Dressing stool
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1715 - 1725
Materials
Walnut, beech, cane
Measurements
40 x 56 x 43 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1147099.3.1
Summary
A dressing stool, part of a set of three pieces of walnut, beech and cane seat furniture, English, circa 1715-25. The set also comprising a pair of long stools. With caffoy-covered cushions and covers. With cane seat within rails of alternating convex and concave broken arches, and with an incised line near the edge simulating cockbeading. Raised on four moulded cabriole legs with scroll feet (unusually, the block at the top of the legs is concealed) with scroll feet. Joined by an unusual scroll-carved and lozenge-centred flat stretcher, with two block and baluster-turned front-to-back stretchers.
Full description
This set of stools, together with a very similar daybed [NT 1147098.1] have traditionally been dated to the reign of James II (1683-5). However, the shape of the friezes, and the style of the leg, in particular, which takes the form of an angular cabriole, is only first documented in England from 1715 and so this cane furniture at Erddig cannot date from the late 17th century. This fits with what we know of the history of the house and its interiors, which were extensively refurbished and furnished by John Meller between 1714 and his death in 1733. The Erddig inventory of 1726 lists '6 cane squabs' and '14 large Cane Stools', as well as '2 Couches with Heads' (probably meaning daybeds) in the Gallery. It should be noted, however, that Louis Yorke (1863-1951) thought that they had come to Erddig in the 18th century, when the Yorke's London home was cleared of its contents and rented out. However, the inventory taken there in 1770 - furnished then in the height of fashion, and full of mahogany - includes nothing that could be these stools. Two of the stools have cushions and loose covers covered in 'caffoy', as do another set of chairs at Erddig (NT 1147097.1-7) which can be dated fairly precisely to 1720-6. Caffoy is a figured cut velvet with a worsted pile on a silk satin ground.
Provenance
Possibly the remnants of the set of '6 cane squabs' and '14 large Cane Stools' listed in the Gallery in the Erddig inventory of 1726. However, Louisa Yorke's (1863-1951) Facts and Fancies states that 'the...2 double stools and one single dressing-stool (the second single had gone, before my time)...come from Philip Yorke's house in London about 178[_] [sic] when it was vacated for economical reasons. Given by Philip Yorke III (1905-1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973.
Marks and inscriptions
Underside seat rail: T [punched]
References
Bowett 2009, Early Georgian Furniture 1715 - 1740 (2009), pp.150-3