Chair, ca. 1886, English, designed by The Century Guild and made by E. Goodall & Co.

Chair with mahogany frame, the high back and square seat both covered in silk and wool textile attributed to A.H. Lee of Birkenhead; the back terminates in an entablature with an central oval motif of contrasting veneer and the square section uprights of the back are finished with carved berry and leaf motifs at the top. The square section back legs are slightly curved outwards and the front legs curve out to the sides before terminating in square feet.

This chair is one of a set commissioned from the Century Guild by Henry Boddington for the dining room of Pownall Hall, Cheshire. The V&A chair is stamped by E.Goodall & Co., Manchester, the Guild's agents, who apparently made most of the furniture for Pownall Hall. At least three of the chairs, with a matching armchair, are visible in an early photograph of the room (collection Pownall Hall School). There are three other surviving chairs of the same design (two at William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, and one in Manchester City Art Gallery). Manchester also own the matching armchair and another armchair, of different design with a high curved upholstered back, also visible in the early photograph. The early photograph of the dining room show all the seat furniture covered in the same fabric which survives on all five chairs. This has been identified as woven by A.H. Lee of Birkenhead.

The Century Guild showed the first example of this chair at their stand at the International Exhibition of Navigation, Travelling, Commerce and Manufacture in Liverpool in 1886. The entire contents of the stand were bought by Henry Boddington who employed the Guild to decorate and furnish his home, Pownall Hall, Cheshire, including a set of these chairs for the dining room.

W.74-1975