Chair
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1670
Materials
Oak, turkeywork
Measurements
96 x 50 x 41 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Packwood House, Warwickshire
NT 557647
Summary
An oak chair, English, circa 1670. The rectangular back and seat covered in floral turkeywork, raised on block and ball-turned legs joined by a ball-turned front stretcher and multiple square stretchers.
Full description
Turkeywork was perhaps the most common and consistently popular fabric for chair covers during the 17th century. The name describes a heavy, hard-wearing English-made woollen-pile textile made in imitation of Turkey carpet and was used extensively for upholstery, table carpets, wall hangings, bedcovers and curtains. To give some idea of the demand, it is recorded that a petition of 1698 by the turkeywork chairmakers claimed an annual production of 60,000 chairs in London alone. (Source: V.Chinnery 'Names for Things, A Description of Household Stuff, Furniture and Interiors 1500-1700', Oblong 2016). An inventory of Hampton Court taken after the death of Oliver Cromwell recorded no less than 138 items of turkeywork furniture.
References
Chinnery, Victor. 'Names for Things- A Description of Household Stuff, Furniture and Interiors 1500-1700'. Oblong 2016.