Metamorphic library chair
manner of Morgan and Sanders (fl. 1801 - 1820)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1810 - circa 1820
Materials
Mahogany, cane, leather, brass
Measurements
88.0 x 55.0 x 62.0 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 871315
Summary
A mahogany metamorphic library chair, English, circa 1811 - 1820, in the manner Morgan and Sanders (fl. 1801 - 1820) and Gillows. With a tablet toprail veneered with flame mahogany within a triple reed. The open volute-ended arms and the chairs rails and front seat rail all reeded. The arm terminals applied with a moulded boss of two concentric circles. The seat of cane. The four sabre legs reeded. The chair folding forward to form a flight of four treads inset with leather; the flight tapering towards the bottom. The steps secured by a brass lever with a brass terminal.
Full description
This contrivance, at heart a 'Trafalgar' chair, first appeared as an illustration in Ackerman's Repository of Arts for July 1811. The firm of Morgan & Sanders, established in Catherine Street in the Strand, London, made and sold a significant number of these chairs, but there is no evidence to suggest that they were the designers, and they did not own the Patent for the design. The firm of Gillows also produced a very similar chair and it is probable that other firms also manufactured them. However, this chair, with heavy reeding and a lever catch, most closely resembles examples considered to have been made by Morgan & Sanders. There was a boom in demand for metamorphic furniture at the beginning of the 19th century but it had been made in the 18th century. In 1774, Robert Campbell took out a patent for a metamorphic table which folded open to form a set of library steps with a hand rail. Few examples survive but, interestingly, a labeled example is also in the collection at Saltram [NT 871302]. (Megan Wheeler, 2017)
Provenance
Possibly acquired by John Parker III (1772 - 1840), 1st Earl of Morley, and thence by descent until accepted in part payment of death duties by HM Treasury from the executors of Edmund Robert Parker, 4th Earl of Morley (1877 - 1951) and transferred to the National Trust in 1957.
Makers and roles
manner of Morgan and Sanders (fl. 1801 - 1820), cabinetmaker