Chair, hardwood, turned and pierced, with cane seat, made after a design by E. W. Godwin and made in India, possibly Bombay, about 1890.

Chair

Purchase funded by Ivor and Sarah Braka

The genesis of the design goes back to 1875 (see Soros, The Secular Furniture of E. W. Godwin [New York, 1999], p. 136). Godwin's design for a related armchair was illustrated in the Building News on 29 May 1885 under the title “Greek Armchair”, and the designs on which this chair was based appeared on 18 December 1885 when it was described as a “Cheap Chair in Three Ways”. The designs were described as “Working Drawings of Inexpensive Furniture by E. W. Godwin, F.S.A., Architect.” and formed part of a group of furniture “executed by representatives of the late Mr. Wm. Watt, of Grafton-street W.C.” These included a hat-and-umbrella stand and a hanging cabinet. According to the illustration’s descriptive text, this “cheap chair” was made in three different versions, the most elaborate version of which was “A”, with the seat and back upholstered and with four turned legs. An example of “A”, probably made in London, is in the V&A (Circ.258-1958), and two other versions are in a private collection in London. Another chair corresponding more closely to version “B” is in a private collection (Soros, p. 136). Other variants are known in pine and oak (Soros, cats. 505 and 508, pp. 257 and 260).

The Indian chair presents a fusion of Godwin’s designs, apparently blending options “A” and “B”: it has the turned elements on the front legs (“A”), plainer back legs (“B”) as well as turned spindles on the back, one of the options, described as ‘lathes’, found on the published design; it also has a caned seat which is found on the surviving example of version “B”. The Indian chair is possibly a misinterpretation of the published design, which shows the chair in profile with the options of an “A” on the front leg and “B” on the back leg. However, these two options were not intended to be combined, as the published design clearly states “all legs like this” for options “A” and “B”. Furthermore, the Indian chair makes fascinating references to the local woodworking traditions; the pierced carved panels on the underside of the seat show the Indian craftsman’s love of intricate pierced carving, while the small circular inlays around the seat frame are also to be found on other examples of Anglo-Indian furniture, notably a corner cabinet coincidentally at the same auction (lot 652; also illustrated Soros, p. 78), which had similar inlay on the edge of the top shelf, indicating that the two objects were possibly from the same workshop. It is possible that furniture such as this was imported to Britain for sale; this example was acquired by the vendor at an auction in England, ca. 2013.

This is an unusual and fascinating example of a documented design by the English architect-designer E. W. Godwin (1833-1886) being adapted and made in India. Godwin's design for a chair based on ancient Greek prototypes was published in the Building News in 1885 and a number of versions of the chair are known, including one made in England in the collection of the V&A (Circ.258-1958).

The material and quality of this chair suggest its Indian origin. It is likely to have been made in Mumbai (then called Bombay), where ‘art’ furniture in the English taste was being produced in the 1890s. At this time such products were popular with the many Britons working in government administration and the army in India. Practically no labelled or stamped versions of this ‘art’ furniture are known, a rare example being a magazine rack bearing a label for the Bombay Art Furnishing Establishment, also in the V&A (W.15-1988).

W.13-2013