Corner armchair or writing chair of mahogany, British, 1760-1800

Corner armchair or writing chair of mahogany, with a drop-in seat. The legs are square sectioned, united by an X-stretcher, of rectangular section and the two splats are carved and pierced in Chippendale style, beneath a continuous top rail.
Design
The legs are chamfered on their inner corners to facilitate the jointing of the stretchers, but this chamfering is stopped below the seat rails, except on the central, front leg, where it continues full height. The upper edge of the front seat rails are worked with a stepped moulding, the lower edge of which is continued down the visible faces of the central, front leg. The X-stretcher is of rectangular section. Above the seat rails, the three back/side legs continue as supports for the continuous arm/back rail. They are turned as plain classical columns, tapering towards their tops, and with inverted turned peg shapes in place of capitals. Two of the peg shaped are flattened on one side, indicating that the section of wood chosen was not quite big enough. Between the columns are two flat splats, carved and pierced with a design derived from those published by Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) and Robert Manwaring (18th century, dates unknown). The continuous curved top rail is made in three section, lap-jointed in two places. The drop-in seat is covered in black horsehair.

Construction
The chair is constructed with mortise and tenon joints. The rectangular-sectioned X-stretcher shows a central half-lap joint. The right (PL) seat rail shows an irregular 'waney' edge to the underside, indicating that it was cut from a board that reached the edge of the log, and used for this place because the unseen underside did not matter if it were not absolutely square. The splats are socketed into shallow 'shoe' sections set above the seat rails, but the top of the splats are not jointed into the underside of the top rail, but are merely nailed into shallow mouldings that are nailed up into the underside of the top rails. The continuous curved top rial is made n three sections, lap-jointed in two places. The drop-in seat has a frame of softwood, lap-jointed at the corners. It is webbed with black-and-white chevron webbing of 19th-century date and shows a jute base cloth. The top cover (much worn) is attached with machine-made tacks. It used the full loom-width of just over 20 inches.

Damage and Repair.
The chair has clearly undergone major repair after damage and the current dark varnish was clearly added to disguise this work. The right (PL) leg, at the base, on the inside, shows an area that has been carved and smoothed, perhaps to remove evidence of damage by fire. The right (PL) splat appears to be a replacemntand is much more roughly cut and finished than the other two. The right (PL) top rail has been replaced where it joins with the arms support and the arm support is now tenoned right through the replaced section. There is a diagonal break (re-glued) to the left (PR) arm support at the top. The seat rails are reinforced with three triangular blocks, attached with machine-made screws, the two at the sides with serpentine outline, the back on simply triangular. The ‘shoe’ section under the right (PL) splat shows replaced sections at either end. The lap joints to the top rail are reinforced with machine-made screws.

Bernard H. Webb Bequest

Bequeathed by Bernard H. Webb of Gosmore near Hitchin RF19/2893. Mr Gosmore was an architect, who bequeathed many items to the Museum. This chair was originally acquired for the collections of the Circulation Department, which arranged loans to museums, art schools and other institutions throughout Britain. Some of his furniture was also given to the Woodwork Department. When this chair was acquired, with two other chairs (Circ.356 and 357-1919, the latter no longer in the collection) it was noted: 'new rail, restored, repaired split' (presumably repairs carried out in the Museum's Art Work Room.

A good account of such chairs, linking them to card playing in particular is given in G. Bernard Hughes, 'Arm-Chairs for Hooped Skirts', Country Life, 10 November 1960, pp. 1108-1109. Hughes notes a first published mention of the type in a sale catalogue of a furniture from 'a Great House in Arlington Street' [London] in January 1734. He also notes that such chairs were advertised by Catherine Naish in 1759 in The London Chronicle in June.

The splats are almost identical in design to those on another corner armchair or writing chair (W.13-1965), now thought to have been made in China. The carving on that chair is somewhat more elaborate but the overall design is the same. Although the style of the splats is a development of designs published by Thomas Chippendale (The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, 1754) and by Robert Manwaring (The Cabinet-Maker's Real Friend and Companion, 1765), neither produced designs of writing chairs, so this is both an adaptation and simplification of current designs to produce a useful piece. The long piercings in the back splats are in fact closer to designs by George Hepplewhite, published by his widow Anne as The Cabinet-Maker's and Upholsterers' Guide, in 1788. The design of the back, with a continuous rail creating both back and arms, is derived from the Windsor chair tradition and may relate to the fact that Windsor chairs, sometimes with similar low backs, and often in luxury woods such as mahogany, were used in both halls and libraries in fashionable country houses from the middle of the eighteenth century. This chair is not a particularly sophisticated version of the form (compare with V&A W.42-1924) and its square-sectioned legs may suggest that it was made late in the 18th century.

The design of this chair, with one leg at the front, looks as if it were specifically designed for use in a corner but it was actually a development of a general chair design to make the task of writing or playing cards easier. The user could pull it forward, under a table, without the difficulty of obstructions from the arms, and could sit forward, with weight over the front leg. Both in France and England, such chairs were found useful in social groups that relied almost wholly on writing for communication beyond the household. The design, with its continuous top rail, forming both back and arms, probably derives from low-backed Windsor chairs, that were often made in luxury woods such as mahogany, for use in libraries and halls in fashionable country houses from the mid-18th century.

CIRC.355:1to2-1919