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Armchair
Unknown - Enlarge image
Armchair
- Place of origin:
Great Britain, UK (made)
- Date:
ca. 1770 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Carved mahogany, with later plush seat cover
- Museum number:
504-1907
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 123, case 10
Object Type
Armchairs of this type were used in dining rooms and libraries in the 1770s. The original cover may have been leather or woven horsehair; the present cover was put on by the present owner.
People
W. F. B. Massey MP (1845-1907) married Isabelle Mainwaring in 1872 and took her surname. Their collection was based on that of her first husband, C. B. Lee Mainwaring, who began collecting in 1820. The Massey-Mainwaring collection included jewellery, enamels, stained glass, porcelain, paintings and furniture. Substantial parts of the collection, including this chair, were lent to the South Kensington Museum from 1874 until 1904, when most of the collection was sold at auction.
Time
From the 1860s until the 1880s loan collections formed one third of the displays at the South Kensington Museum. Many of these loans were in specially designed galleries on the ground floor, called the Loan Courts. Important loans included the Meyrick collection of arms and armour, and the Salting collection of porcelain, medieval and Renaissance works of art. From 1874 loans were also displayed at Bethnal Green Museum, including exhibitions of furniture in 1878 and 1896. Furniture from the Massey-Mainwaring collection, including this chair, was shown at both of these exhibitions.
