Scroll back bar back Windsor armchair, possibly Northamptonshire, with bell shaped seat, curved stay rail, cross rail with split multiple bobbin turning, turned underarm supports, 3 ring front and plain back legs with vase feet, H stretcher

Scroll back bar back Windsor armchair, possibly Northamptonshire WS 125

I try ever so hard to restrict my chair collecting to chairs that have a Lincolnshire connection but I could not resist purchasing this one a while ago from the Newark Antique fair. Let me explain: there are references in Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990)  and elsewhere of stamped chairs by John March of Geddington and John Powell of Northampton.  James Drake has let me have photos of his signed chairs. They all have features that could originate from Thames Valley and some features from Lincolnshire but one design element that keeps occurring is the split turning applied to the lower back bar. When Bill Cotton called in three years ago I got him to cast his eye over this chair and he reinforced my opinion that this chair could well be attributed to one of the Northants makers.

© William Sergeant 2020