Chair
Category
Furniture
Date
1685
Materials
Wood and cane
Measurements
124 x 45 x 37 cm
Order this imageCollection
Westwood Manor, Wiltshire
NT 222292.3
Summary
Stained Beech and caned high-backed chair, c1685. The caned tapering rectangular seat with simple linear decoration is supported on baluster-turned H stretchers and front legs, the latter joined by a barrel-turned front stretcher with a central ball above half ball feet. The rear legs on slightly raked (compass) heels rise to form baluster and barrel-turned uprights with turned finials flanking the scrolled and pierced cresting rail which centres on a crown with flowers. The cane panel beneath is contained by uprights with simple linear mouldings. Cane was imported in unprecedented quantity from the Portuguese East Indies to assist the refurnishing of London after the Fire with the provision of cheap seat furniture, the oak frames following the already popular 'backstool' form. Courtesy of the connection of cane with the Kings Consort and its fashionable foreign exotic novelty the chairs would rapidly gain the trappings of fashion; walnut framing (or beech stained with a mixture of soot and urine in imitation) carved ornament in the latest Baroque taste and an ever taller back needed to demonstrate a status above that of the backstool owners as chairs became more commonplace throughout society. Decorative reference to the return of the King and Divine Right is often seen both at the Restoration and on Charles' death. Here the narrow back suggests a period of 1685-1700, the crown and rectilinear cresting an early date within that. Rebuilt, much restored.
Provenance
E.G. Lister collection