Chair Back thumbnail 1
Chair Back thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Furniture, Room 133, The Dr Susan Weber Gallery

Chair Back

ca. 1730-1750 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Upright chairs with back and seat panels of stretched leather had been used in Spain and Portugal since at least 1600 and the design was taken up in their colonies in South and Central America. This panel was probably made in Portugal or Brazil. The design remained in use until well into the 18th century, only changing in the details of decoration on the leather. This chair back must date from after 1730 because the design is contained within a frame made of the pierced, frilled ornament known by the French word rocaille. Rocaille decoration gave its name to the Rococo style, which came into fashion in the period 1730-1760 throughout Europe. The outlandish central urn with flowers and the avenue of cypress trees shown in perspective behind it, are both motifs that had survived from the earlier Baroque style. Such leather panels offered a simple form of upholstery, with no additional padding. One of the decorative metal nails that fixed the panel to the back uprights of the chair is visible on the left.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Punched and painted leather. Identified as bovine by Marion Kite, Textile conservation November 2012.
Brief description
Chair-back of cut, punched, and painted leather, with a pediment-shaped top. In the panel a formal garden scene, centreing on a large vase between two rows of cypress trees, surrounded by flowering stems and pierced, scrolling bands of rocaille decoration, with some surviving bronze nails. Probably Portuguese or Brazilian, ca. 1730-1750.
Physical description
Design
Back panel from an arm chair, of bovine leather, with a shaped top edge creating a cresting, the sides folded over to cover the outer edges of the uprights, each with a deep cut-away section to accomodate the arms.

The chair back is decorated on the front face with a panel of incised, raised and stamped decoration, highlighted with painted decoration in reds, blues, green, white, pink and yellow, on a white ground, the outer frame with gold leaf decoration directly onto the leather. The stamps used include dot punches, small crescents, two sizes of circle with central dot, and two sizes of shell or fan motif.

The shaped frame includes a view of a formal garden with two rows of four cypress trees in receding lines, flanking a large vase of reversed baluster form, with flowers emerging at the top and sides. The raised and punched design finishes approximately 5 cm from each side.

On the left (PR) side 2 bronze studs remain in place, each in the form of a saltire cross, with knobbed ends to the arms, the centre with a raised roundel, incised with a cross running between the longer arms.



Construction
The chair back is made of single skin of bovine leather, with two small sections skived and grafted to the lower left (PR) edge. The leather varies in thickness, to a maximum of 4 mm.

The top and bottom edges are bound with strips of thinner leather (probably sheep's or goat's), stitched with a thick thread, probably of linen. The original stitching is done with two threads, giving a continuous line of stitching (the tradition way of stitching leather). Most of the top binding has been repaired in wax thread, using back stitch. Some of the stitching on the lower edge has been reinforced with a second thread. The cut-aways for the arms are not bound. The right (PL) one is cut with a small central tab, which has been torn away on the left (PR) side. This would have been folded and attached to the inner side of the upright, from the back of the chair. Each side of the panel shows 5 pairs of holes for studs on the front face and the adjacent area which would have been folded to the side of the uprights. Intermediate holes are visible on the side flaps only.

The design on the leather has been worked by incising the leather and then raising it by pushing the leather, to create a sculpted effect without cutting into the finished surface beyond the lines of incision. The design is then highlighted by colour and gilding.

The right side (PL) edge shows a large irregular X-shaped dark mark, possibly created by a chemical.


Dimensions
  • Height: 49cm
  • Width: 67cm
  • At crease where leather bends upwards depth: 3cm
  • Thickness: 0.5cm
Measured on 15/9/10 by LC
Style
Gallery label
Leather chair back 1730–50 Probably Mexico Cow leather, cut, punched and painted Nails: cast brass or bronze Museum no. 1503-1903 Thick leather is a practical alternative to wood or cloth for chair seats and backs. Very strong but slightly elastic, it can be folded and nailed directly to the chair frame. It can also be cut to shape and decorated to add form, texture and colour. (01/12/2012)
Object history
Acquired with 9 other leather seat and back panels from chairs (1496 to1504-1903), all said to be Mexican, but not dated, from A. Johnson & Sons, 85 Wigmore Street, W (Nominal File A. Johnson & Sons). The whole group cost £14.12.6. The recommendation by T.A. Lichfeldt was that 'The Mexican chair seats and backs are interesting as specimens of broad and effective work, though rough. Some of them retain one or two old nails with curious heads. There are no similar objects in the Museum.'

"Chair-back of leather, cut, punched and painted. The top is pediment-shaped with a wavy outline. Within a shaped-compartment, bordered by scrolling bands and flowering stems, is a trophy of flowers planted by rows of poplar trees; the fore-ground is covered with plants. Two nails remain with star-shaped heads. Spanish-Mexican; late 17th or early 18th century. Damaged and rubbed."

Assigned to Woodwork Dept.

A panel with identical border but different central figures is shown in Hispano-mexicanische Kunst, VIII Jahr, plate VIII.
Historical context
The form of this chair back is extremely conservative and follows a form of chair that had been used throughout the hispanic world from the first half of the 17th century. The use of leather or fabric panels, without further padding, was the simplest form of upholstery. The thick leather was remarkably resilient to wear and presumably retained its popularity for that reason.

Comparable objects:
Campos Carlés de Peña, María. A Surviving Legacy in Spanish America : Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Furniture from the Viceroyalty of Peru (Ediciones El Viso, [2013]), p.121-128
Discusses similar polychrome embossed leather backrests from the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Summary
Upright chairs with back and seat panels of stretched leather had been used in Spain and Portugal since at least 1600 and the design was taken up in their colonies in South and Central America. This panel was probably made in Portugal or Brazil. The design remained in use until well into the 18th century, only changing in the details of decoration on the leather. This chair back must date from after 1730 because the design is contained within a frame made of the pierced, frilled ornament known by the French word rocaille. Rocaille decoration gave its name to the Rococo style, which came into fashion in the period 1730-1760 throughout Europe. The outlandish central urn with flowers and the avenue of cypress trees shown in perspective behind it, are both motifs that had survived from the earlier Baroque style. Such leather panels offered a simple form of upholstery, with no additional padding. One of the decorative metal nails that fixed the panel to the back uprights of the chair is visible on the left.
Bibliographic reference
Henri Clouzot, Geschmückte Lederarbeiten, Berlin ny (=Cuirs Décorés, Paris: Librairie des Arts Decoratifs. A. Calavas Editeur, 1925), Volume I, plate IX.
Collection
Accession number
1503-1903

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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