Chair thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Not currently on display at the V&A
On display at Sewerby Hall and Gardens, Bridlington

Chair

1640-1660 (made)

By about 1650 relatively lightweight but stout chairs were becoming more common in English households, and were starting to replace stools for dining in more affluent homes. This chair would have been used with a separate seat cushion on the solid seat board. The distinctive carved back-pieces of this chair suggest a south Yorkshire origin. Several workshops must have produced large quantities in the second half of the 17th century, judging by the numbers of such chairs that have survived.

This object is on loan to Sewerby Hall.


Object details

Categories
Furniture
Woodwork
Object type
Chair
Materials and techniques
Oak, turned and carved
Oak
Carving
Turning
Brief description
English, 1640-60, oak, 54/1868
Physical description
Plain (or side) chair with open back, consisting of three arches supported on full and split turned columns supported by a lower rail carved with stylised leaves, with five turned acorn ornaments. The back stiles are carved at the top with inward-facming scroll ornaments. The front stretcher turned with bobbins. The front and side seat rails with a scratch moulding along their outer, lower faces, and all four rails slightly chamfered on the upper, inside edge.

Construction
Pegged mortise and tenon joints throughout, with split turnings nailed. The seat consists of four oak boards, grained side to side, chamfered on their edges (underside) where they sit in grooves cut in the rails.

Modifications
It seems possible that the frame has been disassembled and repegged, and the seat boards replaced. With a dark stain overall.
Dimensions
  • Height: 102.5cm
  • Width: 47cm
  • Depth: 41cm
Height of seat 42cm
Object history
On loan to Valence House, Dagenham, 1955-2008
Summary
By about 1650 relatively lightweight but stout chairs were becoming more common in English households, and were starting to replace stools for dining in more affluent homes. This chair would have been used with a separate seat cushion on the solid seat board. The distinctive carved back-pieces of this chair suggest a south Yorkshire origin. Several workshops must have produced large quantities in the second half of the 17th century, judging by the numbers of such chairs that have survived.

This object is on loan to Sewerby Hall.
Bibliographic references
  • Chair; with open back, the upper rail having three carved arches with baluster columns and resting on a carved lower rail, each rail being surmounted by turned balls. The uprights of the back have applied half balusters and end in scroll finials. The front legs and stretcher have ball turning, the four side and the back stretcher are plain. Yorkshire or Derbyshire. Middle of the 17th century. H. 3 ft. 4 in., W. 1 ft. 6 in., D. 1 ft. 3 in. (H. 101.6 cm, W. 48.3 cm, D. 38.1 cm H. Clifford Smith, Catalogue of English Furniture & Woodwork (London 1930), cat. 525.
  • Esther, Singleton, The Furniture of our Forefathers. New York, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1913, illustrated p. 45
  • John Gloag, The English Tradition in Design (London: King Penguin, 1947), fig. 19
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
233-1898

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Record createdFebruary 13, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O131694/chair/
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