Carved mahogany armchairwith stuffed back and seat.

Stuffed back, the mahogany frame finely carved with acanthus foliage centering on a rococo shell design. Open arms, stuffed over, the terminals and the arm supports carved with acanthus. The seat stuffed over and covered with modern green velvet attached with brass-headed nails. Serpentine front rail carved with scrolls centering on a cabochon jewel ornament. Cabriole legs carved with foliage, volute feet.

Now covered in red velvet (seen January 2004); looks like 1970s or '80s work.

The front and side seat rails are of beech, with mahogany facings; there are probably also beech elements in the back frame (such as a bottom rail). The rest, including the front seat rail, is solid mahogany. The mahogany facing to the back seat rail has an ovolo moulding on the back top edge.
The seat frame is strengthened with open braces, but their notches to receive them are open at the bottom, except on the back rail, so they have to be secured with nails. [An expert view on the date of the nails would be useful.]
Certain features suggest that the chair, though well carved, could be provincial: the use of nails in the open braces, the very flat and almost upright form of the back, and the fact that seat rails are barely cut away behind the facings.
There are numerous nail-holes in the underside of the seat rails, attesting to at least one phase of springing. The sinister thought that this might be original -- and might explain the decision not to chisel down the seat rails -- can probably be discounted, since the springing post-dates the loss of the tip of the front apron.

Bequeathed by C. D. Rotch

Bequeathed C.D.Rotch

This armchair might have formed part of a set in the library of a fashionable house. Thomas Chippendale published several designs for chairs of similar shape and with similar Rococo carving, which he called 'French Chairs' However, they are unmistakably English, although inspired by the French Rococo style. The maker of this chair may well have seen Chippendale's designs. However, although the piece is finely carved, it is not of the superior quality we would expect from Chippendale's own workshop. The very upright back and certain elements of the construction suggest that it may have been made in a regional town rather than in London.

W.72-1962