Mahogany ladder-back side chair.
Identifier
FPF147
Title
Mahogany ladder-back side chair.
Date
1770-1785
Description
Mahogany ladder-back side chair with upholstered seat.
Full Description
This mahogany ladder-back side chair has four graduated, carved and pierced serpentine rails, or ‘rungs’, between tapering and fluted back posts. The chair back is concave, flared and with pointed top corners. The tapering stuff-over seat is raised on square-section, moulded legs joined by an H-stretcher, with a rear stretcher set slightly higher. The upholstery and satin damask cover are 20th century.
Fashionable ladder-back chairs were derived from the vernacular form which was common in England and on the Continent from at least the 17th century. The first known instances of fashionable English ladder-back chairs are those made by Elizabeth Hutt & Son of St Paul's Churchyard in 1739 (Jervis, 1993) and by Giles Grendey in around 1750 (Jervis, 1974). See also FPF 144, attributed to Grendey.
Chairs of a similar style to this more elaborate example (FPF 147) were made by Gillows of Lancaster in the 1770s and 1780s, who described them as ‘Fiddle back’ or ‘Old Splat’ chairs. The former term seems to have originated from a fanciful resemblance between the pierced rails of the ladder-back and the sound holes of a violin (Stuart, 2008).
Fashionable ladder-back chairs were derived from the vernacular form which was common in England and on the Continent from at least the 17th century. The first known instances of fashionable English ladder-back chairs are those made by Elizabeth Hutt & Son of St Paul's Churchyard in 1739 (Jervis, 1993) and by Giles Grendey in around 1750 (Jervis, 1974). See also FPF 144, attributed to Grendey.
Chairs of a similar style to this more elaborate example (FPF 147) were made by Gillows of Lancaster in the 1770s and 1780s, who described them as ‘Fiddle back’ or ‘Old Splat’ chairs. The former term seems to have originated from a fanciful resemblance between the pierced rails of the ladder-back and the sound holes of a violin (Stuart, 2008).
Condition
In good condition.
Upholstery replaced.
Upholstery replaced.
Materials
Mahogany.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 94
W. 56
D. 58
W. 56
D. 58
Parker Numbers
3822. 4373
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons, November 1916, ex Dare, £9 10s
Notes
Simon Jervis, 'A 1739 Suite of Seat Furniture at Bowringsleigh', Furniture History, 1993, pp.40-43.
Simon Jervis, ‘A Great Dealer in the Cabinet Way: Giles Grendey (1693-1780)’, Country Life, 6 June 1974, p. 1419 and fig. 4.
Susan Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Antique Collectors' Club, 2008, Vol. 1, p. 134, Plate: Chair Patterns 1a, no. 11; pp. 157-158, Plate 107.
A set of fourteen ladder-back chairs of related model was sold at Christie’s, New York, 10 May 2018, lot 678.
A related armchair is at Mompesson House, Wiltshire, see
Ladderback chair 724181 | National Trust collections
This chair is currently on loan to No 1 Royal Crescent, Bath.
Simon Jervis, ‘A Great Dealer in the Cabinet Way: Giles Grendey (1693-1780)’, Country Life, 6 June 1974, p. 1419 and fig. 4.
Susan Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Antique Collectors' Club, 2008, Vol. 1, p. 134, Plate: Chair Patterns 1a, no. 11; pp. 157-158, Plate 107.
A set of fourteen ladder-back chairs of related model was sold at Christie’s, New York, 10 May 2018, lot 678.
A related armchair is at Mompesson House, Wiltshire, see
Ladderback chair 724181 | National Trust collections
This chair is currently on loan to No 1 Royal Crescent, Bath.
