A Mahogany Sheraton Style Single Chair - Country Sheraton Design Armchair  -  Chair of the Early Regency Period

A Sheraton design chair of considerable workmanship. Many such chairs are to be found painted in white and gilt or otherwise having painted decoration on birch or beech wood. In the main the painted versions are
more highly sought after than the mahogany ones, which makes for higher prices. Note the turned and fluted legs. The arm uprights have spiral reeding.
A Sheraton design arm and single chair in mahogany. The uprights and arms are reeded, which lightens the square solidarity of design. Note the vase shaped turned arm supports and the way in which the broad top
rail is panelled. The legs and back uprights are reeded; this effect is also carried round the panel in the wider top back rail.
A simpler Sheraton design with tapering legs normally made in mahogany. The arm uprights are of straightforward turning without the spiral reeding which adds greatly to price. An elegant and simple style which remained popular for many years.
Late 18th century arm and single chairs. Note the broad top rail in the back, the panel veneered in figured mahogany. The spiral twist middle rail is a feature of quality particularly important in value assessment of these chairs. The legs are turned, without any fluting. The arms of the elbow chair sweep forward and curve down to meet the line of the front legs. The proportion of these admirable smaller dining chairs makes them
extremely popular in the modern home,
Another late Georgian c. 1810 mahogany armchair, something of a combination of Sheraton and prevailing styles. The wide top back rail is veneered with a panel of figured mahogany and the centre rail is elegantly
reeded. The turning of the front legs and the arm supports, with the popular vase shape, is lightly and gracefully done. Occasionally brass stringing will be found around the inlaid back panel, which adds to the
decorative value.
A mahogany Sheraton style single chair with Gothic arching in the design of the back. The legs are tapered on the inside edge only and are reeded, as is the back. An elegant and simple chair.
A mahogany armchair of the late 18th century. An excellent example of a good quality chair, as evidenced in the reeding and lightness of design of the back. The turned legs are a little clumsier and have hints of later
things to come.
Country Sheraton design armchair in mahogany with bowed solid seat. A satisfying and simple country design of which many were made to meet the popular demand caused by the town versions.
A simpler Sheraton design with tapering legs normally made in mahogany. The arm uprights are of straightforward turning without the spiral reeding which adds greatly to price. An elegant and simple style which remained popular for many years.
Late 18th century arm and single chairs. Note the broad top rail in the back, the panel veneered in figured mahogany. The spiral twist middle rail is a feature of quality particularly important in value assessment of these chairs. The legs are turned, without any fluting. The arms of the elbow chair sweep forward and curve down to meet the line of the front legs. The proportion of these admirable smaller dining chairs makes them
extremely popular in the modern home.
Another late Georgian c. 1810 mahogany armchair, something of a combination of Sheraton and prevailing styles. The wide top back rail is veneered with a panel of figured mahogany and the centre rail is elegantly
reeded. The turning of the front legs and the arm supports, with the popular vase shape, is lightly and gracefully done. Occasionally brass stringing will be found around the inlaid back panel, which adds to the
decorative value.
Proportion and design  Figure of wood and inlays
A country Sheraton single chair in mahogany with straight legs and solid seat. The square back with vertical rails owes much to the popularity of Sheraton styles, otherwise the design comes from a straightforward 18th century construction.
A rather heavier Sheraton style mahogany country chair with drop-in seat. The broad top rail of the back has been made slightly wider than the back uprights which detracts slightly from the elegance of the style.
Otherwise the construction and tapering legs are typical.
An elegant chair of the early Regency period, with caned back and seat. The outward turn of the simulated bamboo legs is most effective and the balance is completed by the curved top rail. The seat rail and the top
rail are inlaid with stringing in the approved classical manner. Many of these chairs were made of birch or beech and then ebonised or painted. They are almost inevitably very expensive.
Lightness and elegance of design

A mahogany Hepplewhite Chair - A Country Hepplewhite Design Chair - Georgian Chair

A mahogany Hepplewhite chair of pleasing proportions. The arms show the more restrained curves of the late 18th century although the seat, legs and stretchers are still bold and firm in proportion.
A Country Hepplewhite design chair of a type most frequently found made in elm. Normally they are stained or varnished to look like mahogany, and have been stripped and polished later if now in the natural wood. The

design is known as a camel-back and is a logical development of the town-made mahogany one; simpler in execution and less decorated. The seat is solid and would probably have had a squab cushion on it.
Hepplewhite mahogany shield-back arm and single chair c.1790. The craftsmanship involved in making a successful shield-back chair is of the highest order and to obtain the necessary degree of comfort and stability as well as fine proportion is a task of considerable difficulty. The central baluster of these two fine chairs are joined to the top rail by the ‘Prince of Wales feathers’, a very favourite motif with Hepplewhite and one beingemphasized in his Guide . The shield -backs are edged with a small double beading on the inner and outer edges. The legs on these are not reeded and there is less decoration than that of the preceding example.
Proportion and quality of carving  Structural condition and originality
Fine quality Hepplewhite arm and single chair. Note the leaf carving on the back and round the top rail to finish half way down the uprights. The influence of Robert Adam is evident in these.
A mahogany Hepplewhite chair which suggests a development from a Chippendale design rather than a break from it. The structure is very similar; the front legs are not tapered on the inside edge and the camel-back form of top back rail tempers the outward sweep of the uprights.
Hepplewhite shield-back chair c. 1790. The carving of the back is of particularly fine quality. The tapering legs are reeded and the decoration of brass studs adds further ornamentation. Normally executed in mahogany.
Price Range: considered by many to be a high point in English design, original shield back Hepplewhite chairs fetch very high prices. Those below are an indication:-
A mahogany Hepplewhite chair of pleasing proportions. The arms show the more restrained curves of the late 18th century although the seat, legs and stretchers are still bold and firm in proportion.
A Country Hepplewhite design chair of a type most frequently found made in elm. Normally they are stained or varnished to look like mahogany, and have been stripped and polished later if now in the natural wood. The design is known as a camel-back and is a logical development of the town-made mahogany one; simpler in execution and less decorated. The seat is solid and would probably have had a squab cushion on it.
Hepplewhite mahogany shield-back arm and single chair c. 1790. The craftsmanship involved in making a successful shield-back chair is of the highest order and to obtain the necessary degree of comfort and stability as well as fine proportion is a task of considerable difficulty. The central balusters of these two fine chairs are joined to the top rail by the ‘Prince of Wales feathers’ , a very favourite motif with Hepplewhite and one

being emphasized in his Guide . The shield-backs are edged with a small double beading on the inner and outer edges. The legs on these arenot reeded and there is less decoration than that of the preceding example.
A mahogany chair of c. 1790 of a design also associated with Hepplewhite although some of the conflicting trends of 18th centurydesigns are evident in the square legs and eight pointed wheel effect. It is a fairly simple version of a beautiful design and represents a considerable accomplishment in craftsmanship.
A later Georgian chair of Sheraton influence in the back but with arms more associated with Hepplewhite styles. The tapering front legs and the back are reeded; a mark of quality.
A country version of the two previous Sheraton style chairs. The seats are solid and the back leg and upright very much straighter and rigid, with very little rake. The backs are also simplified; the front stretcher is
placed high between the two front legs as with earlier chairs instead of between the two side stretchers.
Later period Victorian chair in mahogany. Note the heavier, squarer back with over-emphasized corner carving. The cabriole legs and seat rail are also heavily encrusted. The fully upholstered seat gives an appearance of overstuffing and top heaviness.
A chair of design normally associated with the William IV or early Victorian period. This is in fact a Gillows design of 1877 and illustrates the fact that one must be very circumspect about dating Victorian chairs by their design for one finds similar designs being executed over a period of 30 to 40 years. The fully upholstered seat and moulded front rail give a heaviness not present in our rosewood William IV examplebut the back and the turned and fluted front legs could easily be associated with the 1830-40 period.
An unashamed Victorian mahogany chair of which the back owes much to the balloon design of more elegant versions. The uncorseted bulbous front legs are of a kind which have a robust appeal of their own even though most dealers flinch at the sight of them.
A Gillows design of 1884 which owes a good deal to earlier period fashions. The legs are more bulbous and the upholstered seat - not shown in this constructional sketch - would be very full. The chamfered and
grooved inside edge of the back is to lighten the effect of the very broad top rail and uprights. The latter have been ornamented with a small scroll at the join of the top rail in what almost seems an afterthought of
design.

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.

Windsor Chair with High Back - A Child’s Windsor Chair with the Gothic Arched Back - Windsor Chair of the 19th Century

WINDSOR CHAIRS
Windsor chairs or stickback chairs as they are more properly called, were probably first made in the early part of the 19th century. Principally they were a cheap form of seating usefulfor public assemblies, taverns, kitchens and the houses of the less prosperous. There are however some fine quality examples in existence which suggest that the virtues of the chair were appreciated by the more well to do also.
Early examples of Windsor chairs, particularly those with cabriole legs at front and back, have become expensive. Any Windsor chair with yew wood used in it moves to the top of the price range and there were some made in mahogany, which usually indicates better quality. The run-of-the-mill chair usually has an elm seat and legs. The yew chairs also normally have elm seats.
The same designs were copied for many years and dating a chair can therefore be extremely difficult. A late 19th century chair made in an earlier style but hard used and polished for 80 years is virtually unidentifiable from the earlier version. The heavier turned legs and arm supports one normally associates with the Victorian chairs were not always irresistable to the Victorian chair maker.
The principal chair making area seems to have been High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire but chairs of individual design were produced in other parts of the country.
It is worth noting that sets of Windsors do not attract a premium price per chair over a single to the same extent as other chairs.
A comb-back Windsor chair of approximately 17 80. Note the well-shaped saddle seat and the leg turning which is emphasized at the lower part. Many American Windsor chairs are of this design.
Sets are also not usually found of this type
A modern Windsor chair made to a mid-18th century design. The seat would be very ample and the chair of bold proportions. Note the curving crinoline stretcher between the front legs - a feature usually associated with better-made chairs.
Price Range: (for original period chair)
Unusual Windsor chair with high back C. 1800. Note the vase shaping of the centre splat which is attractive. Nevertheless a heavier appearance is given by the splat.
18th century Windsor chair. Difficult to date exactly since this type was made for a long time, but probably late in the century and continuing into the early 19th century. The simple stickback without a splat and saddle seat are typical of the earlier types. The curving arm supports are also interesting since during and after the Regency period turned arm supports became the fashion. This indicates that this chair may be earlier. However this design appears in Gillows cost books in the early 19th century both in mahogany and an elm and cherrywood combination.
Price Range: Elm and Cherrywood
A child’s Windsor chair with the Gothic arched back in yew wood. Although the arm supports and legs bear fairly representative 19th century turning work, the crinoline stretcher and well shaped splat make this a nicely proportioned and well made chair.
A fairly typical Windsor chair of the 19th century. The proportion and the turning of legs and arm supports are altogether heavier. There are still reasonable numbers of these chairs in existence and their very strong construction particularly when yew is used, makes them very durable and utilitarian antiques.
A fairly common type of low backed Windsor used for dining purposes. Note the turned arm supports which indicate 19th century origins.
Another child’s Windsor chair, this time of the high feeding type. Holes are left through the arms so that a spindle may be inserted to prevent the child falling out. The front rest has been removed and the holes in the front legs to fit it can be clearly seen. The splat is decorated with the Prince of Wales feathers, an emblem popular from Hepplewhite’s time onwards, but usually dating from the early 19th century in these chairs.
A mid-19th century Mendlesham chair, a Suffolk variation of Windsor designs rather allied to Lancashire chairs in the decoration.
A late 19th century development of the Windsor chair. Rather ornate with heavyturning; simpler versions were common in schools and offices or institutions until recently.
The Smoker’s Bow, a chair very common in offices and public houses from the end of the 19th century onwards. A large heavy chair which will stand considerable abuse. The horizontal hoop is no longer made bybending the wood but is constructed from several pieces shaped on a band saw and screwed together. In early Windsor chairs this method of forming the hoop was adopted but not always by using screws; the upright spindles did this.
Another simple variation of a type which was made during the latter half of the 19th century. In this case there is no left arm since the chair was made for an Officer’s mess where the facility to rise, wearing a sword, without picking up the chair as well was a considerable advantage.

Antique Oak Chair, Country Oak Chairs,  Charles II Armchairs

Mid-17th Century chair in oak, with elaborately carved back.
The earlier 17th century forms of chair were not dissimilar from this, with the exception of the elaborate winged scrolls on the uprights. Earlier chairs tended to be simpler, with square backs and the decorative areas were less profusely carved. Later in the century the carving exhibited a variety of motives. Note the heavy construction, with column turned legs and square stretchers. Simpler chairs have ’scratchings’ indiamond or other shapes in place of the carvings. Large quantities of these chairs were made, often with dates and initials of owners. Some are decorated with inlays of box, holly, (white) and ebony (black) in geometrical and floral designs. Country makers continued to produce them until the early 18th century.
Price Range: very wide and geared to quality of inlay and carving. Prices relate to highly carved versions; simple ones with scratch decoration are to be found at.
Victorian ‘improvers’ tended to add initials, dates and carving to simple chairs.
Mid-17th century chair. Note the diamond-shaped scratch decoration in the panelled back and solid pegged seat. The front legs are turned in rather bulbous baluster fashion, but the joints remain square and the pegs in the floor-level square section stretcher tenon joints can be seen. The seat is very worn but the remains of the moulded edge can be seen along the rear left-hand side. The front rail is carved in the same decorative manner as the back and shaped on the lower edge; again the pegged tenon joints are evident.
A mid-17th century country oak chair of pleasing simplicity and robust construction. The legs are still column turned as in our previous example and left square at the joints for the tenons, which were pegged. The back is panelled and without decoration. Not a popular collector’s chair at present but still well within reach of the modest pocket.
An oak ‘Derbyshire Chair’ of c. 1650 showing the arcaded back and split baluster decoration on the uprights. Note that the seat is inset or dished to allow for a cushion.
Cromwellian chair demonstrating movement towards lighter design still based on turning. The twist turning was popular in the period and the piece is made of walnut, a wood much more commonly used in the 17th century than is generally supposed. The chair is covered with leather fixed to the frame with heavy nails. Not a chair commonly found in antique shops; it is of a specialist collector’s taste. Bobbin turning rather than twist is often found and beech as well as oak or walnut was used.
Cromwellian oak chair of country construction. Note the square outline and the retention of the floor level square stretchers. The back is straight and the turning simple.
A Charles II - c.1675 - oak chair of radical development. The design is of Continental influence and more continuous. Apart from being carved the design of the scroll both on legs, front stretcher and back, serves to obscure rather than emphasize the method of construction. Cane backs were introduced around 1665 and help to lighten the overall appearance. Twist turning is still evident as well as the square back leg and stretcher joints.
Simpler oak chair of Charles II period with cane back. The front stretcher is simply turned and the seat has been upholstered, perhaps later. The quality is indicated by the fine sweep of the arms and the execution of the carved top cresting rail.
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. These chairs, taken singly, are still somewhat undervalued although sets are a specialist demand and command high prices.
Charles II chair of c. 1680 date. The rich ornamentation and crest on the head of the chair indicate that it was made for a rich man or institution. The use of figures for legs is very Continental and the gargoyle arm rests are not of English origin. It is nevertheless typical of the elaborate examples of the period and the general style adopted by the chair makers for the richer classes.
Late 17th century country walnut chair. Note the high back. Rather than incur the expense of the cane back of the town example the country craftsmen used vertical solid bars. The stretchers still follow earlier designs with simple turning and square sections at the tenon joints. The uprights are turned.
Three more late 17th century country chairs, 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 constructionbut the variations possible in the turning of them.

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  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

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 1890-1940 - Art nouveau, Art Deco, Crafts Movement
Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the centre of the furniture industry, with Chicago as a breeding ground of reformist designers including Frank Lloyd Wright who stressed the need for good furniture that could be mass-produced with machinery and sold at reasonable prices.
In the 1890s there was a reaction against the historicism of the past half-century. American designers absorbed the principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement (see p. 68) and added touches from art nouveau (see p. 196), to which style C. Rohlf’s elaborately carved chairs, around 1898, were, perhaps, nearest.
In 1894, D.W. Kendall designed for the Phoenix Furniture Co. an oak armchair with cane seat and flat arms that proved popular well into the 1920s. Simply-made chairs, sold off from a Spanish mission in California, inspired J.P. McHugh, who worked in oak and ash; E. Hubbard at the Ryecroft Community, East Aurora; Gustav Stickley at his Craftsman Workshops, Eastwood. Comfort was catered for with club easy chairs and deeply sprung ‘Davenport’ sofas.
Following World War 1, industrial design created the cantilevered, tubular steel chair, but a public preference for something glamorous was catered for with Art Moderne (see p. 275) which, at its best, combined traditional craftsmanship with modern streamlining. The low sofa and easy chair with deeply
Right rocking chair, New York, about 1890.
Oak reclining chair, designed by Frank Lloyd I right, about 1902.
sprung seats and backs, padded arms and minimal feet, took the term ‘fully upholstered’ to the point where woodwork was seldom visible. A sofa designed by the Spanish surrealist Dali, inspired by the lips of the American sex symbol, Mae West, is a classic example of the high Art Moderne style.
Crafts Movement: Native hardwoods such as oak, ash. Cane, rush for- Folk weaves for upholstery.
Industrial Design: Tubular metal, mainly steel. Serviceable upholstery fabrics.
Art Moderne: Exotic woods and expensive textiles.
Crafts Movement: Construction frankly exposed to view. Some makers, influenced by Wright, abandoned conventional joints in favour of screwing sections together.
Industrial Design: When steel tubes took the place of timber, traditional methods were supplanted by metalwork techniques such as welding, bending.
Art Moderne: Traditional joints - mortise-and-tenon, dovetail - though often cut by machine.
Crafts Movement: Exposed construction sometimes exploited as decoration, for instance butterfly joints and dowel ends stained by Rohlfs in contrasting colours. Carving was used by some craftsmen, but rejected by the puritanical.
Industrial Design: Puritanism of a slightly different kind saw decoration as superfluous, but often achieved - almost by accident - a decorative effect from elegant lines and fine proportions.
Art Moderne: Essentially a decorative style, exploiting every available means to achieve its ends - disastrously so at the lower end of the market.
Crafts Movement: Veneers little used. Coloured stains, green expecially, as well as the usual browns. Varnish on cheaper lines, wax on up-market products.
Industrial Design: Chromium plating on tubular steel. Cellulose sprays on 1930s woodwork.
Art Moderne: Veneered panels often used to face the fronts of arms on sofas and easy chairs upholstered in futuristic patterns popular in the jazz age.
Best buys: Mission chairs, especially Roycroft, Stickley - but go for good craftsmanship rather than labels. Many opportunities in Art Moderne seating that needs re-upholstery.
CRAFT MOVEMENT
Craft Movement chairs are often difficult to date because some designs, such as Kendall’s, remained in production for 30 years. Chairs by Stickley are often labelled and can still be bought at reasonable prices.