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| East Anglian cabinetmaker's plum wood square back armchair, crest and cross rails squared with two tapered laths either side of an amphora-shaped splat, with curved rear legs, tapered front legs, board seat, curved arms morticed into ogee underarm supports in the Hepplewhite manner, single stretcher all round WS 193 |
An auction house near Stamford offered this chair for sale in May 2016, there were other items of interest included in the lots so I went along to the viewing. On examining this chair, which was rightly described as fruitwood, I found it to be in very poor condition with numerous crude repairs and both back legs were completely broken at seat level. I recognised it to be a cabinet maker's chair from East Anglia and made out of plumwood. It must have looked beautiful when it was first made over 200 years ago. On the day of the auction, much against my better judgment, I decided to bid for it as I knew there was little chance of ever purchasing a plumwood chair ever again. The opening bid was for five pounds, the second bid was mine at six pounds and much to my surprise it was knocked down to me.
Well this ugly duckling turned into a fine handsome swan after I let a good friend and restorer work his magic on it. I couldn't believe the transformation - I now have a beautiful Georgian armchair, strong and stable, taking pride of place in my sitting room. A chair very similar to this one, but with two piercings through the central splat appears at figure EA11 on p. 218 of Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990).
© William Sergeant 2018 and 2020
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