Object Description
The decorative early-nineteenth century pair of bamboo simulated side chairs showing the original painted finish, now distressed commensurate with age, each with bergere cane seats and simulated bamboo supports of typical Regency design with corvetto balls to each.
The chairs all show a consistent amount of wear to their original paintwork, with an all-over craquelure and as such prove beautifully decorative. We have left the paintwork well alone to each, and have given them a light wax. There is some evidence of some old sporadic worm. There is a small section of loss to one of the front feet to one chair. The canework is relatively new. We must stress that the chairs are built daintily as occasional chairs for the bedroom or such like and as such would only be suitable for occasional use, being more decorative than functional. They have recently been re-caned and as such can be used and enjoyed but wouldn’t take to being used heavily.
The influences on Regency design and taste were legion; from Sheraton’s neoclassicism, Henry Holland’s Anglo-French taste, the Greek revival of Thomas Hope, and the Chinoiserie favoured by the Prince Regent, to an interest in the Gothic, Old English and rustic. The Regency attitude to interior decoration often involved treating each room as a unit with individual furnishings and wall decorations in harmony of theme or colour scheme. The popularity of bamboo furniture particularly for bedrooms continued after the death of George IV.
Simple materials like beech simulating bamboo, as we see here, and lacquer were favoured rather than the ebony and ormolu that had been used at Carlton House for instance, which emphasized the gay informality of the ‘new taste’ rather than the stylish and rich pieces made earlier.
Place either side of a doorway and watch them lift the room.