Dining chair
possibly Wright & Elwick (c. 1747 - 1824)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1750
Materials
Carved mahogany, ash, brass, iron, later velvet
Measurements
101.8 x 61 x 57 cm
Place of origin
Wakefield, Yorkshire
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 959745.2
Summary
A dining chair, one of a set of twelve mahogany dining chairs, England, possibly Wakefield, Yorkshire, circa 1750, possibly by Wright & Elwick. Each having a moulded back, carved with foliage, and with shells to the ends. Each upright with a central foliate spray and framing a vase-shaped back wrapped with acanthus and with a central pierced mouchette and a gadrooned shoe. The seat rails shaped, edged with scrolls and carved with foliage, and raised on cabriole legs carved with acanthus to the knee and with claw and ball feet with sunken brass castors. The seats upholstered in later velvet.
Full description
It is probable that these chairs were supplied by Wright & Elwick of Wakefield, who are thought to have supplied a similar set of chairs for Kippax Park, also in Yorkshire. Chippendale disparagingly alluded to 'the Ingenious Mr Elwick' in a letter to Sir Rowland Winn on 26th August 1767, which suggests that Elwick had some involvement at Nostell. If so, then they are probably the chairs recorded in inventories of 1806 and 1812 as '12 Mahog- Chairs and Castors', and may well have furnished this room since the day they were delivered. Bearing a paper label to seat rail reading 'Leeds City Art Gallery and Temple Newsam House Exhibition. Chair, Nostell Priory'.
Provenance
Accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of death duties on the estate of Rowland Winn, 4th Baron Oswald (1916 - 1984), 1986.
Marks and inscriptions
Underside of seat rail: 'Leeds City Art Gallery and Temple Newsam House Exhibition. Chair, Nostell Priory'
Makers and roles
possibly Wright & Elwick (c. 1747 - 1824), cabinetmaker
References
Gilbert, 1990: Christopher Gilbert. “New light on the furnishing of Nostell Priory.” Furniture History 26 (1990): 53 - 66, p. 54 Gilbert (1976), C. Gilbert, 'Wright and Elwick of Wakefield, 1748 - 1824: A Study of Provincial Patronage', in Furniture History, Vol. 12 (1976), 34 - 50, pp. 35 - 36 Macquoid, P & Edwards R (1986), The Dictionary of English Furniture (softback edition), p. 275, Figure 153