An elegant cream and gilt painted armchair. England, circa 1800.

For a pair of mahogany armchairs of identical model see Christie’s, London, 14 June 2001, lot 112 (£32,900).

Why we like it

This chair’s most unusual design displays fashionable neoclassical features alongside references to the vernacular spindle-back Windsor chair, all drawn with great confidence and flair. We like the chair’s distressed painted surface, which retains traces of one of its later decorative schemes. The chair has been newly reupholstered in the traditional manner, finished in a complementing mohair velvet with hand-made cotton tufts.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Design

Probably inspired by Marie-Antoinette’s ‘hamlet’ at Versailles, completed in 1786, the fashion for garden follies modelled as ‘rustic cottages’ developed in Britain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Furniture for such follies often included ‘fancy chairs’, as they were known, frequently painted or ‘dyed’ and reflecting local vernacular traditions (see J. Boram, Eighteenth Century Fancy Chairs, Regional Furniture, Vol. XIII, 1999). Predictably, some of the higher-end furniture-makers produced highly sophisticated yet lighthearted examples, such as the present armchair, probably intended for tea-houses or exotically-themed parlours.

Dimensions

Height: 35" / 89 cm
Width: 23" / 58.5 cm
Depth: 21" / 53.5 cm
Seat height: 17" / 43 cm

Condition

Ready for placement and immediate use.