oak, the seat and back covered in stamped plush; designed by L.N. Cottingham and made by Samuel Pratt for Brougham Hall, British c. 1844

Chair, made of old oak, the legs joined to the seat rails by gothic carved roundels, the seat rails carved with gothic-style tracery motifs. The back waisted towards the top and the top rail pierced with gothic-style tracery roundels. The seat and back upholstered and covered in stamped plush.

This is one of a set of dining chairs, designed by the architect, L.N. Cottingham for Lord Brougham at Brougham Hall, Westmorland. Much of the furniture for Brougham Hall was made by the firm of Samuel Pratt, including the hall table and a large set of chairs which were delivered on 2 August 1844, according to the diary of William Brougham, brother of Lord Brougham (Brougham Papers, University College Library, London). Although a pair of similar chairs are shown in a watercolour of The Armour Hall, c. 1850, by C.V. Richardson (V&A, Department of Word and Image, 3304:28), these had low backs composed of two large Gothic roundels with a rail below. It is possible that the Museum's chair was part of a set supplied for the dining room which was decorated with linenfold panelling and a richly carved ceiling.

Another example of this chair is in the collection of the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, New York (1991-120-1). Three chairs from this set, with identical stamped plush upholstery as that on the V&A chair, were sold by Sotheby's, New York, 9 June 2017, lot 238. Two chairs, with the same upholstery, were sold by Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 21 April 2021, lot 5.

Brougham Hall, a modest house of twelfth-century origins, was extensively remodelled and enlarged by Henry, Lord Brougham. As Lord Chancellor of England, he needed a country house sufficiently grand for his political and social entertaining. L.N. Cottingham was involved at Brougham Hall from 1830-1847 and created a castellated mansion built around a courtyard. The interiors, designed by Cottingham, included a cloistered passage, the walls painted with a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry, and a Norman bedroom, with richly decorated walls and a timber roof.

This chair is one of a set of 20, with a table. The set was made in old oak for the hall of Brougham Hall in Westmorland (now Cumbria). The architect, L. N. Cottingham, was an authority on medieval architecture. He collected Gothic carvings, casts and drawings. In 1830 Lord Brougham asked him to provide major Gothic additions to an earlier house.

The style of the chair is typical of the heavy Gothic Revival of the 1830s and 1840s. Its fanciful outline, however, distinguishes it from the more purist Gothic furniture designed by A. W. N. Pugin (1812–52). Pugin’s furniture was more closely based on real medieval models.

W.2:1, 2-1992