24 May 2012
12:00 BST
Chester
The Beedham Collection: Selected Oak Furniture & Works of Art 1450 - 1750
Back to auction 20460
The Beedham Collection: Selected Oak Furniture & Works of Art 1450 - 1750
Back to auction 20460
A highly unusual Charles I oak open armchair
Possibly Herefordshire/Shropshire, circa 1630
The back panel carved with a large prominent fanned arch with rope-twist upper edge and leaf-carved spandrels, a row of bold peg baluster spindles below, and surmounted by an arched reeded top rail, with applied canopy rail descending to turned beehive terminals, the channel-moulded downswept open-arms with conforming beehive terminals each with a counter-carved reverse, the boarded seat with channel-moulded edges and projecting front corners around the peg-baluster turned front arm supports, the seat with rope-twist carving to the under edge, the reeded front seat rails with turned end-pendants, similar carved decoration to the side rails, raised on conforming peg baluster-turned front supports, joined by heavy plain peripheral stretchers, 74cm wide x 64cm deep x 110cm high, (29" wide x 25" deep x 43" high)
The back panel carved with a large prominent fanned arch with rope-twist upper edge and leaf-carved spandrels, a row of bold peg baluster spindles below, and surmounted by an arched reeded top rail, with applied canopy rail descending to turned beehive terminals, the channel-moulded downswept open-arms with conforming beehive terminals each with a counter-carved reverse, the boarded seat with channel-moulded edges and projecting front corners around the peg-baluster turned front arm supports, the seat with rope-twist carving to the under edge, the reeded front seat rails with turned end-pendants, similar carved decoration to the side rails, raised on conforming peg baluster-turned front supports, joined by heavy plain peripheral stretchers, 74cm wide x 64cm deep x 110cm high, (29" wide x 25" deep x 43" high)
Sold for
£8,125
inc. premium
Footnotes
- It is virtually impossible to draw comparisons with this unique armchair. However, two, from a small group of joined armchairs, incorporating turned spindles to their backs, and arms, are illustrated, V. Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition (1993), pp. 254 - 254, figs. 3:52 & 53. Both are tentatively attributed to Shropshire.
The bold, fan-shaped carving, with the fine rope-carved edge, is a prominent distinguishing feature found on this lot. Comparisons can be further made with another extraordinary armchair in the Burrell Collection, ibid., p. 255, fig. 3:59, which employs a dominant fanned arch, again with rope-carved edge, as the cresting motif. The Burrell Collection chair, also has similar decoration to the upright and horizontal back-rails, as found on the mid back-rail and seat-rail edges of this lot.
Unquestionably, the most unusual feature found here is the turned beehive decoration to the cresting rail and arm terminals. No comparable examples have been found, and one can only begin to speculate as to why this original feature was employed. Other exceptional features include, though are not limited to, the shallow-arch of the cresting with the canopy overhang; the unusually steep downswept arms; the unusually shaped seat, with front corner projections and related turned-pendants; the parallel baluster peg-shaped front supports, which follow the profile of the back turnings; the chamfered rear legs; and the peripheral stretchers, which are slightly broader than the back legs and front leg blocks. In all, a quite remarkable chair.
Category: Furniture / Oak Furniture
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