mahogany, with drop-in rush seat; designed by Ernest Gimson and made by A. Bowen for Kenton & Co., British 1891

The chair is made of mahogany which has been French polished. The chair back is formed of six shaped horizontal rails between square-section uprights. The seat is square and fitted with a drop-in rush seat with corner blocks on the front. The four legs are square in section, joined by four stretchers with rounded tops.

This pair of chairs, W.5-1989 and W.6-1989, were part of a set of six; the other two pairs are divided between Cheltenham Museum and the Holburne of Menstrie Museum, Bath. The V&A pair are stamped I and II, and the Cheltenham pair III and IIII, inside the seat rail and on the underside of the seat.

One of the chairs, in unpolished mahogany, is shown in a photograph of the Kenton & Co. Exhibition at Barnard's Inn, London, in December1891, from Ernest Gimson's collection (Cheltenham Art Gallery 1941.226.232-62). The back of the photograph is inscribed '6 Mahogany Chairs £15.15'.

Also in the Gimson collection in Cheltenham are two designs, pencil on tracing paper, c. 1903, of chairs with very similar backs. One (1941.222.171), shows a chair with a drop-in rush seat, the design annotated with different prices for a armchair and chair, with and without 'leg rails' or stretchers. The chair with stretchers was priced at £2 5s (£2 25p). The other design (1941.222.161) shows a chair back only.

The set of six chairs were inherited by Donald Gimson of Stoneywell, Leicestershire, from Margaret Gimson, Ernest's sister, and as she was only 20 in 1891 it is likely that they were originally purchased by her mother, or older sister, Sarah,from the Exhibition to encourage Ernest. The chairs were used in the Gimsons' town house in New Walk, Leicester, and only moved to Margaret's country cottage, Rockyfield, shortly before her death in 1967.

This chair is one of the few surviving pieces of furniture made by Kenton & Co., a firm founded in 1891 which closed because of financial difficulties in 1892. The firm was founded by a group of architects including Ernest Gimson who designed this chair. The partners intended to produce innovative designs for furniture which would be made by professional cabinet-makers. As part of their Arts and Crafts philosophy each piece of furniture was stamped with the name of the firm, the initials of the designer and the name of the individual cabinet-maker. This chair, one of a set of six, is stamped inside the back rail with Gimson's initials, the name of the firm, and the cabinet-maker's name, Bowen.

W.5:1 to 2-1989