An armchair of painted satinwood, one of a pair with 240-1887, the back of shield shape, the seat caned, the front surfaces of back, seat, arms and legs painted with polychrome flowers.

An armchair of painted satinwood, one of a pair with 240-1887, the back of shield shape, the seat caned, the front surfaces of back, seat, arms and legs painted with polychrome flowers, in the style of the late 18th century. The legs and seat rails are of veneered satinwood, on a carcase of beech. The flowers painted on these chairs are not the same as on the Seddon, Sons & Shackleton chairs on which they are modelled (see W.1 to3-1968 and W.59-1936).
The main splat is dominated by a scarlet poppy and pansies, in place of the roses, with a spray of bluebells to either side. The uprights to the back are painted with tri-leaved husks with red barries but on these chairs there is no painting on the supports for the back. The tops of the arms show delicate, grass-like sprays, with small blue bell-like flowers and drooping leaves. The legs are painted with serpentine wreaths of ivy, hanging from a formalised flower head. The blocks at the top of the legs are painted with oval paterae (rosettes). The front seat rails is painted with crossed sprigs of lily-of-the-valley. The edge lining is in black and white, rather than the blue and white of the 18th-century models and is differently placed at the top of the side of the legs.
The caning is finer than on the 18th-century models, with the holes at half-inch intervals. The orthogonals of the caning are narrower than the diagonals.
On the underside of the seat, the caning is not set in a channel, as on the 18th-century chairs and there is no evidence of screw-holes for fixing the chairs to battens during transport in a crate.

This armchair and its pair (240-1887) were purchased by the Museum as examples of contemporary English furniture in the style of the late 18th century, to provide a comparison with original 18th-century pieces. The collecting of English 18th century furniture was a developing interest for collectors, who had, until then, largely concentrated on antique furniture from France or Italy. Wright & Mansfield had first shown pieces made in reproduction of 18th-century styles in the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 (the Museum acquired a cabinet, Museum no. 548-1868).

The design is closely related to a set of satinwood drawing-room furniture (including 18 armchairs) made by the London firm of Seddon, Sons & Shackleton in 1790, of which the Museum was to go on to acquire three examples (W.1-1968 to W.3-1968), although the dimensions differ and the 1887 chairs have narrower backs. Another armchair, of the same model, and also by Seddon, Sons & Shackleton, but probably not from the same set, was acquired by the Museum in 1936 (W.59-1936). In addition to the differences in measurements, it is worth noting that the caning on the Wright and Mansfield chairs is more closely set than on the eighteenth-century chairs, with only half an inch between holes (in comparison with three-quarters of an inch on the 18th century models). This chair and its pair retain their very high gloss varnish, never worn by use, and they give an idea of what the Seddon, Sons & Shackleton chairs would have looked like when new. The choice of flowers to be illustrated is different from that on the 18th-century chairs, although Wright and Mansfield may have known other pieces by Seddon, Sons & Shackleton, as the lily-of-the-valley is close to painting on the frieze of a pier table supplied by the firm.

A closely related suite made by Wright & Mansfield, consisting of a settee, armchair and three chairs, was offered for sale by Cheffins, Cambridge, 13 September 2018, lot 414.

On loan to Preston Hall, Stockton on Tees, 1968 to 2008.

This armchair, and its pair (240-1887) are reproductions of chairs made by Seddon, Sons & Shackleton, London, in 1790, although there are differences in dimensions. See below for the models on which these are based

When the Museum acquired this chair and its pair (240-1887) they were bought as outstanding examples of contemporary craftsmanship and as comparisons with genuine 18th-century pieces. Their design was derived from English chairs made one hundred years earlier by Seddon, Sons & Shackleton of Londo. Such reproductions were becoming popular as a result of the development of a taste for collecting antique English furniture from the eighteenth century that had began to become fashionable from the 1870s. Before that time, collectors had mainly bought early Italian furniture or French furniture made in the 17th or 18th centuries. Growing nationalism fostered an enthusiasm for English interiors of the Georgian period and the development of a trade in the making of reproductions paralleled the development of collecting. Wright & Mansfield had led the field in making such reproductions since 1867 when they had shown a cabinet in 'Adam' style at the International Exhibition in Paris (bought by the Museum, Museum no. 548-1868.

239-1887