The early Nineteenth century Windsor bow-back armchair, in oak and beech, having a seven-stick comb hoop back, with a two strut brace, the top rail hoop being mortised, the thick and primitive oak seat to bulbous turned conforming legs, the whole displaying a wonderful treacle black patina, with remnants of green paint under, surviving from the turn of eighteenth century England.
Unknown.
The Windsor chair is recognised as one of the classics of English country furniture While it is thought that the name of the English Windsor chair derives from its creation in the Windsor area, the High Wycombe area is well known as a key part of the country where these chairs were made. Windsor chairs were made in a wide range of styles and there are distinct regional variations from all over Britain and the USA where the form was equally popular. Period Windsor chairs, when they were new, were painted and they were frequently made from different types of wood and thus the paint tied the pieces together.
A beautifully sculptural Windsor chair that acts as a work of art and a testament to patina more than anything else. As the leading Windsor chair authority William Nutting once said ‘by the fireside it speaks much of “old forgotten far off things”; the literature of the home will not be complete until a proper tale is written centering around a comb-back chair’. We couldn’t agree more.
Although the legs have obviously been cut down and the central stretcher is lacking, the rest of the chair remains in desirable original condition, the chair remains structurally sound, with a fantastic and honest patina to the surfaces. One can still use the chair but its proportions now are more child-like. There is a hole to the oak seat as pictured.
By appointment only.
