Panel-back armchair
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1630
Materials
Carved, turned and joined oak
Measurements
102 x 57 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1128065
Summary
An oak panel-back open armchair, English, probably South-West, circa 1630. The toprail carved with chevrons above a panel carved with a flowering thistle plant, and roundels. The downswept arms on rising baluster and ring-turned arm supports. The front legs conforming. -- 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.