Panel-back armchair
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1630 - 1650
Materials
Carved, turned and joined oak, inlay of various timbers, including sycamore
Measurements
113 x 64 cm
Place of origin
Leeds (England)
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1128061
Summary
An oak and inlaid panel-back armchair, English, probably Leeds, Yorkshire, circa 1630 - 1640. With foliate scroll-carved toprail and ears. The slender upper panel carved with foliate scrolls and a tulip above the larger panel, carved with stylized female figures beneath arches, in a foliate surround and centred on a flowerhead. The rails and uprights inlaid throughout with chequered bands of alternating inlay, the arm supports and front legs ring-turned columns. The arms with carved scroll terminals. -- Much of the 16th and 17th century oak at Hardwick Hall, the indigenous pieces aside, was probably purchased by the 6th Duke in the 19th century to enhance the Elizabethan feel of the property, much as his contemporary, Charles Winn of Nostell Priory, is known to have done (Westgarth, Raikes). The 6th Duke is recorded, for instance, as having bought 'oak Arm chairs' in 1846.
Provenance
By descent until, following the death of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959.
References
Westgarth 2009, M. Westgarth, 'A Biographical Register of Nineteenth Century Antique and Curiosity Dealers', Regional Furniture XXIII (2009), 1 - 205 Raikes, 2003: S.Raikes. ““A cultivated eye for the antique”: Charles Winn and the enrichment of Nostell Priory in the nineteenth century.” Apollo 157.494 (2003): pp.3-8.