chair in mahogany showing Chippendale con-struction in legs and stretchers.
Value points: Carving or moulding on legs  Originality of casters
A later George III period mahogany wing armchair. The sweep of the curve formed by the wings and the back rail is important. Compare the straight high line of the wings and arms in this example with the fluency of the two previous examples. This example is also rather thin, lacking the generous proportions of the better quality chairs. The lines would be improved by upholstery but the basic quality is lacking. The legs are tapered ending in casters.
Design of legs
George II period mahogany chair with stuffed back and saddle shaped seat. Covered in Soho tapestry woven with birds and small landscapes in broad naturalistic flower borders; on scrolled cabriole legs.
Mid-18th century open giltwood armchair with considerable Adam influence in the frieze and fluted legs.
A later 18th century open armchair of French influence but actually of a type made also by Chippendale. The decoration includes cartouche backs headed by shell cabochons. The frame is carved with leaf mouldings, the scrolled arms with leaf shoulders. Covered in later gros-point needlework with panels of flowers in key-pattern frame against a blue ground with roses.
Bergere caned chair of Regency period, in rosewood. These well made chairs have increased in popularity over recent years.
A George III period open armchair with arched stuffed back and padded arms on curved supports with anthemion carving, the moulded frame with bead carving, the stuffed seat on turned tapering reeded legs with lotus leaf feet.
Regency period chair decorated with brass or painted gilt mounts, frequently ebonised.
Value points: Brass decorations
Well curved leg with stretcher
A mid-Victorian open armchair in walnut, of the popular button-back type. The fluency of the curve between the arm supports and the cabriole leg is spoilt by the thickness of wood at the point where the scrolls are carved. Most examples are better balanced. This example is in walnut, but many were made in mahogany.
Value points: Decoration  Rosewood
A Victorian button-back mahogany ‘ladies’ chair, with cabriole legs. The top rail is decorated with leaf carving. The ‘grandmother’ equivalent of the previously illustrated ‘grandfather’ (i.e. with arms).
Later Victorian upholstered chair on mahogany cabriole legs. One of a large number of similar designs which being very comfortable have doubled in price over the last 3 to 4 years.

Chippendale Mahogany Armchair - A Chippendale ‘Ribbon’ Back Chair - Walnut pre-Chippendale Chair

Walnut pre-Chippendale chair of c. 1740-50. Cabriole legs with scroll and leaf on knee, ending in pad feet. Top rail and upright meet in elegant scroll. Pierced splat designed to give four tapering uprights. Drop-in seat.
A chair of some quality even if possibly provincially made.
Note the outward sweep of back legs, terminating in knobs to balance front pad feet.
Another walnut pre- Chippendale chair with simple rbut similar back splat design. The square legs and stretchers suggest a later date -possibly 1750 - and the proportions are a little less ample, but this is nevertheless a  very pleasing chair. There is a drop-in seat and the front legs have a scratch moulding down the front corners; they are chamfered at the back.
An interesting chair of c. 1755 in mahogany, the kneed legs showing the country type transition to square straight legs from cabrioles. The scrolled carving of the splat is elegantlydone yet the chair retains the essential sturdiness of the period. The proportion is good and the back legs sweep boldlyback in the manner of earlier chairs.
Chippendale mahogany armchair of considerable quality. Cabriole legs, decorated with shell and scroll pattern carving on the knee, terminating in excellent ball-and-claw feet. The arms sweep boldly outwards,
terminating almost at right angles to the line of the sides in scrolls. A very well proportioned back splat, with the upper scrolled curves leading perfectly from the top rail, which is also carved with leaf patterns. Note the boldness and width of the fully upholstered seat which is covered in leather. N. B. Although this type is generally known as a ‘Chippendale’ chair it is interesting to recall that the ‘Director’ shows chairs with cabriole legs with scrolled feet, until the 3rd, edition when a plate of hall chairs shows the ball and claw foot, which was undoubtedly popular at this period.
Warning: Many high quality Victorian reproductions exist of this type of chair. These reproductions have a value of $25-$35 each.
Chippendale mahogany armchair again of considerable quality particularly in the carving of the centre splat and top rail. The straight front legs are reeded, as are the curving uprights. There is less sweep to the arms
and the plainer treatment of the legs reduces the value from the previous example. The boldness and width of the chair are particularly to be noted in that 19th century copies tend to be meaner in proportion. The
craftsmanship in the carving of the back splat is of a high order.
A single mahogany Chippendale chair of similar type to the preceding armchair but of bolder proportion. While the back uprights are reeded however,the legs are not. A scratch moulding down the corners of the front legs gives added lightness and the front apron is slightly serpentine. Note the very fine quality of the scroll and leaf carving which is pleasantly mellowed with age and lacks the sharpness of a reproduction piece. The overall proportions of the chair are extremely pleasing and demonstrate the ample size of 18th century seats.
Chippendale mahogany chair in the Gothic style c. 1760. Although the Gothic influence - and French influence also - are evident, it is only in mild form in this chair. In earlier versions taken from Chippendale’s ‘Director’ the Gothic designs are very much more exaggerated, with multi-arched backs and heavily fretted legs and stretchers. This chair is of high quality, good proportion and restrained, though rich, execution.
(Gothic and Chinese Chippendale chairs of high quality are much sought after).
Quality of design, proportion and carving
A mahogany Chippendale chair with the splat again showing the Gothic influence in the arching. The top rail is waved and carved with leaves, but the legs and stretchers are the plain robust design of the period.
A Chippendale ‘Ribbon’ back chair of c. 1760-70. So called because of the ribbon carving in the back. Due to the craftsmanship involved in executing these chairs they naturally command high prices and are relatively
scarce. The remainder of the chair is of typical Chippendale design, with fully upholstered seat which in some cases may be serpentine at the front.
It is interesting to note that although the period after 1730-40 is generally associated with mahogany, a well known example of this type exists in walnut, and walnut chairs are to be found of even later date.

Country Chair of c. 1800 -  Regency Chair - A Regency Period Library Chair - A Gillows Chair - Balloon-Back Victorian Chair in Walnut

A very simplified country chair of c. 1800. The design owes something to Sheraton in the tapering front legs and squared style of the back. The two horizontal rails are very plain and more ornamented versions are to be found. The solid bowed seat is made of elm and the rest of the chair is fruitwood.
Late 18th/Early 19th century oak spindle-back chairs, sometimes called ‘Lancashire’ chairs. They are rush-seated and are sometimes made of elm.
Another very elegant Regency chair with rope twist motif on the back and sabre legs. The caned seat again adds to the overall lightness of design.
A Regency arm and single chair similar to the previous example in ropetwist designbut withdrop inseats insteadof cane. Thepanelbetween the horizontal rails in the back is inlaid with brass.
A similar pair of Regency chairs with reeding continuous down back uprights, sides and sabre legs. The carved decoration is simple and elegant.
A Regency period library chair which converts into a set of steps. These chairs usually attracted a high degree of craftsmanship and are normally in either mahogany or rosewood. The arms and sabre front legs exhibit typical Regency characteristics although there is a hint of William IV in the broad carved top back rail.
Rather a hybrid piece of furniture which was either little made originally or subject to demolition from heavy bibliophiles. Either. way, now becoming rarer and more expensive.
A mahogany Regency chair with lyre motif in the back. The curved side rails and sabre legs are reeded to give a continuous effect. The drop-in seat is located by a peg set in the top of the front rail. As with all sabre-leg chairs the front legs should be examined carefully to seewhether the top has beendamaged; the constructionof a sabre leg necessitates cutting across the grain of the wood thereby reducing the strength of the timber.
It is a sign of quality if there are none of these repairs.
For some reason the lyre causes a rush of blood to the head in chair purchasers; look for inflated values accordingly.
A typical Regency mahogany sabre-leg chair of pleasing proportion and design. Elegant and small, yet comfortable, this type of chair has become understandably very popular since the war of 1939-45. They are also to be found in rosewood, an even heavier and more durable wood which increases their value.
A late Regency or William IV period chair made of mahogany. In the heavy curl of the arms and the fluted front legs the approach of the Victorian era is foretold. The bold, wide, outward-pointing top rail is typical of the 1830-40 decade. Look out for conversion front legs i. e. the original turned and fluted ones are sometimes removed ana replaced by sabre legs to increase value.
Typical late Regency-cum-William IV rosewood single chair. The front legs are octagonal in section and the design has become heavier. The drop-in seat is still light in character however and the classical influence still evident.
A Gillows chair of 1841 made for Colonel Cradock. The back shows a stage in design which precedes the balloon back, while the heavily turned and reeled legs of the period have been replaced by finely made and
decorated cabriole legs. The seat rail has moved away from the Straight Regency design, and the total appearance is much lighter than the sub-classical designs of the 1820-40’s. The top rail is undecided as to whether it is to follow the downward curve of the preceding example or to strike out into the new balloon shape. The French influence is also evident in the decorative effects.
Another mid-Victorian chair with cabriole legs and needlework back and seat. The legs are more slenderly treated, with less curvature and the scrolled knobs at the feet are less accentuated.
A country mahogany chair of the 1820-40 period. The Regency influence is evident in the arms, but the broad top rail belongs to the later part of the period.
Balloon-back Victorian chair in walnut. The cabriole legs, despite a tendency towards bandyness, mark the distinct move away from the heavy turned legs of the previous years. The nicely proportioned curve of the seat rail between the legs helps to accentuate the change to a flowing, curved effect. These chairs were evidently very popular and were made for a number of years - perhaps up to the 1860’s and in a modified form throughout the rest of the period.
Early Victorian (1839) Gillows chair with turned and fluted front legs. The downward curve of the thick top rail, which is carved, helps to produce a more integrated design. It is a sitting room chair with padded back to give additional comfort.

Antique Dining Walnut and Mahogany Chairs, Regency, Victorian and George III Elbow Armchairs

A SET OF SIX WALNUT DINING CHAIRS, mid 18th century
Each with a pierced vase split and drop-in seat, on cabriole legs terminating in trifid feet.
A SET OF EIGHT EBONISED AND DECORATED ELBOW CHAIR
Each silver-painted with floral sprays and interlaced ovals with lozenges, the curved back with shaped X-framed splits, with a bowed caned seat with squab, on ring-turned tapered legs.
A MAHOGANY OPEN WING ARMCHAIR, late 19th century
With a padded undulating back and arms with moulded downswept supports, the seat on moulded square chamfered legs.
A WILLIAM IV MAHOGANY RECLINING ARMCHAIR
With a padded curved back, racketed scroll arms and seat with a sliding footrest with hinged square tapered leg supports, on inverted lotus tapered legs terminating in brass caps and castors, stamped R. Daives and
bearing a brass plate Dawe Patent, 17 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, London.
Robert Dawes is recorded at this address between 1820 and 1839 and patented his “Improved Recumbent Chair” in 1827, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Maney, 1986.
A REGENCY EBONISED ARMCHAIR
With a padded scroll back, arms and seat on line decorated sabre legs with castors.
A PAIR OF VICTORIAN ARMCHAIRS
Each with a moulded open back and C-scroll horizontal sprat, with scroll arms and padded serpentine seat, on cabriole legs.
A GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING CHAIR
The angled arched back bound by a laurel garland and with an acanthus scroll lyre splat, with a padded bowedseat, on turned fluted tapered legs.
With a pierced fret-carved top and interlaced blind fret-carved tapered and stiff-leaf column, on foliate splayed tripod supports with pad feet.
A LATE VICTORIAN MAHOGANY ARMCHAIR
The shaped acanthus-carved back with a rocaille cresting and pierced interlaced vase splat, with outswept scroll arms and padded serpentine seat, on hipped C-scroll cabriole legs terminating in acanthus scroll feet.
A VICTORIAN WALNUT ARMCHAIR
With a padded curved arched back and bowed seat, on ring-turned tapered legs with castors, stamped Gowtan & Sons, Oxford St. London.
Cowtan & Sons, successors to the firm  of J. Duppa are listed as house decorators, painters, paperstainers, upholsterers and cabinet makers and were active in the second half of 19th century and early part of this
century.
A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY LADDER-BACK DINING CHAIRS
Each with a pierced undulating top-rail and splats, with a drop-in seat, on square chamfered legs, restorations.
A PAIR OF REGENCY ROSEWOOD ELBOW CHAIRS
Each with a turned top-rail and pierced X-frame splats, with a caned bowed seat on ring-turned outswept legs.
A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ELBOW CHAIR
The back with moulded vertical splats, with a padded saddle seat, on square tapering legs, one later stretcher and part re-railed.

CHAIRS  Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and after : 1860-1930
The reader is not going to be bored by another harangue on the differences between the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau. That is done frequently throughout other sections of the book. Most of the chairs here will be known loosely as ‘art nouveau’ by the trade and many collectors. So be it.
We have illustrated a chair by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for information even though many would claim that it should not be in a Guide of this sort. We dispute this hotly as we explained in the Introduction. Although
chairs by Mackintosh are perhaps the province of Sotheby’s Belgravia and other fine art specialists when it comes to sale values, this book is used as much as an art reference work as it is a Price Guide. Besides, our
readers are not beyond finding a Mackintosh chair and an indication of value is what they are paying for.
A William Morris rush-seated ‘Sussex’ armchair as shown in the firm’s catalogues of the 1870s. This chair is also featured in the Country and Kitchen section but it is legitimately shown here because the middle-class
trendies who bought Morris & Co. furniture used these chairs for dining and occasional use, thus reflecting the genuine role that Morris & Co. played in the Arts and Crafts Movement. Many rush-seated chairs were
produced in emulation of this precedent. So there! 1865-1895
The use of rush seating seems to have been an almost morally-inspired move by the members of the Arts and Crafts Movement, as though rush seats and plain oak, with their `country’ connotations, were somehow
less decadent than stuffed Victorian upholstery. But then architects have always been puritans at heart. Add to that characteristic the socialist principles of William Morris and where do you land On something fairly hard, usually. It was Voysey and others, designing in what is known as the ‘vernacular’ tradition, i.e. in the native idiom  who produced chairs in clean lines made of plain oak and with seats of rush. This chair exhibits all these characteristics and the motifs, now associated with ‘art nouveau’, such as the heart shape, used by Voysey. 1890-1910
The celebrated design by A.H. Mackmurdo of the Century Guild. A chair with a high back and original upholstery with characteristic ‘heart’ shapes. A similar chair is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. c. 1885
Another chair by the
William Morris firm, in which the
tulip motif has been used in the inlaid panels in the back uprights. Again, based on a traditional form but this time the width of the back and the length of the arms is a bit attenuated. 1900-1912
A rush-seated chair by William Burges (q.v.) painted dark green, with painted decoration. It has been remarked (by Michael White-way) that the chair looks like something out of a modern Italian cafe. Possibly slightly pre-dates the William Morris chairs but at this point Burges and Morris were fairly close.
An oak rush-seated chair in a style going on from progressive-art nouveau towards something more modern, as evidenced by the arched cross-stretcher between the legs. The tapering back with the pierced ‘handle’ looks most uncomfortable. 1905-1915
More rush seating, more vertical discomfort. Very much a ‘clean’ archi-
tect’s design, the back following a model by William Birch. c. 1900
Plain oak, rush seat, but not particularly likely to have been made by a ‘known’ designer too stiff, a bit pinched. 1980-1910
Chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh of Glasgow, now famous for the elongated shape, the low proportion of the seat and the strange motifs, weepy eyes, seagullsviewed-end-on and other Mackintosh
hallmarks. Before you mock or turn away, reflect that Mackintosh designed his furniture to make specific impacts in rooms of high proportion or in the now-famous cafes and tea rooms where other designs would have been unnoticed. His work now sells as ‘art’ rather than furniture, hence the price. 1890-1910
An art nouveau armchair with decorated back panel in characteristic floral design. The wavy arm supports are a ‘quaint’ feature. Possibly Liberty’s. May have had a rush seat subsequently covered over. c. 1900
A more commercial art nouveau chair with characteristic heart shapes cut through. The seat looks like a repair job.
Commercial oak chair with a rexine or leatherette seat cover fixed by brass studs. Owing something to ‘art nouveau’ styles due to the tapering back and legs ending in ‘block’ feet but fairly mass-produced in appearance. 1890-1910
Another oak art nouveau chair, quite good quality and stiffened for strength by the curved apron under the seat. An enduring design.
Arm and single chair of commercial production with drop-in rush seats.
c. 1900    Singles in sets, each 30  40 arm, each 50 00
A somewhat Scandinavian - looking chair with leather panels in the bobbined back and a leather seat. The panels are moulded with flowers and birds. Very ,arts and crafts’.
A lattice-back chair by Ernest Gimson. He was fond of the lattice back and many who admired him followed this feature. Note that the chair is deceptively simple; it is beautifully made and carefully thought out. The
box-and-ebony stringing lines inlaid in the back uprights are characteristic of the later Arts and Crafts Movement.
c.1915    Set of six 3,000  4,000 Photo: Courtesy Jeremy Cooper Ltd.
Another lattice back, this time by Ambrose Heal, in oak. A very traditional, almost 18th century chair. As it is a furnisher’s chair, the seat has been upholstered and covered in a contemporary material, rather than the
rush seat of Gimson type.
1910-1920    Set of six 2,000  2,500 Photo: Courtesy Michael Whiteway
More ‘Cotswold’ lattice back chairs, this time with leather seats and cabriole/pad foot front legs.
Three chairs with wooden seats and loose cushions from Percy Wells, c.1920, intended for ‘the small house’ or cottage. The design is an interesting blend of simple sub-18th century lower halves, combined with top
halves that are also derived from the 18th century and art furniture. Wells disapproved of all the modern chairs in “tens of thousands of cottages and small houses in the streets of our towns and cities”. He must have been busier than a church visitor. The only good examples, to him, were Windsors, stick, or ladderback types, but  wait for it  they were not ‘easy to dust’. Deplorably, people would think of Windsors as kitchen chairs and would hence buy stuffed-seat plush chairs with a little bad carving on the back and, still worse, polishing or varnishing the legs. Wells’ designs aimed at being strong, comfortable and easy to clean. They were made in any hard wood such as oak, elm, beech or birch, and were intended to strike a medium between ‘kitchen’ chairs and ‘flashy and flimsy’ modern chairs. They were pretty successful in meeting his objectives and survive in large numbers, with variants in the back design. Not far removed from the small oak Edwardian chairs illustrated earlier, but far better in proportion and design.
In sets, each 15  25 c. 1920
A mahogany ‘carving’ chair designed by Percy Wells c. 1920. The legs and arms are distinctly Sheraton in form but the ladder-back is much more forceful and owes something to the Heal-Gordon Russell school of
design.
Good fan-back dining chairs, of 18th century inspiration, of a type made in walnut, oak or mahogany. An honest simple design which is again thin below the seat  the front seat rail would look much better if it were
deeper. 1920-1930
An oak chair with a ’sunburst’ back  art deco is on the way. An otherwise unremarkable chair except for the thoughtful chamfering of the square front legs at the edges. 1910-1920
Lattice-back chairs of the 1920s, made in oak walnut or mahogany. Probably inspired by the Ernest Gimson-Gordon Russell school of lattice backs but in this case from Maurice Adams. Actually these examples by Adams are well-proportioned, if a bit severe, and their modernity is in an 18th century tradition, whereas Gimson, in one of his lattice-backs, terminated the square section front legs in little, scrolled feet, which must have set even his most ardent followers’ teeth on edge. 1920-1930
An interesting design of oak chair, showing the arm, or ,carver’ and single chair from a set. The back, with its simple cross-lattice, reflects influences going back to Russell, Gimson and even Godwin, but the arms are not particularly attractive. The aforementioned designers would not have approved either of the incised carving on the top rail and the front legs, introduced by a commercial manufacturer to give more popular appeal to a rather severe design. c.1930

CHAIRS  bentwood
Bentwood furniture was introduced to England by the Austrian, Michael Thonet, at the Great Exhibition of 1851. His rocking chair, shown here, is one of the most popular forms and has been much reproduced.
c. 1860
A bentwood armchair of Thonet production itemised as No. 20 in the Thonet catalogue. An elegant chair of pleasant proportions.
A plain bentwood chair, catalogued as No. 14 by Thonet, and his best selling item at nearly fifty million since 1859. As used in cafes throughout Europe. During the 1870s Thonet was said to be turning out 1,200 of this model daily  see Gillian Walkling, Antique Collecting, December 1979.
An unusual, high, bentwood office chair, adjustable in height and with a revolving seat. The circular seat is impressed with the pattern one associates with bentwood furniture. 1900-1920
CHAIRS  balloon back, Victorian
The balloon back chair was quite a perennially popular form and has been appreciated by collectors since the 1960s. It is worth reiterating that most balloon back chairs were not intended as dining chairs, which are
structurally heavier. The light, cabriole-leg balloon back was for occasional use in the drawing or sitting room.
A standard Victorian mahogany chair of a type made from the 1840s to the 1880s. Not actually a balloon back but showing how it could easily come about as a sequence of this design. The legs are a bit pumpkin-like and the top rail is heavy. 1840-1880
A mahogany balloon back chair with some carving appended under the top rail. It would probably have been wiser to restrain this sort of decoration to the lower rail, since the appended upper carving detracts.
A classic example of an oval walnut balloon back chair with a wool-work covered seat. The amount of carving on the back and on the ‘knee’ of the cabriole legs, which end in scrolled feet, is restrained and pleasant. 1850-1880
A late, turned-leg version of the balloon back in mahogany, with a central carved splat instead of a horizontal rail. The back is quite attractive but the legs, with their rather clumsy collars, the large upper ones carved with vaguely leaf forms, are not harmonious with the curves of the back.
A variant of the balloon back on cabriole legs but with Gothic influence in the shaping of the back. The dot-dash grooving in the flat surface and the sudden cranks in the shaping are tell-tale characteristics of the later varieties of Victorian rococo.
A mahogany variation on the principle, this time with a French Louis XV shape to the back, which is upholstered. Still
rococo enough for Victorian tastes and of a shape which is a perennial favourite. Sometimes known as ‘French Hepplewhite’. 1860-1880
An oval upholstered chair with a buttoned back, painted and decorated with carving. Again a French design which returned to popularity in the 1870s, conveying an impression of lightness and elegance whilst still being stronger structurally than the cabrioled balloon back. The oval back is perhaps a little heavy.

AMERICAN CHAIRS About 1620-1690
Stools: Maple, oak, pine.
Wainscot chairs: Oak frames, pine panels in backs and seats.
Stick chairs: Maple, ash, oak frames; rush seats.
Peg-leg: Legs are turned or, more often, roughly rounded with a draw-knife, and driven through holes bored in the seat, so that their upper ends project very slightly above the surface; the fixing is tightened by driving a small wedge from above into the end grain of the leg.
An oak ‘Carver’ chair, about 1650.
Most of the seat furniture surviving from this period dates from after 1650 and chiefly comprises stools, chairs and armchairs.
Stools: I Fairly crude variations of the milking stool or ‘peg-leg’ type. 2 Joyned’ or joint-stools, also called coffin stools because a pair was often pressed into service to form a bier.
Chairs: I Rare, early ‘wainscot’ types with panelled backs and seats have turned legs, but were made by joiners. 2′Stick’chairs made entirely by turners. The Brewster armchair has spindles under seat, the Carver does not. 3 ‘Slat-backs’, also stick type, have shaped slats set between the uprights of the backs, and turned legs.
Long benches of this type were much less common in America than in England and Holland, and should be accepted as of American origin only if the evidence is very strong indeed.
Peg-leg stool with wedge.
Joined stools and chairs: Seat rails and stretchers have tenons cut at their ends which slot into mortises in the square sections, top and bottom, of the turned legs; the joint is secured with pegs driven through holes to penetrate the tenons (not to be confused with peg-leg construction, see above). The seat is similarly pegged to the seat rail.
Turned leg, mortised to receive tenons.
Stick: Stretchers, turned or rounded by hand, are driven into holes bored in the legs. Shaped slats, thin enough to be bent to curve outwards, are set in mortises cut in uprights of the back. In early armchairs, the arms are turned bars that slot into holes in the uprights and the arm supports. No pegging needed.
Wainscot chairs: Carved top rails occur only rarely, e.g. one at the Winterthur.
Stick chairs: Varied turnings include mushroom’ finials to arm supports. Slats shaped to several different patterns.
Oiled and waxed, varnished or painted.
Joined stools and wainscot chairs now too expensive to sit on. Peg-leg stools difficult to date, but good for a gamble. Stick and slat-back chairs can still turn up unexpectedly at bargain prices.
American Chairs   About 1690-1725
Black-painted William Mary banister-back armchair, about 1710.
American interpretations of the European and English (Charles II and William and Mary) baroque style are expressed in several new types of seating.
Slat-back chairs (see p. 293) continued to be made in great variety. New types included: square-backed Cromwell chairs with turned front legs, the seats and back upholstered, before 1700; a small number of high-backed chairs in the Charles II (Anglo-Flemish) style, with caned backs and seats, turned or scrolled legs, the armchairs with ‘ram’s horn’ arms, before 1700. Corner chairs with turned members and bowed backs, also in small quantities, from 1700. Banister-back chairs, from 1700 (see DECORATION). The day-bed  a couch for lounging on  before 1700 (see CONSTRUCTION). The New York waggon seat from 1720 (also made in other regions, such as Connecticut, Massachusetts); a crude prototype of the chair-back settee that served as seating in the house and, when lashed to a wagon, converted it into a makeshift carriage.
WAGGON SEATS
The waggon seat continued to be made well into the 19thC. Many offered for sale, though not fakes, are not as old as they are sometimes claimed to be. The hard use to which they were put means that early examples are seldom in pristine condition.
Replacement stool seats
Many experts (though not all) reject stools where the seat is secured by pegs driven in at the corners so that they penetrate the end grain of the legs, threatening to split them; such positioning, it is argued, occurs only when the original seat has been replaced clumsily.
Pegs on joint stool. The peg on the right is correctly placed.
Frames: Oak, walnut, beech, ash, maple. Slats: Hickory or ash (easily bent to shape when still green).
Turned spindles: juniper.
Upholstery (for Cromwell’ chairs): Leather or ‘Turkey work’  a hand-knotted imitation of Turkish carpets.
Caning (for baroque chairs and day-beds): Split and woven rattan cane.
A large Turkey work Carpet for the table and two doz. arm’d Cain Chairs are mentioned in the journals of the Burgesses of Virginia, 1702-12, in reference to the furnishing of the Council Chamber of the Capitol (first building) at Williamsburg.
High-backed baroque chairs: Front legs, whether turned or scrolled, often socketed into a flat seat-frame, instead of being jointed with mortise-and-tenon; likewise, the cresting rail of the back may be set on to uprights, instead of between them.
The day-bed: Essentially a chair with elongated seat and additional legs; the back, or bed-head, often hinged and fitted with a ratchet for adjustment.
Baroque chairs: Members turned, cresting rails arched and carved, ‘Spanish’ (also known as ‘Braganza’) feet shaped and carved.
Cromwell chairs: Varied turnings; ‘barley twists’ (spirals) were known as Crosswicks after the district near
Philadelphia where this speciality was practised.
Spiral twist leg.
Banister chairs: The back composed of split banisters (also known as balusters), produced by sawing the wood in half, lengthwise, lightly glueing the two halves together, turning on the lathe to the desired shape, then splitting them apart again. They are then set into the upper and lower rails of the chair-back with their flat sides facing inwards, so that no protuberances make for discomfort.
Split banisters: right, length of timber sawn in half, far right, halves reassembled for turning on lathe.
Right, rounded face; far right, flat face.
Baroque types often stained black and varnished, or japanned in imitation of oriental lacquer. Rural types oiled and waxed or painted.
Cromwell, high-backed and corner chairs, also day-beds, rare and highly priced. Best buy: individual slat-backs.
William & Mary maple day-bed, about 1725.
front leg socketed into seat frame.
Growing wealth created a demand for comfort, even luxury. Between 1725 and 1760, Boston alone gave employment to 38 chair-makers and 23 upholsterers. Regional differences became more marked in the work of Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Newport - the chief centres; for instance, New England side-chairs were taller and thinner than those of New York,
Attributions in this period are made by comparing examples with makers’ labels, for example William Savery of
Philadelphia: but names are sometimes bandied about for no better reason than to boost the price.
American Chairs  1725-1790
Left, Queen Anne walnut side-chair New York, Queen Anne walnut.
The Queen Anne style - merging, from 1760 into Chippendale - emphasised the S-shaped curve of the cabriole leg, a rounded seat and a swan-neck back with shaped centre splat (’fiddle back’) - a feature seen in many country-made chairs still retaining turned legs. In more sophisticated examples, the splats are ergonomically designed to suit the human spine.
Right, Chippendale mahogany side-chair, Philadelphia, about 1765-1770.
In the Chippendale period, the splat was fretted and pierced, and the cabriole leg slowly gave way to the Marlboro’ - straight, square in section but chamfered on the inside angle. Easy chairs have draught-excluding wings; a child’s version in solid timber has a hole in the seat to hold a pot.
In the 1780s, Daniel Trotter of Philadelphia was probably the maker of ladder-back chairs - sophisticated versions in mahogany of the country slat-back, with shaped and pierced slats and Marlboro’ legs. Country chairs of Windsor type, made with spindles of green timber socketed into bent frames, succeeded earlier stick types. Windsor settees were an alternative to the settle, high or low in the back, boarded or panelled.
Sophisticated settees; two main types:
Above, Chippendale soft, Philadelphia, 1775. The ‘chair-back’ or ‘frame’, conceived as two or three chair-backs conjoined.
Day-beds continued to be popular in the Queen Anne period, with fashionable splatbacks and cabriole legs.
Native maple and cherrywood substituted for walnut, the most fashionable wood 1725-50, and for mahogany, 1750-90. Upholstery materials ranged from leather and local worsted cloth to imported damasks, velvets and brocades. Stools, promoted to the parlour, had seats that, whether- or drop-in, were often covered in needlework made by the lady of the house.
Craftsmen did not at first trust the strength of cabriole legs with no underframing, and until 1740, many  in New England especially  continued to be united with turned stretchers.
As a means of joining the cabriole leg to the front of a curved seat, the mortise-and-tenon joint could be made to work only at the risk of weakening it, as too much of it had to be cut away to achieve the shape. Some makers compensated for this weakness by fitting a block inside. Others used a halving joint (a half-thickness of the side rail overlapping and glued to a half-thickness of the front rail). A cavity was then cut in the joint to receive the square at the top of the leg, shaped to a dovetail or tenon.
After 1760, the balloon shape of the seat was discarded in favour of an angular one, and in mahogany chairs of the Chippendale period, a conventional mortise-and-tenon joint is usual.
In Philadelphia in the mid-18thC, the regular method of joining the side-rails to the rear uprights was by means of a through-tenon, secured with pegs driven through holes in the side-rail. If the ends of the pegs and the through-tenon are visible, this is a sign of Philadelphian origin.
Queen Anne: Shells carved on knees of cabriole legs and often at the centre of the cresting rail which, in many New York examples, is pierced with two spaces flanking the shell. Feet were plain pads, carved lion paws or claw-and-ball. The Queen Anne style survived in Newport to the end of the Colonial period.
Chippendale: Splats fretted and pierced. Marlboro’ legs headed by Chinese fretted brackets, but cabriole legs with claw-and-ball feet persisted; in New York, they were carved with foliage down to the feet.
Queen Anne: Walnut veneers often used in splats and seat rails. Others with japanned decoration, usually in gold on a black ground.
Chippendale: Mahogany seldom used in veneer form on chairs. Walnut and mahogany surfaces rubbed down with sand or brick-dust, varnished, rubbed down again and wax-polished.
cabriole-legged types tend to fetch more money than Marlboro’, but much depends on detail. Windsor chairs made in great quantity and variety, but not cheap.
CORRECT CLAWS
In a well-carved claw-and-ball foot, the claw should appear to be grasping the ball with the strength of an eagle clutching its prey  a feature naturalistically rendered in Philadelphia, where the ball is flatter than in the rather square New York version. Newport claws have been unflatteringly described as limp. The differences are sufficiently marked to be acceptable criteria when making attributions.
Claw) and ball tool from a Chippendale side:-chair, about 1765-70.
CABRIOLE LEGS
Wing chairs with cabriole legs tend to command higher prices than ones with straight legs. Many of the latter type (A) have been glamorized by sawing off the legs and replacing them with cabriole legs (B), using dowels and/or hefty screws. The head of a screw may be visible but is more likely to have been countersunk and camouflaged with stopping wax. Dowels are out of sight, but if a flap of the upholstery is carefully lifted (C), it is possible to prove whether the cabriole leg and the square above it are of one continuous piece of wood, as they should be. If they are not, a human hair, pulled from your head and held taut, will penetrate the join (marked with arrows) that should not be there.
Wing chair with substituted cabriole legs.

French Baroque, Rococo and Lous XV Chairs 1630-1770
Baroque, 1630-1715 (Louis XIII/XIV): Until about 1650, chair legs are turned to baluster or trumpet shapes, then spirals, followed from about 1670-1700 by scrolled legs joined by matching front stretchers and accompanied by turned uprights to backs with high cresting rails.
Settees, either resembling three chairs ‘joined together or fully upholstered, are popular from 1660, as are day-beds and sleeping chairs with adjustable headrests. Winged armchairs appear about 1670, when Louis XIV version of baroque developed by Le Brun for Versailles, begins to affect design throughout Europe. Stools with upholstered seats (tabourets) play role in court protocol – folding pliants on X-supports reserved for duchesses.
In 1685, religious discrimination in France drives out many craftsmen and designers, in-
eluding Marot who settles in Holland and becomes noted especially for designs of grandiloquent seat furniture.
Rococo, 1715-70: Heavy, hook-like scrolled leg has gradually been smoothed into the elongated S-curve of the cabriole leg, which dominates the Regence and Louis XV periods cabriole leg terminates in various types of feet, e.g. scroll, hoof, in France, Italy; claw-and-ball in Holland, Portugal. Chair and settee backs lower. Notable chair-makers:
Migeon and Cresson of Paris; Nogaret of Lyon.
Italian gilded rococo settee, about 1750.
Rococo style often exaggerated in Italy, Spain and Scandinavia by use of boldly curved cabriole legs and asymmetrical cresting rails; in Russia, by exuberant carving on seat furniture designed for royal palaces by the Italian, Count Rastrelli. Portuguese chairs about 1750 have fretted splats and claw-andball feet in English style.
Mainly oak, walnut and beech for sophisticated fauteuil (chair with open arms), bergere (padded arms, cushioned seat), canape (settee); duchesse-brisee (daybed in form of bergere with removable extension).
Mid-17thC Spanish walnut armchair with baluster turnings.
Louis XIV carved and gilded tabomet.
German walnut fauteuil, about 1750,
A Louis XV rococo canape, about 1750-1760.
Frames usually exposed, seats and backs upholstered in velvet, tapestry, brocade, damask, needlework. Rattan, imported from the East, used from about 1660 for woven cane seats and back panels.
Ash, elm, pine, birch used for country chairs with wood or rush seats.
Baroque: Many high-backed, narrow-seated chairs have front legs socketed into flat seat frames; others mortised-and-tenoned.
Rococo: Most chairs totally devoid of straight lines; joining one curved section of frame to another entails masterly use of mortised joints.
Baroque: Bold turning, bobbin and baluster shapes. Spirals (’twists’) carved by hand until turners devise jigs for turning on lathe. Scroll legs shaped and decorated by carver.
Cresting rails carved with cherubs’ heads, vine leaves.
Rococo: Cabriole legs and curving frames shaped and decorated by carver, exploiting opposed C-scrolls, shells, flowers, moulded edges of frames.
Baroque: Silvered, gilded or left natural.
Water gilding more usual becuase it can be burnished or left matt; more expensive than oil gilding which cannot be burnished. Ground prepared with several coats of gesso (plaster mixed with size), coated with coloured mordant (blue, red or yellow) and, in case of water gilding, wetted before application of gold leaf over very small areas at a time. Cheap substitute for gilding is ‘Dutch gold’, using copper in place of gold leaf. Silvering uses same process as gilding, with silver leaf instead of gold.
French provincial childs chair.
Rococo: Left natural, gilded all over or painted, often with details in gold. Venetian seats brightly painted with flowers.
Louis XV seat furniture, especially if upholstered in original tapestry, much more expensive than 17thC baroque.
Frames of Louis XV seat furniture, as distinct from other types, e.g. tables, were very rarely veneered or mounted in ormolu, whereas 19thC pastiches
sometimes were.
Left, baroque leg socketed into flat -seat rail; right, mortise-and-tenon joint on a curved member.

CHAIRS: UPHOLSTERED, WING (OR EASY)
About 1700 onwards
Deriving from adjustable-back French sleeping chairs of the 1670s and made in virtually standard 18thC form at various times until the present day, wing chairs were for relaxation, not formal use. The wings protected the sitter from draughts.
About 1700-1750: Cabriole legs, either plain with pad feet and turned stretchers, or with carved knees, claw-and-ball feet and (usually) no stretchers. Rear square legs raked backwards. Until about 1730, a marked divide between back and wings, with high curved back, and wings curving sharply down to top of bold, outward-scrolling arms. After 17 30, wings and back seem to follow one continuous curve. Two types of scroll arm.
Plump upholstery with deep, loose seat cushion.
About 1750-1780: Legs, straight, plain and square, sometimes moulded, linked by stretchers. Occasionally with blind fret carving of Chinese or Gothic nature. Back straight or waved. Wings of equal height to back.
Outward roll of arms less pronounced. Padding and seat cushion less fat.
Mid-18th century wing chair with straight legs and stretchers.
About 1780-1810: Straight, plain, tapering legs without stretchers. Sometimes on castors. Narrower look overall, with flat top and comparatively straight wings and arms.
Victorian: Various simple curving outlines and stumpy turned bun feet on castors. Reproduction Queen Anne with thin cabrioles around the end of the century.
MATERIALS
Walnut and mahogany for legs. Beech and other softwoods for under frame. Legs (and stretchers) were the only visible wooden parts, otherwise fully upholstered.
Standard methods employed. Carving on knees sometimes hipped into seat.
Repairs likely, particularly to wings. Check for loose joints. Marriages of old legs to new frames not uncommon. At least part of the underframe should be visible for inspection. Upholstery unlikely to be original.
Some carving on knees, legs and feet until about 1770.
Polish. Fashionable upholstery fabrics included silk, silk velvet, needlework, leather, silk damask. Early examples were edged with braid; after about 1750 with close brass-nailing. Gimp or tasselled fringes in Queen
Victoria’s reign.
VALUES
18thC chairs certainly in four figures, some early ones almost into five, but decreasing towards three according to date and simplicity of design. Original, usable upholstery is a considerable bonus.
REPRODUCTIONS
Many, many 20thC reproductions. Apart from some exaggerated Queen Anne versions produced before and between the wars, most lack robust quality of originals. Their appearance is not helped by insubstantial
synthetic upholstery materials.