Beech open armchair with caned oval back and caned seat.

FPF372

Beech open armchair with caned oval back and caned seat.

1850-1880

Beech open armchair with caned oval back and caned seat.

This open armchair has an oval caned back with a moulded beech frame which joins the back legs. The arms are shaped and steam-bent in a continuous curve from the back to the tops of the front legs. The tapered seat is caned, with the cane wrapped over the seat rails and closely woven in a chevron pattern. The front legs are turned with reels and are slightly flared and tapering at the tips, while the back legs are shaped, tapered and flared. The front stretcher is turned and tapering, and there are double stretchers at the sides and a single back stretcher, all turned and with tapered ends. The chair is finished with a dark brown stain; the canework has probably been replaced.

The arms of this chair have been steam-bent to achieve the compound curves. The process of heating wood in a steam chamber to make it pliable was familiar to makers of bow-back Windsor chairs, for example, in the 18th century. The technology to make bentwood furniture on an industrial scale was perfected by the Austrian designer, Michael Thonet (1796-1871) in the 1840s and 50s (Gloag, 1991).

A similar chair is at Belton House, Lincolnshire (NT 435252).

The canework is in good condition and is probably replaced.

Beech.
Cane.

H. 91
W. 58
D. 71

TCP.2 painted on rear stretcher.

Not recorded.

J. Gloag, A Complete Dictionary of Furniture, revised and expanded by C. Edwards, Woodstock, 1991, pp. 136, 178.
Open armchair 435252 | National Trust Collections