Armchair
1870-1900 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Returned from loan to Bodelwyddan Castle, National Portrait Gallery, Rhyl, May 2017.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Turned ash, stained, with rush seat |
| Brief description | wood stained blue with turned frame and round rush seat; from the Sussex range of chairs by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., later Morris & Co., English 1870-1900 |
| Physical description | Rush-seated armchair of turned ash, stained blue, with rush seat. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Object history | This armchair is part of a set with another armchair, Circ. 28-1962, and two chairs, Circ. 25 and Circ. 26-1962. The armchairs and chairs, which have round seats and square backs with a design of crossed and horizontal rails, are examples of the different designs developed for the Sussex range of rush-seated chairs. The range was illustrated by Morris & Co., in their catalogue, Specimens of Furniture Upholstery & Interior Decoration, n.d. (c. 1912), page 63. It is not clear who was responsible for the original design of the round-seated armchair and chair nor when the design was first introduced into the Sussex range. This design was attributed to Ford Madox Brown, one of the original partners in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., in a periodical, The Furnisher, III, 1900-1, pp. 61-3. If Madox Brown was responsible for the design, it was presumably before the firm was re-organised under William Morris's sole direction, against the wishes of Brown and two other partners, and renamed Morris & Co. in 1875. Purchased by the V&A along with CIRC.25, W.26 and W.28-1962 from George Paley. |
| Historical context | Although there are incomplete business records for both Morris, Marshall, Falkner & Co. and Morris & Co., it is possible to identify early owners of the chair with round rush seat and a back composed of crossed and horizontal rails. Edward Burne-Jones, a close friend of Morris, ordered four round-seated chairs from Morris & Co in 1878 which may have been of this type. Three chairs with round seats and backs with crossed and horizontal rails are shown in a photograph c. 1898 of Georgiana Burne-Jones's sitting room in their house, the Grange, North End Road, London (RCHME). William and Jane Morris also used this type of chair at Kelmscott House, Hammersmith, as shown in photographs of Morris's study (National Portrait Gallery) and of the drawing room (RCHME). |
| Production | The design of the chair with round seat and square back with crossed and horizontal rails in the Sussex range was attributed to Ford Madox Brown by The Furnisher, III, 1900-1, pp. 61-3. |
| Summary | Returned from loan to Bodelwyddan Castle, National Portrait Gallery, Rhyl, May 2017. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | Shown in a travelling exhibition 'Rural Chairs', organized by the Circulation Department of the V&A in 1974. The handlist records:
'21. 'SUSSEX' ARMCHAIR (see No. 20). Ash stained blue. Made by Morris & Co. from about 1865.' No. 20 was a rural chair that was the origin of this design (CIRC.25-1962). Morris had found his original model in Sussex but it was not certain that it had originated there. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.27-1962 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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