An extraordinary James I joined oak double panel-back open armchair, probably Welsh, dated 1624

Footnotes

Provenance:
Private collection, Vale of Neath, West Glamorgan, Wales, where the chair was photographed and the image held at the National Museum of History, St. Fagans, Cardiff
Sold Sotheby's, London, 10 September 2007, Lot 124

Armchairs featuring carved figural secondary supports above traditional arms are exceptionally rare. Presently only two further examples are known. One is in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, [no. 14.70], and the other, formerly at Cold Overton Hall, Leicestershire, sold Sotheby's London, 10th October 1986, Lot 138.

The statuesque proportions of this lot, combined with the use of unfamiliar motives and iconography, ensure that this chair takes on a 'throne'-like appearance, suggesting that it was intended for a specific function. Conversely, it could be argued that the chair's main unique feature, the additional arm supports, merely act as 'wings', to provide extra support for cushions when placed around the sitter and secured in place by ties or ribbons. See Victor Chinnery Oak Furniture: The British Tradition (2016), p. 206. Indeed, this use of 'wings' is found on two related chairs, one dated 1659 in the Burrell Collection [no. 14.202], and the other formerly in the Clive Sherwood Collection, dated 1656, and sold Sotheby's, Olympia, London, 22 May 2002, Lot 405. Attributed to Lancashire, these two dated chairs are thought to have been made for William Stanley (1640-1670) a younger son of the Earl of Derby [ibid., 398]. However, apart from the obvious additional arm support neither of the Stanley chairs bares any true resemblance to this lot. The arm superstructure is merely a scaled-down version of the main arm, and as a result their use for cushion support seems more likely, whilst the impractical carved extra arm supports found here suggest an elaborate and grandiose statement of authority, rather than a simple practical use.

The unusual combination of dates and initials to this chair's cresting rail are difficult to decipher. However, the chair may have had a ceremonial function, possibly in a church, as the initials 'STP' are known to stand for 'Sacrae Theologiae Professor' or Doctor of Sacred Theology, and are found elsewhere on monuments in English and Welsh churches to denote holders of the degree of Doctor of Divinity. For instance, a monument to Stephen Hales (1677 – 1761), eminent botanist and inventor of ventilators, was raised by Princess Augusta, George III's mother, in the south transept of Westminster Abbey: the letters 'S.T.P.' follow his name. A ceremonial function for the chair might account for the fact that at least two pairs of initials are present, the second pair added when the incumbent or office-holder changed.


For related chairs see Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition (2016), p.211, figs. 3:59 & 3:60 and p. 300, figs. 4:54 & 4:55, and Tobias Jellinek, Early British Chairs and Seats 1500 to 1700 (2009), p. 84, pl. 76. Michael Dann, The English Smile (2005), pp. 123-127, [item 21], illustrates a chair with a similar fan-cresting and nulled-carved rails. The back panel is also framed with 'slanted strips' as found here. This chair is dated to circa 1550-60 and described as English.