Chair thumbnail 1
Chair thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Not currently on display at the V&A
On display at Oak House, West Bromwich

Chair

1790-1840 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This chair is part of a set with two other single chairs and an armchair (W.19 to W.22-1950). They are typical of the kind of chairs made in Lancashire in the early 19th century. Such chairs would have been used in all sorts of houses from cottages to substantial farmhouses or town houses of the middling sort.

On loan to Oak House Museum, West Bromwich


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Turned ash, with rush seat
Brief description
Chair of turned and carved ash with rush seat. The back is of wavy 'ladder' form with six shaped splats framed between turned uprights, which extend below the seat and form the back legs, square in section, with chamfered edges. The front legs, which terminate in club feet are are turned, with marked swelling and an outset collar above the upper stretcher, the top turned as a cap, with incised, concentric lines, The front stretcher is of a quadruple baluster shape, with incised lines. The other stretchers are plainly turned, with two stretchers at each side, and a single stretcher at the back. The rush seat may be original.
Physical description
Chair of turned and carved ash with rush seat. The back is of wavy 'ladder' form with six shaped splats framed between turned uprights, which extend below the seat and form the back legs, square in section, with chamfered edges. The front legs, which terminate in club feet are are turned, with marked swelling and an outset collar above the upper stretcher, the top turned as a cap, with incised, concentric lines, The front stretcher is of a quadruple baluster shape, with incised lines. The other stretchers are plainly turned, with two stretchers at each side, and a single stretcher at the back. The rush seat may be original.
Dimensions
  • Height: 101cm (Note: Seat height 44cm; measured by NH Sept 2016)
  • Width: 49.5cm
  • Depth: 42cm
Credit line
Bequeathed by H.C. Coleman
Object history
Bequeathed by H.C. Coleman, Durford Rising, Durford Wood, Petersfield (with two matching side chairs and an armchair, the set W.19-1950 to W.22-1950); the chairs described as standing in Mr Coleman's dining room (possibly two armchairs but only one acquired) with a gate-leg table (W.18-1950); elm, mid-18th century. These were described on acquisition as elm but appear to be ash (NH, 2016). See Registered File 49/208A.

For an authoritative account of NW 'Wavy' line ladder back chairs, see Bernard D. Cotton, The English Regional Chair. (Woodbridge, Antique Collectors’ Club, 1990), pp.414-419. Cotton notes that the makers of this type of chair did not conventionally stamp their work by name, although he does record one stamped by T. Clayton, Stockport, Cheshire, c. 1830 as plate 53, p. 317 and another stamped 'W.SLEE' (unrecorded) as fig. NW355, p. 416.

Loaned to Aberdeen, 1953
Loaned to Sulgrave Manor, near Banbury, 1968-1978
Loaned to Shugborough Hall Farm from 1989 to 2021 (Registered File 89/1678)
Summary
This chair is part of a set with two other single chairs and an armchair (W.19 to W.22-1950). They are typical of the kind of chairs made in Lancashire in the early 19th century. Such chairs would have been used in all sorts of houses from cottages to substantial farmhouses or town houses of the middling sort.

On loan to Oak House Museum, West Bromwich
Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
W.20-1950

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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