Chair of mahogany inlaid with rosewood, walnut and sycamore. With monogram of James Mason. Designed for James Mason of Eynsham Hall by Owen Jones and made by Jackson & Graham, 1872-4.

The chair has a square section frame, with a curved top rail and back formed of two cross rails with central oval containing an interlaced I M monogram; the shaped seat has square section rails joined to square blocks above the tapering front legs, fitted with brass castors, and curved back legs. The seat is upholstered and covered with woven horsehair edged with braid.

Given by the Ministry of Works

This chair was designed by Owen Jones and supplied by Jackson & Graham for Eynsham Hall, commissioned by James Mason, whose initials form the monogram in the back. Although the use of the monogram might suggest that Mason used this chair in his library or study, the pattern of light and dark veneers on the frame of the chair suggest that it was made for the same interior as another chair, and two armchairs, all different in design butr with the same pattern of veneers. These three other pieces, also in the Museum's collection, are visible in Jones's coloured elevations for the drawing room, music room and card room at Eynsham Hall (Drawing No. 5, Eynsham Hall, Special Collections, Reading University Library, illustrated in Owen Jones Design, Ornament, Architecture, and Theory in an Age in Transition, by Carol A. Hrvol Flores, New York 2006, pl. 4.26). The chair with the monogram may have been an additional piece for these three rooms which were decorated and furnished with the same colour scheme and furniture.

James Mason, a mining engineer, and his brother-in-law, Francis Tress Barry, a merchant in Bilbao, established a company, Mason and Barry, which managed the San Domingo copper mines in Portugal from 1859. The success of this investment enabled Mason to buy the Eynsham Park estate in 1866. He commissioned extensive building plans and designs for interiors and furniture from Owen Jones and the work was finished shortly before Jones's death in 1874. After Mason's death in 1903, his son James Francis Mason demolished the house and replaced it with a new building, designed by the architect, Ernest George, which was completed in 1908. Jones's silks were apparently rehung in the new library and dining room.

Eynsham Hall was used by the Home Office as a police training college from 1946-1981. The chair was one of four pieces of furniture from the house given to the Museum in 1954.

James Mason, whose initials are inlaid into the back of this chair, became wealthy through investments in copper mining in Portugal. He commissioned designs for interiors and furniture for his home, Eynsham Hall, Oxfordshire, from the architect and designer, Owen Jones, and the work was carried out from 1872 to 1874, by the London firm of Jackson & Graham. The chair is part of a suite of furniture in the Museum that was designed by Jones for Eynsham Hall. Jones, an enthusiast for historic styles, based his design for the square-section front legs and tapering back legs on furniture of the 1790s. The use of dark and light, foreign and native timbers reflects the interest in unconventional combinations of materials typical of furniture produced by specialist firms such as Jackson & Graham.

CIRC.36-1954