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 Chair in Oak - A Charles II  c.1675  oak chair - Late Seventeenth Century Country Walnut Chair

Mid-seventeenth century chair in oak, with elaborately carved back, c.1650.
The earlier seventeenth 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’ in diamond 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 eighteenth century.
Price Range: Very wide and geared to quality of inlay and carving. Prices of $100  $150 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-seventeenth century chair in oak, c.1650. 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.
Price Range: Not at present a popular taste. Single chair $35  $45. Value points: Quality of turning and carving…
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.
Value points: Quality of carving and turning
N.B. The chair in the illustration is a reproduction.
Cromwellian oak chair, c.1660, 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 mid-seventeenth century country oak chair, c.1650, 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.
Cromwellian chair, c.1660, 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
seventeenth 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.
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.
Value points: Walnut, Carving, particularly of front stretcher which can be very ornate
Simple oak chair of Charles II period, c.1675, 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.
Late seventeenth century country walnut chair, c.1680. 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.
A late seventeenth century chair of c.1695 in walnut, with velvet upholstery. The cross stretcher was a feature of the decade 1685 - 1695 and in this case it is moulded. The carved legs show a development of the
inverted cup form of Dutch origin: here it is scrolled and the square joints of these front legs are also decorated. This scrolling was of French stylistic influence.
Value points: Quality of leg and stretcher carving
Original upholstery

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.

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.

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.

Art Deco CHAIRS 1920-1940
Painted chair designed by Rietveld for a military club in 1932.
Modernist and Art Deco: About 1917, Dutch architect Rietveld, trained by father as a joiner, designs his first chair under- influence of Lloyd Wright, dispensing with traditional joints – type that becomes known as ‘Red and Blue’ (see CONSTRUCTION.) With other members of group associated with de Stijl magazine, believes ‘the machine contributes to the spiritualization of life’.
In 1919, Gropius established Bauhaus school of art and design at Weimar, moving to Dessau, 1925. Breuer- steel-framed ‘Wassily’ chair, 1925; Stam makes tubular metal and leather chair by Breuer 1924.
cantilevered chair, 1924-6, with versions by van der Rohe and Breuer also contending for first place. Van der Rohe designs Barcelona chair as exhibition piece, 1929 – still in production. Equally famous is Breuer’s steel and wood chaise longue, 1932.
In France, Le Corbusier works along similar lines, but pushed to perimeter of 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes – more decorative than modern industrial – devoted mainly to what is now known as Art Deco: Ruhlmann’s elegant armchairs and sofas with inlaid frames, Defrene’s three-piece suites upholstered in tapestry, the frames carved and gilt. Le Corbusier and Perriand design grand confort easy chair (1926) with tubular steel frame, leather upholstery, consistent with ‘beautiful equipment’ concept.Art Late 1920s and 1930s seat furniture combines best and worst of functional modernist and extravagant Art Deco styles, best elegantly streamlined, worst flashy and vulgar. Most distinguished work from Scandinavia, where trim chairs with seat and back forming continuous curves are designed about 1925 by Asplund, followed by Klint’s hand-made look, and Aalto’s use of steamed and bent plywood for cantilevered frames.
Modernist: Oak, ash, beech, walnut; birch plywood; tubular steel, leather, woven textiles.
Deco Chair, influenced by primitive African furniture, 1920s
Art Deco: Mahogany, walnut, rosewood, steel, fine leathers, suede, tapestry, printed textiles, wool moquette, uncut moquette.
Modernists reject traditional methods. Rietveld – a competent joiner – abandons mortiseand-tenon joints, making ‘Red and Blue’ armchair by screwing together, face to face, six uprights, four stretchers, two seat rails, a back rail, two narrow boards as arms and two wide ones as seat and back. Breuer, Stam, van der Rohe, Le Corbusier devise continuous shapes in tubular steel, thus obviating joinery. In 1930s, Breuer uses aluminium strips.
Art Deco essentially traditional, however novel in appearance; frames joined with mortise-and-tenon or dowel joints.
Modernists reject extraneous decoration, but are not brutalises as has been said; they see chairs, settees, chaises longues as forms of abstract sculpture, beautiful in themselves. Some designers, e.g. Rietveld, make use of contrasting colours; others, e.g. Kline, rely on the natural grain of the wood and on undyed leather.
Art Deco, while not neglecting line and form, puts great emphasis on decoration –marquetry in exotic woods, metal inlay, carving, lacquering. When cheap furniture trade attempts to reproduce effect of faintly decadent glamour, the result has all the charm of smeared lipstick.
Modernist: Natural woods, waxed or French polished and rubbed down to semi-matt. Early tubular steel nickel-plated, later types chromium-plated. Upholstery often made as separate units – squab cushions, pads.
Art Deco: Woods either natural colours or stained. Cheaper versions highly polished or cellulose sprayed. Better types very skilfully upholstered, cheaper ones badly finished. More traditional types, neither distinctly modern’ nor ‘Art Deco’, often supplied with loose covers (for further details, see the Box at the foot of this page).
Being the ‘antiques’ period nearest to the present, and the one in which mass-production came into its own, the 1920-40 period might be expected to offer a wide and inexpensive choice. In practice, the best modernist and Art Deco seat furniture is at least as expensive as that of other periods, and second-best that is worth having is hard to find; but auction sales in houses furnished in 1930s can provide excellent opportunities.
The practice of fitting loose covers dates back to 18thC, when – especially in France – sets were changed with the seasons. Nothing that early now likely to be concealed, but interesting chairs and settees dating from 19thC onwards can be found with original upholstery hidden and protected by tatty chintz covers.
Rosewood stool by Eileen Gray, 1920-5
Aluminium chair with plywood seat by Breuer, 1932.

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: VICTORIAN UPHOLSTERED
About  1840-1900
Typical mid-Victorian lady’s drawing-room chair.
Left, a late-Victorian gentleman’s chair with scrolled arms, rounded back, straight
A’squared-up’ version 0/ the 1880’s with  machineproduced carving.
Turned legs and arm supports (the latter sometimes as a row of spindles).
CHAIRS: CORNER
Mahogany, walnut, occasionally rosewood. Stained beech and birch on later cheaper versions and for underframes. Sometimes frame of cast iron.
About 1710-1770 and about 1890-1915
Early-18thC corner chair.
Standard methods employed (see VICTORIAN BALLOON-BACKS, p. 66, and OTHER 19THC AND EARLY 20THC TYPES, p. 67). Legs structurally weak, so look for signs of new staining around repaired joints. Almost
inevitably re-upholstered, not always correctly. Should have plain seat, padded armrests and deep buttoning on the back and inside of arms only. Note that the back. buttoning starts above the waistline.
Carving: Occasionally floral or classical inlay on crest rails of squared-up versions.
French polish.
VALUES
Only the best quality, most curvaceous examples fetch more than three figures. Very many examples of all types are within the average buyer’s reach. Always take the cost of re-upholstering and fabric and trimmings
into account when negotiating.
Watch out for the new wood that characterizes increasing numbers of reproductions. These may look impressive at a glance but they lack patination and will probably have insubstantial foam upholstery.
PRIE DIEU
A very popular occasional drawing-room chair, ostensibly designed for prayer. Tall, narrow, straight back with flat top and T-shaped upholstery. Sometimes bordered by (fashionably twist) turned columns. Generally
cabriole legs on castors but later versions with straight, turned legs. Often covered with Berlin woolwork, a form of needlework popular with Victorian ladies.
Peculiar to the 18thC, and to the late Victorian; Edwardian period, corner chairs are thought by some to have been designed as gentlemen’s writing chairs. Nearly always single, only rarely seen in pairs. Despite their
awkward and uncomfortable appearance, surprisingly numerous today. Country versions abound. Often made as commode chairs.
Incorporating many features of standard chairs of their day  vase-shaped splats, cabriole legs, turned stretchers and so on; during Queen Anne period, straight legs and stretchers and pierced splats for Chippendale period, but they exhibit specific features of their own too.
Most have stretchers; there can be four of equal height, one on each side, or they can be arranged on a cross.
The back, which extends around two sides, has two splats between three identical and always turned uprights, supporting a curved, flat, horizontal rail which broadens out slightly as it extends beyond the side uprights to form arm supports. The centre of the rail rises up a few inches to form a back support. A few of these chairs have a much taller, shaped back support, in which case they are called ‘barber’s chairs’. Virtually all have drop-in seats.
On early versions, the front leg only may be cabriole, the other three being turned to match the uprights above.
As with all country-made chairs of the 18thC, design motifs may be mixed  Queen Anne splats for example, might be used with later straight legs.
Edwardian ‘revival’ versions were sometimes made of dark mahogany in Chippendale style (see p. 56) with straight legs, but more often in light mahogany with spindly, turned legs, stretchers and delicate pierced
splats. Some had raised, ornamental cresting. The seat could be drop-in; or fixed, with flattish upholstery set in one or two inches from the edge. Some country versions were made in oak with rushseats.
Walnut, mahogany and oak.
Standard practices employed. Uprights dowelled into ‘arms’ of the top rail.
Restrained carving on the best examples.
VALUES
Walnut Queen Anne cabriole leg versions are the most sought after.

CHAIRS: VICTORIAN BALLOON-BACKS
1840-1885
The most familiar Victorian chair, made in various forms and for a variety of rooms, long after its rococo or ‘Old French’ style was generally unfashionable. The rounded seat and waisted back reflected contemporary
dress fashion.
The majority with slender cabriole legs flowing down from serpentine seat rails and ending in neat, slightly pointed French-type, or scroll feet, the scroll formed almost as a ball. Continuous narrow moulding running
along edge of seat rail  just visible beneath upholstery and down legs. D-shaped seat with serpentine front and deeply padded upholstery. Backs waisted, base of sides being continuous with back legs or formed as
carved scroll.
Most with round, literally ‘balloon-shaped’ backs with carved and sometimes pierced cross-rail, but there are several variations:
Dipped top (an early feature).
Shouldered top.
Circular or oval back, the lower curve taking the place of the cross-rail.
Upholstered Louis XV back.
Angular ‘Gothic’ shape (this was a later feature).
Dining versions with straight turned legs, become thicker and more bulbous with time. Early versions may have Regency-type drop-in seat, later a deep, sometimes moulded, show-wood seat rail. Later backs often
considerably heavier, occasionally with a vertical plate.
Typical delicate mid-Victorian parlour chair:
selection of Victorian balloon-backs and their variants. Those with straght legs were probably made after 1870.
Lighter ‘fancy’ versions were made for bedrooms, in beech with thin, turned legs splayed at the foot and joined by stretchers, canework seats, and often painted or japanned surfaces. Similar, but stained, cheap beech types mass-manufactured for country use.
Solid rosewood, walnut and mahogany. Sometimes beech, grained to simulate rosewood; or painted or japanned. Beech and birch for under-frames. Occasionally papier mache (or purporting to be so, but actually of wood with typical papier mache decoration).
Standard methods generally employed, but dowels instead of mortise-and-tenon joints became increasingly common after 1850. These may, but not necessarily, be detected by the presence of a small, single cutting
gauge mark at the side of joints. Two marks will indicate a mortise-and-tenon.
Because of their fragile construction it is not advisable to use cabriole leg versions for dining; they will not tolerate heavy use. Indeed, marriages of front and back legs are not uncommon. Check for matching timber.
Limited carving on backs, sometimes pierced; occasionally on knees too. Incised machine-carved dot-dash carving on later (often Gothic-style) versions.
Papier mache with mother-of-pearl, painted and gilt decoration on a black ground, mostly flowers and scrolls.
Polish, japanning, paint. Stain for cheapest.
VALUES
Great variations in price. Most valuable whether sets or singles  are rosewood, followed by walnut, then mahogany. Stained beech considerably cheapen’. Fine carving and cabriole legs add to value. Price of singles now into three figures, sets of any quality into four.
Papier mache is very collectable. Price of one of these can be equivalent to a set of six others of low quality.

CHAIRS: READING, WRITING, DESK AND LIBRARY
About 1700-1900
Early-18thC ‘horseman’s’ or ”cockfighting’ chair.
Various gentlemen’s reading and writing chairs evolved during the 18thC for use in libraries and studies and, in the 19thC, in clubs.
‘Cockfighting’, ‘horseman’s’ and later, ‘conversation’ chairs, about 1700-1800: Fully upholstered pear-shaped seat, padded back with narrow base rising into flat curved section. cabriole legs, at first with substantial stretchers. The sitter sat astride the chair and leant forward on the crest rail. Sometimes the back is fitted with a book-rest and/or candle-stands or holders. Mid-century onwards more often wooden splat with flattened wooden crest rail, sometimes dished for candlesticks.
Regency ‘bergere’ armchairs, Regency bergere armchair with book-rest and candle-stands.
Above, a late Regency/William IV reading chair anticipating the popular Victorian Eaton Hall type.
1800-1830: Wooden frame and back, sides and seat filled with cane work. Loose leather back and seat cushions and fixed padded armrests. Often adjustable bookrest or candleholders fixed to arm(s). Straight, turned front legs continuous with column arm supports. Back legs raked. Rectangular, flat-topped back can be shaped for comfort. All legs were mounted on castors.
`Eaton Hall’ chairs (particularly popular for clubs), about 1830-1900: A development of earlier corner chairs (see p. 73) and ‘horseman’s’ chairs (above), but for conventional use. Circular seats with semi-circular flat
wooden or deeply padded crest rail following same line, joined by broad pierced splat or, more commonly, ten turned spindles. Turned front and raked back legs on castors. Crest rail can have raised centre. In general, the heavier and more bulbous the turnings, the later the chair was made.
Walnut, mahogany; occasionally oak in the 19thC. Nearly always leather upholstery.
Standard methods employed. Bookrests adjustable on ratchet system.
Generally none, other than turnings on legs, spindles and arm supports.
Polish. French polish in 19thC. Ebonised finish occasionally from about 1870-1890.
VALUES
The rarity of horseman’s chairs and elegance of bergeres usually push their prices into four figures. Pairs of the latter are especially sought after and often more than the normal three times the price of a single.
Victorian desk and club chairs vary according to quality, but most are somewhere in the low hundreds.
New leather upholstery on all types should be valued at cost.