An oak caqueteuse chair, probably coastal Fife, first half 17th century
The panel back with undulating top-rail carved with roundels and stylised leaves flanked by uprights carved with stylised palmettes enclosing two panels depicting lunettes and fleur-de-lys within out-swept arms and solid seat with moulded edge, the seat rail chip carved with repeating 'S' motif on ring turned baluster shaped legs united by stretchers 70cm wide103cm high, (27.5" wide40.5" high)
Sold for
£20,400
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Provenance Earlshall, Leuchars Fife
Scotlands first furniture historian, John Small, first recognised the Fife short caqueteuse chair form in his Ancient and Modern Furniture, 1883, and this has subsequently been corroborated by the discovery of provenanced examples from the north east of the Kingdom (Falkland, Balmerino and St Monans: see David Jones, The Vernacular Chair in Fife, 1996). They have a characteristic vocabulary of carved motifs including stiff palmettes and fleshy rosettes. Some have cresting rails with exaggerated inward-pointing scrolls put down on a central plinth. The double back panel is found principally on more important and ceremonial caqueteuse chairs.
W R Mackenzie of Earlshall, Fife, furnished the hall of his sixteenth century tower house (restored and re-modelled by R S Lorimer, 1892) with some good examples of the type.
The collection is now dispersed. (see illustration)
Category: Furniture
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