Mahogany carved chair with replaced drop-in leatherette seat.

A chair in mahogany, with a pierced back and ornament carved in relief. The back has a pierced splat carved with acanthus foliage, with a moulding below carved with ribbons and rosettes. The side uprights and moulded and carved down the centre with bead and reel ornament. The legs are plain and square with single brackets.

Painted on the back of the seat rail: W.8A/1 - 1919.
Replaced green leatherette top with damage and scuff marks to the cover. There is also damage to the splat where the top of the scroll has been broken off. There are dents to the right and left hand back uprights.

Given by Lex De Renault Esq.

In October 1918 Mr Lex De Renault of Maple Lea, Clintonville, Dorking, offered a set of three chairs to the Museum, (Museum numbers Circ.4-1919, W.8A-1919 and W.8B-1919). Mr De Renault was about to return to America at the end of the First World War. The chairs had been in his family’s possession for over fifty years. It was agreed with Mr De Renault that one of the chairs would be transferred to the Circulation Department of the Musem for use in touring exhibitions.

The chairs, on examination, are probably mid-19th century in date. They are similar to a set of six chairs and two settees in the Lady Lever Gallery, Brikenhead, which are also thought to be 19th century.

The chairs W.8A-1919, W.8B-1919 and Circ.4-1919, which were acquired as a group, purport to be mid-18th-century, but for reasons discussed below seem more likely to be mid-19th-century revivals. They are closely based on a design in Chippendale's "Director" (3rd edn, 1762, plate X, no. 3), which is often indicative either of provincial manufacture or of 19th-century copying.

The back of this chair is inspired by a design in Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1754 & 1755 editions, Plate XIII, 1763 edition Plate X), although upon close examination, the chair appears to have been made in the 19th century. In the 19th century many furniture makers reproduced Chippendale designs to meet a demand for 18th-century style furniture.

This object is on loan to Sewerby Hall.

W.8A 1 & 2-1919