Open armchair
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1890
Materials
Ebonised beech, rush
Measurements
94 cm (H); 57 cm (W); 63 cm (D)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Speke Hall, Merseyside
NT 1195783.1
Caption
Rush-seated and spindly chairs with curved backs and arms were marketed from 1865 by William Morris’s company, based on an old country chair found in Sussex. This upmarket version by another manufacturer has a latticed back as if made of leather straps.
Summary
One of a pair of ebonised beech open armchairs, English, circa 1890. Each with a rectangular lattice back, rush seat and turned arm supports and legs tied by stretchers.
Provenance
Speke Hall and its contents were bequeathed, as a secondary devise, to the National Trust by Adelaide Watt (d.1921) in 1943. Speke was initially bequeathed to the Norris family (who built the original house during the 16th century). It was then leased to Liverpool City Council and later to the Museums Department of Merseyside County Council. The National Trust took over direct management of the house and its contents in 1986.