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.

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.

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.

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

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

CHAIRS — corner, 1700-1750 (also known as writing chairs)
A fine quality chair, mostly solid walnut but with veneered seat rail and splats. The turned uprights are well shaped. c. 1715
An interesting country version of 132, with cabriole legs ending in pad feet. Only the front cabriole has a shell carved on the knee; the turned uprights under the arms are not embellished with any shaping as in 132; the cabrioles do not flow as boldly, but the maker has added the precaution of stretchers between them for strength, and these are shaped where they join the leg just like the uprights of example 132. The decoration of a triangular inlay of boxwood on the seat rail and alternating box and ebony on found on wainscot chairs.
c. 1715
A simple solid walnut corner chair with straight legs which belie the earlier date suggested by the shape of the splats. c. 1745
An oak variation with only the front leg a cabriole which has simple thread and flower decoration on the
cross-stretchers and pierced splats of the knee.
Pre-Chippendale type. c. 1730
A mahogany chair with high quality cabriole legs ending in ball-and-claw feet. The carved decoration on the knee makes good use of the design possibilities of shoulder support which would not be out of place on a Chippendale chair but, despite its evident quality, the back has a straight cut splat which is still in the walnut period.
c. 1740
This chair might well be criticised on the basis of the exaggerated, heavy curls to the ends of the top rail but, to those who like it, the vigour of the workmanship gives a spring-like quality to the scrolling (which looks as if it might be uncoiled given a means of softening the wood!) The back is a bit heavy but the design sources of the chair would be evident (if you have read this book, that is). c. 1735
A country chair, whose back design belongs to the examples of 1710-30, but this chair is, in fact, 1740-50 with simple square legs and stretchers of the ‘Chippendale’ type. c. 1740-1750
Finally a top quality piece in walnut with a highly individual design of back and superbly decorated cabriole legs and ball-andclaw feet. It predates Chippendale’s design by only a few years but shows clearly that richness of decoration and the overall shape were already well understood. It remained only for the designer to offer a variety of splats and personalised decorative design for his name to become the most famous in British furniture design. Much copied in the •Victorian period. c. 1750
A walnut example with a splat whose design is common to the first three chairs in this group, with slight variations. This chair is more restrained and the ankle of the cabrioles rather tentative. c. 1735