Sheraton chair

Even at its most decorative and ornate, Sheraton furniture is made with very little integral ornament, and relies for its originality and sparkle on painting and gilding, inlay and japanning. Sheraton was puritan by conviction and by nature, favouring straight lines rather than curves, and multipurpose space-saving furniture for the ranks of Georgian terraced houses which had recently been built. He came to London in 1790 from the North of England, and was designing during the Napoleonic Wars, when materials and money were short, and much of his furniture was made in cheaper beechwood and birch, rather than expensive mahogany, although he did favour satinwood which was costly. In construction, Sheraton was a
traditionalist. He reverted to the old manner of making chairs with crest rails tenoned between the back supports, as opposed to overriding them or curving into them. On chairs with arms, he took the line even higher than Hepplewhite, so that the arm of the chair sweeps up to the crest rail in an abrupt curve, almost as though it is part of the back itself.
Signs of authenticity
1. Made of beech, with ash or birch underframes.
2. Crest rail tenoned into sides of back supports.
3. On chairs with arms, arms joined oined to fronts of back supports, high up and usually on a line with a horizontal back rail.
4. On chairs with upholstered seats, pronounced height of seat above frame.
5. Front legs taper-turned to the frame, then square-sectioned, forming the corners of seat
frames on straight-fronted chairs.
6. On chairs with round seats, legs taper-turned to frame, then square-sectioned flush with curve to form solid underframe.
7. Back legs either square-sectioned or taper-turned, but always square-sectioned at seat level to form stout join of chair frame.
8. Crest rail, supports and arms all turned, reeded or fluted.
Likely restoration and repair
9. Original frames of seats overstuffed when re-upholstered – a frequent Victorian practice.
10. Stripped and repainted and gilded.
11. Recaned panels and seats.
12. New blocks on corners of drop-in seat frame.
13. Damaged cane seats overstuffed – signs of holes for original caning on underframe.
14. Made of cheaper birch entirely – probably a later copy.
Construction and materials
In spite of their air of fragility, Sheraton chairs were remarkably solidly constructed, often in beech, with a sound knowledge of timber and of stresses and strains. In their basic construction, they have more in common with the traditional framed construction than any chairs made from the beginning of the eighteenth century onwards. The back is supported by a top rail and lower rail set parallel and tenoned into the sides of the back supports. The back legs are raked back and square-sectioned in his early designs, though later they were less solid and usually tapered or taper-turned, like the front legs. On chairs with arms, the design exaggerates the line of continuity from front leg to arm support, carrying it up to elbow height, often without a curve at all. The back splats are arranged in geometrical patterns of parallel
lines, lattice, or a mixture of both. Seats were often curved or round, upholstered and built up on a solid front apron.
Drop-in seats were
supported with four shaped brackets on the four corners of the seat frame. Front legs were taper-turned, and the use of beech allowed a slight splay since it is a pliable, springy wood, not rigid or liable to split.
Detail
Sheraton seats were often caned, sometimes also with caned panels in the rectangular backs. The back splats were characteristically arranged in geometrical patterns of parallel lines, lattice, or a mixture of both. Japanning, painting and gilding were also used. Crest rails, supports and arms were often turned, reeded or fluted to lighten the design.
Variations
The return to the square back suited many country chair-makers who were still making chairs with traditional construction, to which Sheraton had returned. Most typical of the country versions of his designs are the plain bar-back and rail-back chairs. The other two types of country chairs of the period could equally well have evolved naturally, without benefit of Thomas Sheraton’s The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book (1791-94), and indeed could have been the inspiration for many of his rectangular chair designs. Both originated in the North of England – the spindle back and the bobbin back with their deep plain crest rails developed from the old box-construction.
The country tradition of setting the front and back stretcher slightly higher than the side stretchers continued, and the front stretcher was also often simply turned, again a country tradition. On country chairs of this period, wooden seats were often slightly dished. On chairs with arms, the construction was traditional, with the arm support being a continuation of the front leg, with the arm tenoned into it.
Top: late eighteenth-century, cane-seated chair in simulated bamboo.
Above: Sheraton provincial chair, c.1810.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
Sheraton was very much a designer for the trade, and contemporary production of his chairs and other furniture was extremely large. During the early nineteenth century
Gillows of Lancaster, the
Seddons, Edwards and Roberts, Cooper and Holt, Wright and Mansfield, Jackson and Graham, Johnson and Jeans and many other large furniture manufacturers made quantities of Sheraton furniture.
The Victorians copied some of his more fantastic ‘Egyptian’ and classical designs, suitable for the increasing
ostentation in taste, and many Sheraton-style chairs were made in mahogany to give them a more substantial appearance.
Some of these nineteenth-century variations are pleasing, solid and well-constructed. Later versions are not so successful, having square-sectioned tapered legs and stretchers, or more bulbously turned front legs. The height of the bottom back rail was an integral part of the construction as well as the design, and on late versions chairs look oddly proportioned, as though the chair back has been compressed.
Twentieth century
During the Edwardian period, countless cheap copies of Sheraton’s little cane-seated chairs, gold-painted and flimsy, were made for ballrooms and public functions. They should not be confused with Regency ,rout’ chairs, which were elegantly proportioned and well-made, though few of them have survived intact.
Price bands
Simulated bamboo, c.1810, £.115-125.
Square back, reeded, c.1810, £120-180 each.
Set of six, with two
armchairs, £3,200-4,000.
Provincial reeded and plain, £90-120 each.
Set of six, £1,500-1,800.