Chair
Category
Furniture
Date
1660 - 1680
Materials
Cane, Walnut
Measurements
970 x 530 x 490 mm
Order this imageCollection
Cotehele, Cornwall
NT 347704.1
Summary
One of a pair of walnut chairs with barley twist arms and caned backs and seats. According to Victor Chinnery (2004): A pair of walnut and beech cane backstools, the low cane-panelled and concave or ‘compassed’ back with twist-turned finials over octagonal section posts, flanking a plain top rail and twist-turned uprights, the seats caned within moulded rails with twist-turned underframe with high front stretcher and turned feet. English, c.1660-80. According to Dr Adam Bowett (2002): This chair…is of a relatively common type, but it is nevertheless significant in being the earliest form of English caned chair. The square proportions, octagonal-section rear-posts with ball finials and plain frame all suggest an early date, as does the wide mesh of the cane itself. The back is dished or ‘compassed’ to accommodate the sitter, a feature which was introduced in the early 1670s. The edges of the seat frame have been chamfered at a later date to allow the seat to be upholstered, and tack marks are visible on the underside of the frame. Could this be one of the chairs recorded in Condy’s view of the Old Dining Room? Two cane chairs with upholstered seats are visible.
Provenance
According to Victor Chinnery (2004): Date of acquisition unknown, but these are probably the two cane chairs with upholstered seats that can be seen in Nicholas Condy’s view of the Old Dining Room, c.1840. A very similar armchair is in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, illustrated in English Chairs, V&A Publications Large Picture Book No. 10, HMSO, London 1970, Fig. 21; and The Dictionary of English Furniture, Country Life 1954, Vol. I, p. 241, Fig. 48.