Chair Carved thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Chair Carved

ca. 1760-1780 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The ‘Chinese’ and ‘Gothic’ styles both became highly fashionable in the second half of the 18th century, and both are combined in the carving of this chair. The fretwork in the back is copied directly from a design for a ‘Chinese chair’ by Thomas Chippendale, published in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director in 1754. The fretwork on the legs and seat rails, however, is in the fanciful gothic style popularized by the collector Horace Walpole at his villa, Strawberry Hill, at Twickenham, near London.

The Chinese style was favoured especially in dressing rooms, which might typically be hung with (genuine) Chinese wallpaper. However, this chair is unlikely to have come from a dressing room, as it originally formed one of a set of at least sixteen chairs. The set may have been used as dining chairs, or perhaps in a large reception room such as a gallery.


Object details

Category
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Chair
  • Drop-in Seat
Materials and techniques
Carved mahogany
Brief description
Carved mahogany chair with open pierced back in 'chinsoiserie' style
Physical description
Carved mahogany chair. The open back is composed of a curved top rail, pierced with leaf work and mouldings and two uprights with mouldings and a leaf ornament at the base of each. The back is pierced in latticework or chinoiserie style. The square front legs are straight and end in a pedestal feet; the back legs are slightly curved. The rails of the seat and two sides of the front legs are carved with symmetrical scrollwork designs. Three of the four stretchers are pierced with tracery; the fourth between the back legs is plain. The moveable seat is stuffed and covered in a modern horsehair.
Dimensions
  • Height: 36in
  • Width: 22.5in
  • Depth: 21.25in
Dimensions taken from paper records; not checked (8/11/2005)
Style
Credit line
Purchased by the Museum.
Object history
The chair was purchased on behalf of the Museum by C. Rhind-Tutt of 3 Little Sussex Place, Hyde Park, London and G.W.Lucas from a sale at Christie, Manson and Woods, London December 2,1910, lot 112. It was described in the catalogue as 'A Chippendale mahogany chair, with rectangular back, pierced with trellis work in the Chinese taste and carved with latticework'. The reference to Chippendale is a stylistic one, rather than suggesting a specific attribution, for which there is no evidence.
Summary
The ‘Chinese’ and ‘Gothic’ styles both became highly fashionable in the second half of the 18th century, and both are combined in the carving of this chair. The fretwork in the back is copied directly from a design for a ‘Chinese chair’ by Thomas Chippendale, published in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director in 1754. The fretwork on the legs and seat rails, however, is in the fanciful gothic style popularized by the collector Horace Walpole at his villa, Strawberry Hill, at Twickenham, near London.

The Chinese style was favoured especially in dressing rooms, which might typically be hung with (genuine) Chinese wallpaper. However, this chair is unlikely to have come from a dressing room, as it originally formed one of a set of at least sixteen chairs. The set may have been used as dining chairs, or perhaps in a large reception room such as a gallery.
Bibliographic reference
The chair is illustrated in Coleridge, A, Chippendale Furniture, Faber and Faber 1968, Fig. 194, where it is described as a mahogany single chair of Director design. It is also illustrated in Edwards, R, English Chairs, HMSO 1951, Plate 75, where it is described as in the 'Chinese' taste and compared with plates XXIII-XXV in the Director. It is dated 1755-60.
Collection
Accession number
W.13:1, 2-1911

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Record createdJune 6, 2003
Record URL
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