Unstamped comb back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair; curved cresting rail with turned stiles morticed into the arm bow, turned underarm supports, 9 long spindles, 2 x 4 underarm spindles, ring & cove front leg turning with lower ring & plain back legs, H stretcher with darts, attributed to William Taylor

attributed to William Taylor Lincolnshire comb back WS 180

Comb back windsor armchairs are so distinctive and peculiar to Lincolnshire. They are not easy to find as few have ever come onto the market; they were made by MARSH (SLEAFORD) and CAMM & G.WILSON ( GRANTHAM).  So when I spotted this one for sale at an auction house near Manchester I was intrigued as I did not recognise the maker. I purchased the chair, thanks to being able to bid over the internet even though I had not viewed before the auction. I was not disappointed when I collected it, the chair was in good order, unsigned and every component made from ashwood.

It was not till I got it home that I was able to work out who had made it. The underarm supports were so similar to the ones on the TAYLORS signed chair in picture No 167 and both chairs had the same finish applied, a sort of dark varnish. But the telling detail was the incised ring around the back leg where the side stretcher joins. It's a detail that I have only ever seen on two chairs - both signed TAYLORS and it appears on the comb back chair as well.  So I was in no doubt which workshop this came out of: William Taylor. Moreover, I am able to precisely date this chair as he was only working between 1811 and October 1815. Which makes this chair over 200 hundred years old.

© William Sergeant 2020