The county of Lincolnshire has a great tradition of making spindleback Windsor chairs. Their understated elegance, economy of design and pleasing proportions make them timeless items of furniture which would grace any room. There are plenty on my Flickr feed to choose from and after many years of researching the tradition, I still find chairs which are new to me. Please take a moment to study this one.
It was while visiting a Newark antique centre that I spotted this one for sale at a very reasonable price. There is no maker's name stamp, every component is fashioned from ashwood and it's in remarkably good condition. Everything points to a standard Lincolnshire spindleback Windsor chair, produced at the beginning of the nineteenth century. But which workshop did it come out of? I knew that I had seen those underarm supports before and after a little bit of research I realised that they were the same as picture WS160, which is signed TAYLOR Grantham.
What surprised me was the fact that every other signed TAYLOR spindleback chairs have only 8 long spindles and 6 short ones. This is, I believe, the very first time that a 9 long and 8 short spindle pattern has ever been recorded.
I have little doubt that it was manufactured in the workshop of Roger and Sophia Taylor during the period 1801 - 1810.
© William Sergeant 2023
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