ARMCHAIR
Wooden frame decorated with painted flowers on a gilt gesso ground. The upholstery is not original
ENGLISH; about 1620
This is a rare survival of an especially luxurious type of painted furniture, comparable to examples at Knole in kent. The original cover was probably of leather but the chair was later re-upholstered in red velvet. [1989]
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| - ARMCHAIR
Wooden frame decorated with painted flowers on a gilt gesso ground. The upholstery is not original
ENGLISH; about 1620
This is a rare survival of an especially luxurious type of painted furniture, comparable to examples at Knole in kent. The original cover was probably of leather but the chair was later re-upholstered in red velvet. [1989] (en)
- Armchair of turned beechwood, decorated with polychrome painting of flowers on a gilded gesso ground with background of red and gold arabesques. The back and seat are upholstered in crimson velvet. (en)
- Chairs of this form were fashionable from about 1615 to about 1660. They provided comfort and indicated status in a wealthy household. The chair may have been made with a matching set of smaller chairs without arms. The red velvet on the back is original. The dark line across the back shows where a fringe was once attached. There are also traces of original gilded and painted decoration, so this was clearly an expensive and prestigious example. Royal bills show that the gilder Philip Bromefield (active 1626-1642) supplied gilded and painted furniture to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. Very few examples of painted furniture survive from the 1600s. (en)
- Armchair of beechwood, decorated with gilding and painting over a gesso ground, with polychrome single flowers over a ground of gilded arabesques on red. The front legs and arm supports are turned as columns, except for the sections where the seat rails and stretchers are jointed to them; the back legs, back uprights and the foot-level stretchers on all four sides are of rectangular section, the back with a marked rake above the seat rail. The rectangular back and seat are upholstered in red velvet, the velvet of the seat a replacement. Originally the chair would have had turned finials at the top of the back uprights, gilded and decorated to match the rest of the frame.
The frame is painted on all visible surfaces with polychrome decoration of naturalistic English flowers (possibly anemones or roses) on a gilt-gesso ground. In several places (notably on the outer sides of the lower back uprights) the flowers are set against a background of dense gilded arabesques on a red ground, and it seems likely that this ground was originally present everywhere on the chair. The decoration is very much degraded, with much loss of surface, so reading the original scheme is not easy. The arabesque background to these areas was painted with gold powder in a varnish, over a ground that was painted with a transparent red glaze over the base gilding. The naturalistically painted flowers, which include anenomes and roses, are painted in translucent and solid colours (pinky red and a malachite-like green predominate), with black-line details.
The rectangular seat and back, and the down-curving arms are upholstered in red silk velvet, which survives from the original scheme, although much degraded. On the back the original 21" (54 cm) width of the velvet is visible in the vertical seams to either side. On both back and arms, the seams (sometimes re-sewn) show fragments of metal-thread trimming. The velvet on the arms has been mounted down onto new velvet. On the back, a shadow line running horizontally just above the arms, would originally have been covered by a deep fringe.Similar fringe, perhaps of different widths would also have hung from the bottom of the back, from the ege of the seat (which would have had a loose cushion, with similar trimming) and possibly from the top edge of the back. A fragment of this survives on the lining of the back, behind the PL upright and shows it to be silver thread.
The back is lined with plain linen canvas (possibly original), showing a crease between two lines of stitching running horizontally across the middle, with two lines of stitching. This may relate to the line of fringing that was originally mounted on the front face at this height. Red fabrics (silk and silk velvet) are visible under this on the PL side. The lower back rail is probably a later addition rather than a replacement but the top rail is replaced. The seat is now reinforced wtih two attached battens, inside the front and back rails of the seat. These support two softwood boards running front to back, with gaps between them. Neither the battens nor boards show on the photograph published in 1924 (see reference to Margaret Jourdain's book) but may well have been already in place. The edges of a coarse linen base cloth are visible in that photo and it may be the base cloth that currently sits above the softwood boards, supported on two lateral, plain-weave lengths of webbing. This idea is further supported by a black and white photograph taken from the back of the chair, presumably at the same time as the photo published by Margaret Jourdain and now in the collection of Fortt negatives held by the Furniture, Textiles and Fashion Department at the V&A. It appears to show the current canvas. Derek Balfour (conservation upholsterer) and Frances Collard (V&A curator noted in the 1990s that the double-thread weave of the canvas was similar to canvas on other chairs of the period which are known to retain their original upholstery. The nails that attach the battens could be earlier than 1924, although the crimson velvet (possibly cotton) dates from after that time.
The chair is of standard mortise-and-tenon construction. The arms show a down-curving profile and are notched on the underside about half way along, in a manner that is generally seen in oak armchairs of the 17th century. Because the upholstery has been repaired, it is difficult to understand how this appeared when the chair was new. (en)
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| - ARMCHAIR
Wooden frame decorated with painted flowers on a gilt gesso ground. The upholstery is not original
ENGLISH; about 1620
This is a rare survival of an especially luxurious type of painted furniture, comparable to examples at Knole in kent. The original cover was probably of leather but the chair was later re-upholstered in red velvet. [1989] (en)
- Armchair of turned beechwood, decorated with polychrome painting of flowers on a gilded gesso ground with background of red and gold arabesques. The back and seat are upholstered in crimson velvet. (en)
- Chairs of this form were fashionable from about 1615 to about 1660. They provided comfort and indicated status in a wealthy household. The chair may have been made with a matching set of smaller chairs without arms. The red velvet on the back is original. The dark line across the back shows where a fringe was once attached. There are also traces of original gilded and painted decoration, so this was clearly an expensive and prestigious example. Royal bills show that the gilder Philip Bromefield (active 1626-1642) supplied gilded and painted furniture to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. Very few examples of painted furniture survive from the 1600s. (en)
- Armchair of beechwood, decorated with gilding and painting over a gesso ground, with polychrome single flowers over a ground of gilded arabesques on red. The front legs and arm supports are turned as columns, except for the sections where the seat rails and stretchers are jointed to them; the back legs, back uprights and the foot-level stretchers on all four sides are of rectangular section, the back with a marked rake above the seat rail. The rectangular back and seat are upholstered in red velvet, the velvet of the seat a replacement. Originally the chair would have had turned finials at the top of the back uprights, gilded and decorated to match the rest of the frame.
The frame is painted on all visible surfaces with polychrome decoration of naturalistic English flowers (possibly anemones or roses) on a gilt-gesso ground. In several places (notably on the outer sides of the lower back uprights) the flowers are set against a background of dense gilded arabesques on a red ground, and it seems likely that this ground was originally present everywhere on the chair. The decoration is very much degraded, with much loss of surface, so reading the original scheme is not easy. The arabesque background to these areas was painted with gold powder in a varnish, over a ground that was painted with a transparent red glaze over the base gilding. The naturalistically painted flowers, which include anenomes and roses, are painted in translucent and solid colours (pinky red and a malachite-like green predominate), with black-line details.
The rectangular seat and back, and the down-curving arms are upholstered in red silk velvet, which survives from the original scheme, although much degraded. On the back the original 21" (54 cm) width of the velvet is visible in the vertical seams to either side. On both back and arms, the seams (sometimes re-sewn) show fragments of metal-thread trimming. The velvet on the arms has been mounted down onto new velvet. On the back, a shadow line running horizontally just above the arms, would originally have been covered by a deep fringe.Similar fringe, perhaps of different widths would also have hung from the bottom of the back, from the ege of the seat (which would have had a loose cushion, with similar trimming) and possibly from the top edge of the back. A fragment of this survives on the lining of the back, behind the PL upright and shows it to be silver thread.
The back is lined with plain linen canvas (possibly original), showing a crease between two lines of stitching running horizontally across the middle, with two lines of stitching. This may relate to the line of fringing that was originally mounted on the front face at this height. Red fabrics (silk and silk velvet) are visible under this on the PL side. The lower back rail is probably a later addition rather than a replacement but the top rail is replaced. The seat is now reinforced wtih two attached battens, inside the front and back rails of the seat. These support two softwood boards running front to back, with gaps between them. Neither the battens nor boards show on the photograph published in 1924 (see reference to Margaret Jourdain's book) but may well have been already in place. The edges of a coarse linen base cloth are visible in that photo and it may be the base cloth that currently sits above the softwood boards, supported on two lateral, plain-weave lengths of webbing. This idea is further supported by a black and white photograph taken from the back of the chair, presumably at the same time as the photo published by Margaret Jourdain and now in the collection of Fortt negatives held by the Furniture, Textiles and Fashion Department at the V&A. It appears to show the current canvas. Derek Balfour (conservation upholsterer) and Frances Collard (V&A curator noted in the 1990s that the double-thread weave of the canvas was similar to canvas on other chairs of the period which are known to retain their original upholstery. The nails that attach the battens could be earlier than 1924, although the crimson velvet (possibly cotton) dates from after that time.
The chair is of standard mortise-and-tenon construction. The arms show a down-curving profile and are notched on the underside about half way along, in a manner that is generally seen in oak armchairs of the 17th century. Because the upholstery has been repaired, it is difficult to understand how this appeared when the chair was new. (en)
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