GEORGE III PAINTED ARMCHAIRS - LIBRARY ARMCHAIR - GILTWOOD ARMCHAIR - DINING CHAIRS - HALL CHAIRS - GEORGE II UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR

A GEORGE III GILTWOOD ARMCHAIR, the moulded
frame with oval back with padded arms and downswept
supports, the moulded serpentine seatrail centred by an
anthemion clasp, raised on circular tapering fluted legs
with fluted oval feet, circa 1770.

A GEORGE III LIBRARY ARMCHAIR, the rectangular
stufied back with down-curved padded arm supports,
with a loose cushion, on square chamfered moulded legs
joined by H-stretchers, circa 1770.

A GEORGE III GILTWOOD ARMCHAIR in the French manner,
the stuffed cartouche-shaped back within a moulded
frame with out-curved padded arms on scrolling supports, the stuffed seat
with a carved apron on cabriole legs, circa 1775.

A GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED ARMCHAIR in the French taste,
the padded cartouche-shaped back within a moulded frame
with outcurved padded arms on scrolling moulded supports, the
stuffed serpentine seat on cabriole legs, circa 1770.

A SET OF six GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS,
including an Armchair, the arched toprails with pierced
splats carved with rosettes and husks around a patera, the
armchair with out-curved moulded arm supports, with
stuffed seats, curved seat fronts, and turned fluted front
legs, circa 1780.

A SET OF TWELVE MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS, the
rectangular backs with three stick splats, with stuffed
seats and square tapering legs with block feet and
H stretchers.

A GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED SIDE CHAIR in the
French style, the oval padded back with a moulded
edge, the wedge-shaped stuffed seat on elegant cabriole
legs, circa 1770.

A SET OF THREE REGENCY BRASS-INLAID SIDE CHAIRS
in simulated rosewood, the rope-twist toprail above
two reeded crossbars joined by a panel inlaid with a
rosette and fleur de lys, the stuffed drop-in seats on
sabre legs, circa 1810.

A SET OF FIVE LATE GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING
CHAIRS including an Armchair, with curved
panelled toprails, three fluted crossbars, the armchair
with downcurved moulded arms on baluster supports,
with stuffed seats and ring-turned baluster legs, circa 1815.

A SET OF six GOOD REGENCY MAHOGANY HALL
CHAIRS, each shaped back with simple incised decoration
and a central roundel painted with an armoriai crest, the
solid seats with canted corners and canted sabre front
legs, circa 1805, with squab cushions.

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ARMCHAIR, the serpentine
toprail and pierced vase-shaped splat with outcurved
arms, drop-in seat on square legs joined by stretchers,
circa 1765, arms later.

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ARMCHAIR of bergere
form, the arched stuffed back with a moulded frame and
with stuffed bow-fronted seat and reeded tapering legs,
circa 1780.

A SET OF six GEORGE III MAHOGANY CHAIRS, the
rectangular backs with three fluted splats, the solid seats
with squab cushions, on square tapering legs joined by
stretchers, circa 1800.

A LATE GEORGE II UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR, the
high padded back with scrolling arms and the stuffed
seat on square moulded legs joined by turned stretchers,
circa 1750.

A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY CHAIRS with
gadrooned serpentine toprails, interlaced pierced splats,
the drop-in seats on carved cabriole legs ending in pad
tetl, circa 1760.)

A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIRS with
shaped toprails, pierced interlaced splat and the drop-in
seat on square chamfered legs joined by an H-stretcher,
circa 1765.

A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY CHAIRS, with arched stufFed
rectangular backs with padded seat on square legs joined by an H-stretcher,
circa 1770.

A SET OF EIGHT GEORGE III PROVINCIAL MAHOGANY
DINING CHAIRS including a pair of Armchairs, with
serpentine toprails pierced vase splats, outcurved arms
and the serpentine-fronted drop-in seats on square
moulded legs, circa 1770, restored     1500-2000
154 A SET OF FOUR GEORGE III MAHOGANY CHAIRS, the
hooped backs with pierced waisted splats headed by
wheat-ears, the stufFed seats on square tapering legs with
H-stretchers, circa 1770.

A SET OF FOUR GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING
CHAIRS, the shaped moulded backs with pierced,
carved and waisted splats decorated with swags and
paterae, the drop-in seats on square tapering legs,
circa 1780.

A PAIR OF REGENCY CHAIRS with curved panelled
toprails, crossbars, drop-in seats and reeded sabre legs,
circa 1815.

A REGENCY EBONISED ARMCHAIR, the ringed toprail decorated
with flowers above moulded crossbars joined by caning,
with down-curved scrolling arms on scroll supports, with squab

cushion and caned seat, on moulded turned and fluted sabre legs, circa 1810.

A PAIR OF EBONISED AND PARCEL-GILT ARMCHAIRS,
similarly decorated to the previous lot, with square
tapering legs joined by stretchers, circa 1800, originally
unpainted.

A SET OF SIX REGENCY EBONISED DINING CHAIRS,
the turned toprails painted with bunches of flowers
above four crossbars held by gilt balls, with squab
cushions’and caned seats, on ringed splayed tapering
front legs joined by a double stretcher set with a ball,
circa 1810, decoration restored.

A GEORGE II MAHOGANY CORNER ARMCHAIR of
unusual form, with a tall narrow arched upholstered
back, with semi-circular flat crossbars below, the arms
with turned supports and with saddle-shaped seat and
cabriole leg and three further turned legs joined by
turned stretchers, circa 1735.

A GEORGE II WALNUT CORNER ARMCHAIR, with
pierced splats, stuffed drop-in seat and chamfered legs,
joined by stretchers, mid-18th Century    150-250
27 A GEORGE II BOOKCASE with moulded dentil
cornice above a pair of glazed doors with lancet mullions,
containing shelves, the base with two short drawers and
brass handles, 7ft. 5in. high by 5ft. Hin. wide (226cm. by
180.5cm.) circa 1760.

A PAIR OF GEORGE III PAINTED ARMCHAIRS,
the moulded frames with padded shield backs,
padded arms and downswept supports, and the
bow-fronted fluted seatrails on circular

tapering fluted legs, circa 1775, now painted
white and gilt, partly re-railed.

A SET OF SIX LATE GEORGE III CANED MAHOGANY
CHAIRS including a pair of Armchairs, with shallow
curved and caned toprails and matching crossbars, the
seats with rounded corners and circular reeded tapering
legs, the arms with pillar supports, circa 1800, one toprail
and one back broken.

Mahogany Regency Chair - Gillows chair - Victorian Chair - Victorian Button-Back Mahogany ‘Ladies’ Chair

A mahogany Regency chair with lyre motif in the back, c.1825. The curved side rails and sabre legs are reeded to give a continuous effect. The drop-in seat is located by a peg set in the top of the front rail. As with all sabre-leg chairs the front legs should be examined carefully to see whether the top has been damaged; the construction of a sabre leg necessitates cutting across the grain of the wood thereby reducing the strength of the timber. It is a sign of quality if there are none of these repairs.
Price Range: Single    $45  $65
For some reason the lyre causes a rush of blood to the head in chair purchasers; look for inflated values accordingly.
Typical late Regency-cum-William IV rosewood single chair, c.1835. The front legs are octagonal in section and the design has become heavier. The drop-in seat is still light in character, however, and the classical
influence still evident.
A Gillows chair of 1841 made for Colonel Cradock. The back shows a stage in design which precedes the balloon back, while the heavily turned and reeded legs of the period have been replaced by finely made and
decorated cabriole legs. The seat rail has moved away from the Straight Regency design, and the total appearance is much lighter than the sub-classical designs of the 1820 - 40’s. The top rail is undecided as to
whether it is to follow the downward curve of the preceding example or to strike out into the new balloon shape. The French influence is also evident in the decorative effects.
Balloon-back Victorian chair in walnut c.1850. The cabriole legs, despite a tendency towards bandyness, mark the distinct move away from the heavy turned legs of the previous years. The nicely proportioned curve of the seat rail between the legs helps to accentuate the change to a flowing, curved effect. These chairs were evidently very popular and were made for a number of years  perhaps up to the 1860’s and in a modified form throughout the rest of the period.
Another mid-Victorian chair, c.1850, with cabriole legs and needlework back and seat. The legs are treated more slenderly, with less curvature and the scrolled knobs at the feet are less accentuated. The needlework, if original, adds to value.
A mahogany chair of c.1845 with cabriole legs. The back is upholstered and its broad heavy top rail follows the late Regency trend, but the revival of rococo taste is evident in the scrolled feet and in the scrolling of the lower back rail. The legs do not show any decisive curving and mark that indecision of design characteristic of the period.
A country mahogany chair of the 1820 - 40 period. The Regency influence is evident in the arms, but the broad top rail belongs to the later part of the period.
A Gillows’ design of 1884, which owes a good deal to fashions of an earlier period. The reeded legs are more bulbous and the upholstered seat  not shown in this constructional sketch  would be very full. The
chamfered and grooved inside edge of the back is to lighten the effect of the very broad top rail and uprights. The latter have been ornamented with a small scroll at the join of the top rail, which almost seems an afterthought of design.
Early Victorian (1839) Gillows’ chair with turned and reeded front legs. The downward curve of the thick top rail, which is carved, helps to produce a more integrated design. It is a sitting room chair with padded back to give additional comfort.
An unashamed Victorian mahogany chair  c.1850  of which the back owes much to the balloon design of more elegant versions. The uncorseted bulbous front legs are of a kind which have a robust appeal of their own, even though most dealers flinch at the sight of them.
Later period Victorian chair in mahogany. Note the heavier, squarer back with over-emphasized, eighteenth century style corner carving. The cabriole legs and seat rail are also heavily encrusted. The fully upholstered
seat gives an appearance of overstuffing and top heaviness.
A chair of a design normally associated with the William IV or early Victorian period. This is, in fact, a Gillows’ design of 1877 and illustrates the fact that one must be very circumspect about dating Victorian chairs by their design, for one finds similar designs being executed over a period of thirty to forty years. The fully upholstered seat and moulded front rail give a heaviness not present in our William IV rosewood example, but the back and the turned and reeded front legs could easily be associated with the 1830 - 40 period.
Sets of 4 or 6 $10  $15 each
Early eighteenth century  c.1720  wing armchair with cabriole legs in w alnut. Upholstered in leather. This is a fine example and well illustrates the three dimensional quality of the design. The wings sweep into the arms of this fine quality chair, which is as comfortable to sit in as one might imagine. Note the shape of the back legs; this feature was not normally well imitated by later craftsmen.
A more elaborate bergere chair of Victorian character, c.1850. In this case the cabriole legs and scrolled arms are in the same style as upholstered armchairs of the period. The back has a very pronounced rake to it
and the top rail sweeps boldly to a small scroll at each end. This example is in Virginian walnut and has a certain American air about it  possibly because ranch or railroad bosses of the Lee J. Cobb variety always seem to be sprawling in them on the screen. A loose cushion, possibly covered in hide,
would have been fitted in the seat.
A mahogany button-back armchair of c.1850. The influence of rococo Styles is clear in the carving and scroll feet. Possibly some of the later French Empire influence, prevalent in the 1810 - 1840 period, continued into the Victorian era without too much adulteration.
Carving  cabriole legs
Later Victorian upholstered chair on mahogany cabriole legs, c.1870. One of a large number of similar designs which, being very comfortable, have doubled in price over the last few years.
A Victorian button-back mahogany ‘ladies’ chair, with cabriole legs, c.1850. The top rail is decorated with leaf carving. The ‘grandmother’ equivalent of the previously illustrated ‘grandfather’ (i.e. with arms).
A mid-Victorian open armchair in walnut, of the popular button-back type, c.1850. The fluency of the curve between the arm supports and the cabriole leg is spoilt by the thickness of wood at the point where the scrolls are carved. Most examples are better balanced. This example is in walnut, but many were made in mahogany.
Another mahogany button-back armchair of c.1850, this time with turned legs. The arm supports are scrolled and so is the back. When the Victorians took to turning, they were predictably complex and the addition of reeding on the legs was often, as in this case, irresistible to them. Turned leg examples of this kind of chair never reach the same value as cabrioles.
A restrained mahogany armchair of the 1890 - 1910 period which, again, demonstrates the return to eighteenth century styles. The square tapering legs and inlaid stringing lines, together with the square back design. relate to Sheraton examples.

George II period mahogany chair - Antique Chair in Oak - Chippendale mahogany chair in the Gothic style - A Chippendale mahogany ladder-back chair

A George II period mahogany chair, c.1735. quality Cuban mahogany has been used, the normally be associated with walnut; but there se Shaped splat has small scrolls and a shell
are topped with eagle heads patterns carved on the knees.
Note that although a fine style is one which would are extra refinements. The work top. The shaped up-and the cabriole legs have
Price Range: Single chair $90  $110
In sets    $175  $230 per chair
Another walnut pre-Chippendale chair with simpler but similar back splat _esign. The square legs and stretchers suggest a later date  possibly -50  and the proportions are a little less ample, but this is nevertheless a very pleasing chair. There is a drop-in seat and the front legs have a scratch moulding down the front corners; they are chamfered at the back. Price Range: Single $15  $25
Quality and execution of back splats
Antique Chair in Oak - A Charles II  c.1675  oak chair - Late Seventeenth Century Country Walnut ChairChippendale mahogany armchair of considerable quality, c.1760. cabriole legs, decorated with shell and scroll pattern carving on the knee, terminating in excellent ball-arid-claw feet. The arms sweep boldly outwards, terminating almost at right angles to the line of the sides in scrolls. A very well proportioned back splat, with the upper scrolled curves leading perfectly from the top rail, which is also carved with leaf patterns. Note the boldness and width of the fully upholstered seat which is covered in leather. N.B. Although this type is generally known as a ‘Chippendale’ chair, it is interesting to recall that the Director’ shows chairs with cabriole legs with scrolled feet, until the third edition, when a plate of hall chairs shows the ball and claw foot, which was undoubtedly popular at this period.
Price Range: $300  $400
Value points: Quality and execution of cabrioles
Quality of back splat and carving
Warning: Many high quality Victorian reproductions exist of this type of chair. These reproductions have a value of $25  $35 each.
Antique Chair in Oak - A Charles II  c.1675  oak chair - Late Seventeenth Century Country Walnut ChairA single mahogany Chippendale chair, c.1760, of similar type to the preceding armchair but of bolder proportion. While the back uprights are reeded however, the legs are not. A scratch moulding down the corners of the front legs gives added lightness and the front apron is slightly serpentine. Note the very fine quality of the scroll and leaf carving which is pleasantly mellowed with age and lacks the sharpness of a reproduction piece. The overall proportions of the chair are extremely pleasing and demonstrate the ample size of eighteenth century seats.
A mahogany Chippendale chair, c.1760, with the splat again showing the Gothic influence in the arching. The top rail is waved and carved with leaves, but the legs and stretchers are the plain robust design of the
period.
Country Chippendale armchair in elm c.1770. A simple and appeallingly bold chair although this example has been worn or slightly cut down in the leg. The seat is fully upholstered, which may be a conversion due to damage to the front rail. The tenon joints are pegged.
Price Range: $30  $40
Colour, figure and patination
Quality of splat
Chippendale mahogany chair in the Gothic style, c.1755. Although the Gothic influence  and French influence also  are evident, it is only in mild form in this chair. In earlier versions taken from Chippendale’s `Director’ the Gothic designs are very much more exaggerated, with multi-arched backs and heavily fretted legs and stretchers. This chair is of high quality, good proportion and restrained, though righ, execution. (Gothic and Chinese Chippendale chairs of high quality are much sought-after).
A Chippendale ‘Ribbon’ back chair of c.1760 - 70. So called because of the ribbon carving in the back. Due to the craftsmanship involved in executing these chairs they naturally command high prices and are relatively scarce. The remainder of the chair is of typical Chippendale design, with fully upholstered seat which in some cases may be serpentine at the front.
It is interesting to note that although the period after 1730 - 40 is generally associated with mahogany, a well known example of this type exists in walnut, and walnut chairs are to be found of even later date.
Another Country Chippendale armchair  c.1770  of more ornate splat design, with drop-in seat. The Gothic influence is evident in the arching within the splat and the top rail is also arched in a slightly later style. Usually to be found in mahogany or country wood such as elm or birch stained mahogany colour.
Warning: Many such chairs, having been used hard for many years, have had stretchers replaced or cut legs replaced. Watch also for broken or replaced splats and top rails; the latter particularly at the tenon joint with
the upright.
A Chippendale mahogany ladder-back chair of c.1765. The ladder-back designs tended to be of later Chippendale period. In this case the back rails are elegantly designed and pieced to add lightness to the overall effect. Note the scratch moulding down the front leg corners also to add lightness and the chamfered backs of the front legs.

CHAIRS  upholstered, Victorian spoon backs
The spoon back chair, usually with buttoned upholstery to the back, has become an accepted ’standard’ in the antique trade following its revival in the 1960s. Many such chairs are elegant, cheerful and, as with much rococo-derived furniture, slightly frivolous in appearance. The cabriole-legged variety is the most highly valued, followed by turned-leg chairs with backs that are still in flowing curves. The later, straighter types on turned legs are not prized as highly as the early, curly ones.
Another open-armed armchair with an oval back, not buttoned in this case, although it could be. Missing its castors. Again, carved with naturalistic flora and scrolls. It can be seen that these curvaceous chairs were not for the heavier members of society: they do have a tendency to break at the joints. 1850-1885
Another mid-Victorian chair, usually a partner to an armchair of the previous examples, with floral carving. In this case the ‘waist’ of the spoon is not quite as positively narrowed as one would wish that of A good example of an open-armed Victorian button-back chair, in the rococo style, with some naturalistic carving on the front cabriole legs and the top rail of the back. An elegant, cheerful chair, fit to bring a scowl to the brow of an architect for, as Handley-Read has pointed out, the style is essentially frivolous and, therefore, not liked by architects. It was, and still is, tremendously popular. Although probably in its heyday in the 1850s and early 1860s, this style was still being made in the 1880s, as manufacturers’ catalogues testify.
The ‘ladies’ chair’ companion to the previous example. The same excellence applies: crisp carving, smart proportion, deep buttoning, flourishing cabriole legs. A classic spoon back that was popular and made throughout the period. Unfortunately, many versions were made much more cheaply and in woods much inferior to the mahogany of this example. Walnut and rosewood (rare) are in a similar quality bracket to mahogany, but beware the stained birch or beech of later examples.
A much rounder version of the spoon back with later characteristics in its rococo style  the start of cranks appearing in the flowing curves of the back. Like the other chairs, it is low and would allow the easy spread of complicated garments around it without creasing them. 1850-1880
A squarer low chair which is a successor to the spoon back. It has turned legs instead of cabrioles but the back is inlaid with burr walnut or amboyna and has boxwood inlays in the top in marquetry floral forms.
Square, turned-leg chairs marking the return to straighter styles prevalent from 1870 onwards. Similar to the previous example but in plain mahogany and with the characteristic dot-dash grooving (incised decoration) so typical of later semi-rococo chairs.

CHAIRS  country and kitchen : wooden seated, 1860-1930
This section also includes chairs for institutional and office use, made in large quantities by mass-production methods. On the whole they are more durable than rush-seated chairs and tend to be perennially favourite types such as the Windsor which is still going strong. In the mid- and late 19th century large quantities of simple chairs were produced for the expanding markets available: some of them were of attractive design and are now coming to be appreciated as cheap, pleasant and functional chairs.
Starting with the Windsor, which goes back to the mid-18th century (see Price Guide to Antique Furniture) some forms of chair have been produced over very long periods. The illustration shows a typical 19th century Windsor with robust baluster turning (look at the arm supports) and a curved, or ‘crinoline’ stretcher. This stretcher adds more value than an ordinary, turned one. Manufacturers’ catalogues show such chairs up to the 1914-18 war. Later versions tend to be less robust, however. 1830-1920
The ‘Windsor’ chair remained in use and manufacture throughout the period, as indeed it still does. Above are some straightforward mass-produced Windsors as retailed by almost every department store and furnisher.
1860-present day Wheelback arm, spoke-back arm.
A version of the wheelback, without the two diagonally-sloping extra spindles of 218 and 219. The turning of the legs is elegant and lacks the extra turned collars which embellish the later types and make them look more mass-produced.
Windsor chairs from the Maurice Adams’ catalogue of 1926, showing how the wheelback form is virtually unchanged from the previous examples from a catalogue of 1908. The wheelback ‘carver’ shown below, has slightly more robust baluster-turned legs but the single chair is no different from the 1908 version. The cabriole-legged wheelbacks follow an earlier 18th century design, with ‘crinoline’ curved stretchers. The arm chair has the curved support to the arm as against the later, turned armed support on the turned-leg
chair.
Cabriole-leg single chair and turned-leg arm chair.
Two of the most commonly-produced kitchen, country, office or institutional chairs throughout the period. On the left a single chair, usually in beech or birch with an elm or beech/birch seat. On the right, a stick-back with broad top rail, of slightly Windsor derivation. 1860-1930
The smoker’s bow is now a popularly-hunted chair, fetching as much as 120 for certain versions in London. Good examples with opulently-turned fat baluster legs, like the one illustrated, are still to be found for much less  around 90 each  and thin, lesser versions for about 60. 1850-1940
A late 19th century chair which is a cross between a Windsor and a kitchen or office chair. It is very ornate, as the turning and the fretting of the centre splat show. There are still plenty of them about, although there has tended to be a drain of all these types of chair, particularly the Smoker’s Bow, to the export trade. 1850-1940
A typical kitchen armchair of the 19th century, on turned legs, much beloved of schools and other institutions up to the present day. Usually made in birch or beech and stained or varnished a dark colour. Sometimes the seat is made of elm. When stripped of stain or varnish to their natural colour, these chairs are often a pleasant golden brown.
Another 19th century country or kitchen chair, with a pleasantly arched and spindled decoration in the back. The seat is made of elm and the rest a pleasant, golden-coloured beech. The design was used for a long time; Shoolbred had it in 1876 and Skull in 1913. 1850-1920
A very pretty late 19th century chair with a seat which has been recovered. Usually these chairs had an impressed plywood seat, with a pattern embossed by pressure in it, usually finished in a lighter colour than the background. 1870-1900
A Worksop chair with robust baluster-turned legs and characteristic notched curved ends on the top rail. A fine example of this type of chair.

CHAIRS — balloon back
The nineteenth century saw the development of many new styles of which the dominant one from 1840-1880s was the balloon back with cabriole and turned legs. The evolution is clear but one has only to look at The Pictorial Dictionary of 19th Century Furniture Design to see how style persisted, often over several decades. Confusion on dating is therefore very easy. Prices are for sets of six.  Single examples range from $40 — 70.
The back rail is thin and no longer straight but the decoration on the splat still harks back to William IV (late Regency) as does the drop-in seat and decoration on the legs. c. 1835
Shows a simulated rosewood Regency bedroom chair made of beech in which the splat has developed and an early form of ballooning is evolving. This light and elegant chair contrasts sharply with the late ones.
Set of six each.
A later heavier type with solid turned legs and rather clumsy decoration on the splat. c. 1870
Almost a balloon back but not quite, nevertheless a good design with moulded edges to the legs as well as inside the back.
In walnut with a warm colour not obvious from the photograph. The slight shaping on the top and the small carved supports give the chair an elegant look. c.1850
The later mechanical applied groove decoration and a very simple splat, the legs are pinched (see Agius). The price is relatively high because many people simply do not differentiate between quality. c. 1880
Still a very good chair with an intricate splat which is in its favour, but less style than the previous example. c. 1850
Chairs  show how the balloon shape could infect other chairs of the period, even papier mach& as in 200. Note the difference between the Victorian idea of cabriole and that of the early eighteenth century; the former is bandy legged by comparison. 1860. Set of six.
Moving down the scale, a simple splat and a not entirely successful attempt at decoration just above. The legs lack some of the elegance of the previous examples. c. 1850. If back broken — forget.

CHAIRS — turned leg, 1800-1840
The turned leg chairs of the 1800-1840 period derive from late Sheraton and other, usually classical, design influences of the period. Whereas the overall shape is clearly recognisable, an infinite variety of decorative
designs were used and it is again very difficult to range the quality of the enormous output.
A fine quality example with reeded arms and back. The top rail is also reeded and the legs reasonably restrained as far as the turning goes. 1810
Another restrained chair of simple, quite elegant design. c. 1825 Set of six
This chair shows how the legs can become over-turned to the point of weakness. The violently striped covering is not, of course, contempory. 1835
An elegant later chair with fine quality work in the back and the expected reeded legs of William IV origin. c. 1835
Almost the classic dealer’s mahogany dining chair of the late Georgian-Regency period. The arms now reach out to curve straight down into the front legs. The back centre rail is twist-turned and there is an inlaid brass stringing line in the top back rail.
A humbler example, where the legs are still elegant but the top rail of the back is wider and starting to grow into the heavier broad rail of the later part of the period. c. 1820
The broad top rail has started to be embellished by the Victorians, who were busy deciding to throw off such restraint as the severe straight tops of the previous examples, thus leading to 189. c. 1840
This chair shows how events can take an unpleasant turn, with front legs becoming bulbous and unnecessary cross-stretchers appearing. c. 1835
The rule for giving an approximate value for a set is to increase the single price as follows:
Here the top rail has broken out into a rebellion of a decidedly dashing nature. c. 1830-40
This design ran concurrently with the early balloon back and fits in well with cabrioles.  c. 1850    Set of six.

CHAIRS — cabriole leg, low back
The lower back chairs are normally associated with the George I period. Certainly the design settled down around the 1720s and carved decoration became increasingly used.
A good George I example. The seat rail is much deeper than those of the previous section and the back is lower. The carved shell is hipped into the seat and the top rail is scooped into a definite hollow in the middle.
The top rail is also more rounded in appearance and the distinction between it and the back uprights more difficult to define, as they flow into each other. The flat face of the uprights, splat and seat rails are veneered
for decoration. c. 1725    Single $2,500 — 3,500 Pair $8, 000 — 12, 000
This very fine chair with the shepherd’s crook arms has superb cabrioles with hipped decoration on the knee, ball-and-claw feet and despite the low back, superb movement. A collector’s dream. c.1720
A country version with the fashionable low front (not always a pot cupboard), a veneered back splat and firmly fixed shepherd’s crook arms. c.1720
A lesser quality chair on which the shell carving on the knee has an almost stuck-on appearance and looks out of place. Note that the chair is made of solid walnut and features no veneer, although the face of the back uprights is flat, as though to be veneered. See how material has been saved in producing the shaped back uprights — the lower inward curve of the left hand back upright is a different piece of wood joined to the main upright: the lighter colour betrays it. c. 1720
A mahogany high quality chair with carved decoration — see how the curving back uprights end in eagles’ heads where they meet the top rail. Cuban mahogany encouraged a revival in the carver’s art. Notice too that
the seat has become larger and generally more solid. A move towards Chippendale. 1730-1740
A fruitwood chair with rounded back uprights rather like chairs from the previous section. It has a rather country appearance despite the quality of the cabrioles and back splat, which is quite sophisticated. c.1730
Although this chair has lost its front feet, it illustrates a stretchered type with flat-faced back uprights, the whole chair being made in solid walnut. It has little of the curvature of the back which the chairs in the previous section show, although akin to them below the seat level. Note that the shoulder piece is missing on the right hand cabriole. c.1735

Chippendale dining chair

Historical background
Designs for Thomas Chippendale’s chairs were freely available once his pattern book, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director was published in 1754 and were
Signs of authenticity
1. Solid, heavy mahogany, smooth and silky to the touch.
2. Underframes of beech, plane or sycamore.
3. Crest rails fitting into tops of side rails where design scrolls outward-curving.
4. Crest rails fitting between curving side rails where design is rounded.
5. Drop-in or overstuffed seats.
6. Separate shoe-piece attached to back of seat frame.
7. On chairs with cabriole legs, deep apron with rounded corners to seat frame.
8. On chairs with square legs, square corners to seat frame.
9. Seat frames on early dining chairs straight (not dished until c.1780).
10. On chairs with arms, arm supports set back almost half the depth of the seat, screwed with hand-cut screws, the screwholes concealed by plugs or dowels, now virtually invisible.
Likely restoration and repair
11. Later carving and fluting to legs – carving will not stand proud of silhouette.
12. Broken back legs repaired or replaced, by dowelling into sawn ends on the line of the apron.
13. Drop-in seats replaced with overstuffed – the apron beneath the seat material will be
polished like the rest of the frame, not left plain or made of correct underframe wood.
14. Heavy carved decoration on back side rails – either carved later, or a marriage between a late Victorian copy and a period chair. Correct decoration for period was plain or fluted.
15. Later, Victorian cabriole legs dowelled into underframe to replace broken originals. Bandy-legged appearance where not enough thickness of wood has been used for the legs.
made with modifications and variations by numerous furniture-makers throughout the period 1754-80.
The main shift in design from previous shapes was the squared, almost over-running shape of shoulder and crest rail, and the pierced and carved central splat. Mahogany was used almost exclusively for dining chairs of this period: its immense strength and density allowed pierced work of great elaboration. The beginning of the period maintained rounded
corners to chair seats, but once Chippendale reintroduced plain squared legs, seat corners were also square.
Chippendale chairs were made in sets for dining rooms. Their backs were lower to allow the newly adopted custom of dining d la Berline – with footmen serving dishes individually, instead of the hitherto traditional English way of dining, from a side table heaped with food.
Construction and materials
Throughout the Chippendale period, dining chairs were made in solid mahogany, oiled and rubbed smooth with brick dust or sand to a glossy, silky finish. The backs of chairs were lower, with square shoulders often terminating in small upward-curling scrolls. There were two types of construction: the traditional, with the crest rail fitting between the two side rails which curved inward towards the centre, and the innovative, with the crest rail almost over-running the outward-curving side rails, like a cupid’s bow. On chairs with arms, the supports were higher and the arms ran almost parallel with the seat, fixed to the sides of the seat frames almost half way back, to allow for fashionable full skirts.
Detail
Although the central splats, crest rail and legs were profusely decorated, the stiles were seldom carved, but left plain or fluted. Seats of chairs were sometimes overstuffed or had deep decorative aprons, often serpentine in shape.
It is surprising to learn that the technique of lamination was first used for the fretted backs and ornament of the Chippendale period. Layers of veneer of alternating grain were glued together and then cut with a fret saw into intricate shapes.
Variations
Simplified variations of Chippendale’s designs were made by most country furniture-makers, usually in oak, but also in elm, beech, ash and fruitwoods. They had plain wooden seats made of planking nailed to the underframe, usually in more than one piece, with the grain going from side to side. Occasionally they are to be found with rush seats.
The designs of the back include the crudest cut-out work – most commonly a curving variation of four or five straight splats, either in a wheatsheaf shape or an open vase or violin shape. Most widespread and enduring are those made in a
simplified ladderback design. Legs are square, sometimes slightly chamfered on the inner sides. The back stretcher is still set higher than the front, and the two side stretchers are parallel. The tops of the front legs form the sides of the seat frame, and there is usually a fairly deep apron.
Below left: classic example of later Chippendale, c.1700, ladder-back.
Centre: a provincial vase splat. Right: classic North country ladder-back.
Far right: nineteenth-century ‘ribband-back’.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
Provincial furniture-makers were often as much as 50 years behind the most recent fashions, and ‘Chippendale’ chairs were still being made at the beginning of the nineteenth century. By the mid-nineteenth century they were being made by many furniture manufacturers, slightly modified, with rather meagre cabriole legs, or with the slimmer, scrolled leg and foot typical of the later period of Chippendale design. Often designs such as the ribband back and its variations had square legs and stretchers instead of cabriole legs.
Many Chippendale-style chairs were mass-produced for public rooms, assembly halls, hotels and board rooms, with machine-cut central splats, square, leather-covered seats, often dished, and with the shoe-piece made as an integral part of the back seat rail. Quality of materials and craftsmanship divide the mass-produced from good Victorian copies, which today are fetching extremely good prices.
Price bands
Late eighteenth-century mahogany, £400-550 each. Set of six, £5,000-7,000.
Country versions, £120-190. Set of six, £2,160-3,420.
Nineteenth-century walnut, £350-400 each.
Nineteenth-century mahogany – set of six, £3,000-4,000.

Queen Anne wing chair

The Palladian architecture of the early eighteenth century suited the English landscape beautifully, but the high ceilings and spaciousness of the interiors were more suited to warmer climates. Porters in draughty halls sat out their on-duty hours in deep, hooded chairs which almost entirely enclosed them. In drawing rooms, their masters and mistresses sat protected from draughts in high-backed wing chairs, elegantly upholstered in fine needlework. In libraries, wing chairs were leather-covered and edged with rows of brass studs.
The square shapes of earlier periods gave way to curving lines and hooped backs to seating furniture, which was designed for comfort as well as elegance. Over two and a half centuries have passed and the design of the winged chair has remained virtually unchanged.
Signs of authenticity
1. Beech, plane or sycamore frame, with rust, dirt and embedded fabric where original upholstery was secured to the frame with square-headed iron nails.
2. Front legs continue up to form the corners of the seat frame.
3. Flowing S-curve of the arms, ending in rounded arm rests, curved and tapering down to the seat frame.
4. Back legs continue up above back seat level, raked inward before sloping gently outward to form shape of raked back.
5. Cabriole legs short, well-proportioned, with or without carving on the knee.
6. With pad feet and stretchers, the join is always into square-sectioned blocks, the stretchers usually H-shaped.
Likely restoration and repair
7. Almost certainly completely re-upholstered at least once in its lifetime.
8. Frames rebuilt, repaired, particularly on arms, which may have broken outwards and been pinned.
9. Back legs broken and replaced.
10. The whole built up from two good cabriole legs, perhaps from a stool or other piece of furniture.
11. No wing chair should be bought as genuine unless the underframe is visible at some part – particularly on the joins of the legs.
Construction and materials
The key shape of the eighteenth century wing chair is the curve, with the line carried down to the neat curve of the short cabriole legs in front and the splay of the back legs. For the first decade of the eighteenth century the seats were deep, and the arms set more or less square, but from c.1710 the seats flared out to accommodate the wide hooped skirts and full coattails of fashionable dress. The frames were made of beech, plane or sycamore — woods which could be close-nailed without splitting. Cabriole legs were of walnut until c.1720, and then of mahogany. They were upholstered with tow or horsehair, bound with webbing, and covered first with hessian and then with calico before the final upholstery in leather or needlework.
Detail
Early eighteenth-century wing chairs had little carved decoration on the front leg ‘knee’ (more elaborate carving became fashionable after c.1720 with the introduction into England of mahogany). They had shaped squab seats and frames were studded with small brass-headed nails around the outer sides of the wings and on the base above the legs, particularly when upholstered in leather.
In the early eighteenth century, front legs ended in plain pad feet and stretchers were slender. After x1730, heavier ball-and-claw feet were preferred and stretchers were often omitted altogether.
Variations
Upholstered furniture of any kind was a luxury until the mid-Victorian period and was not made or used by any but the well-to-do.
The equivalent of the wing-back chair in country furniture is the high-backed, oak settle to seat three or four people near the fire, with wings to keep out the draught, and the high-backed, so-called `lambing chair’ which was simply a single version of the long settle. Later, Windsor chairs became the country equivalent of the upholstered wing chair.
Below: wing chair with crisp outlines, c.1710.
Right: ‘Porter’s chair’.
Reproductions
There has been virtually no break in the production of winged chairs of one sort of another since they were first made. Some later eighteenth century wing chairs have wide ribbed backs and are more curved, with shorter arms, but most originals are very hard to find in any good state. The only major change in construction came in 1828 with the invention of the coiled spring for upholstered furniture. In the mid-Victorian period some chairs were made with cast-iron frames, a short-lived idea because of their extreme weight.
Above: nineteenth-century version, with bulging arm supports, drooping wings and insignificant legs.
Price bands
Eighteenth century, with original upholstery, k5,000
Eighteenth century, with later upholstery,
0,500-4,500.
Eighteenth century, with pad feet and stretchers, £2,500-3,500.
Nineteenth-century reproductions, £450 700.