Beyond practicality Exceptional English Windsors

John Fiske

e all know the ordinary Windsor chair. It consists of a one-piece wooden seat into Wwhich the legs are inserted from below, while the spindles supporting the back and arms slot in from above. This simple construction allowed it to be the first “mass-produced” form of furniture. The Windsor shops used the division of labor principle – the most skilled worker (in England called “the bottomer”) made the seat, others bent the bows, turned or shaved the legs and spindles and finally the chair was assembled out of the parts. Light, strong, good looking and relatively inexpensive, the Windsor chair has quite properly been called “the essence of practicality.”

A pair of high comb-backs with large armorial splats, late 18th century.

An atypical pair of Windsors with West Country type three-part sawn and jointed arms with outwardly turned hand-rests. They have bell-shaped saddle seats with rather thin turned legs, and all of the spindles, unusually, have decorative turnings at each end. The most striking feature is the very large splat which only occupies the top half of the back and that bears a painted armorial. The arms are those of Graham of Gartmore, Stirlingshire, Scotland. The unusual design may indicate that the chairs were made locally in Scotland, although, as Robert Graham was elected as a member of parliament in 1794, he might have ordered them from England. Private collection. Photo: Chris Challis Photography. www.antiquesjournal.com February 2012 ◆ Antiques Journal ◆ Page 31 The first Windsors were made in England, probably by wheelwrights. The basic construction of wheels and Windsors is the same: One end of the spoke/ spindle is inserted into the hub/seat and the other into the rim/back rail. The spindles and legs on the early Windsors were often shaped by a wheelwright’s tool, the spoke-shave (known in America as a draw knife). The first recorded maker of Windsors, John Pitt (1714-1759), described himself on his trade label as “Wheelwright and Chairmaker.” But these are ordinary Windsors. At Wycombe Hall, in England, there is an exhibition of what we might call “extra-ordinary” Windsors. In eighteenth- century England, the Windsor could be as simple or elaborate, as rustic or formal, as the customer required. To meet this demand, English makers frequently departed from the ordinary form to create extraordinary Windsors in a way that their American cousins did not. These Windsors often incorporated stylistic elements from formal chairs. So we will find them with cabriole legs, Queen Anne- and Chippendale-derived splats, and elaborate backs; we’ll sometimes find them decorated with painted armorials and gilded scrolls, and even a few that were made of mahogany. With such a wide variety of forms, the English Windsor made its way into houses

Painted comb-back arm chair by John Pitt, c. 1740s. Armorial of the City of Bath.

This comb-back is one of a small group (five, possibly six, so far identified) thought to have been made by John Pitt (1714- 1759), the earliest known Windsor chair maker, who worked in Upton-cum-Chalvey, a few miles from Windsor. The attribution is based upon the distinctive shape of the front cabriole legs, particularly the curvaceous “knee” with its deep notch behind, giving the chair a bandy-leg appearance. This unusual leg form is The Enmore Castle Chair, 1756. also found on a chair, now in America, bearing John Pitt’s trade label. All five comb-backs attributed to Pitt have turned stretchers like these, flat shaped underarm supports and fine scribed lines This chair is one of a set of six low-back Windsor chairs made for around the edge of the seat. Three of them also have corner braces John Perceval (1711-1770), second Earl of Egmont, for his Somerset (spandrels) attached to the seat either side of both front legs. This residence Enmore Castle. These chairs are the only known examples is one of the chairs that appear never to have been fitted with that provide information about when (‘1756’ – painted in Roman spandrels and it also has circular blocks below the pad feet which numerals) and for where (‘Enmore’ – painted in gothic script) are especially high. However, the most interesting feature of the they were made. They retain their original polychrome painted chair is the original decorated paint finish which has been applied decoration, including an armorial tablet showing the arms of John over a white, possibly gesso, undercoat. The black paint surface Perceval impaling those of his second wife Catherine Compton, provides an effective background for the heraldic shield on the Baroness Arden of Lohort Castle, whom he married in 1756. These splat and for the gilt foliate decoration on its lower half and also chairs may have lined the entrance hall of the now demolished on the comb-rail and all four knees. Enmore Castle and were probably made in the west of England. Courtesy: Wycombe Museum, Chris Challis Photography. Courtesy: Moxhams Antiques, Photo Chris Challis Photography.

Page 32 ◆ Antiques Journal ◆ February 2012 www.antiquesjournal.com “Gothick” Windsor Chairs

A Gothick pointed bow armchair, c. 1760s (left).

The Gothick is the most unusual variant of the Thames Valley Windsor form, being the only design with a pointed back-bow made of two bentwood elements joined at the top. Characteristically, this arched bow is supported by fretwork splats instead of the usual spindles. The design probably emerged during the 18th-century gothic revival (in the same period as Chippendale Gothick) and was frequently reproduced in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is worth noting that rare three-seater Gothick settees were also made in the 18th century, but most of these now seem to be in American collections. Triple-pointed arched Gothick chair c. 1756. Gothick Windsors are invariably constructed of yew with cherry- wood or elm bell-shaped seats with a grooved edge and bentwood This is one of a set of very fine and most unusual mahogany (crook) underarm supports. The front cabriole legs which are joined Windsor elbow chairs on display at St. Michael’s Mount, Cornwall by a bow stretcher also have a single pierced spandrel (corner (National Trust), ancestral home of the St. Aubyn family. The central bracket). This design does not seem to have been made in a four Gothick arch contains a heraldic shield with the arms of St. Aubyn cabriole leg version but does occur with at least two subtly different impaling those of Wingfield. This commemorates the marriage of the back splat designs. 4th baronet, Sir John St. Aubyn, to Elizabeth Wingfield in 1756. The These chairs were always a “Best Chair” and would have been unknown maker was probably a London firm. used in taverns, university colleges and other places where they Courtesy: National Trust; property of James St Aubyn. Photo: would have been held in high regard as examples of fine furniture. National Trust. Highly prized today, and the most sought-after style of Windsor chair, it is quintessentially English and looks superb in most settings. Private collection. Photo: Chris Challis Photography. www.antiquesjournal.com February 2012 ◆ Antiques Journal ◆ Page 33 both rich and poor, indoors and out, so popular that, with the development 1720. Four years later, in 1724 Lord form an arch through the whole into the kitchen, library and dining of mass-production methods, some Percival wrote of the estate, Hall Barn, length, exactly resembling a cloister. room, into the wardrooms of Royal 4,500 were made every day in the near Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, At the end is a statue; and about Navy ships, into the households of Thames Valley alone. “The narrow winding walks and paths the middle a tolerably large circle, the nobility and the cottages of their Though the Windsor originated cut in it are innumerable and a woman with Windsor chairs round it: and I estate workers. in England, the earliest reference to in full health cannot walk them all, for think, for a person of contemplative The name “Windsor” presumably one, in 1708, is American: “John Jones which reason my wife was carry’d in a disposition, one would scarcely find a came from the town of that name on of Philadelphia, merchant, who died Windsor chair like those at Versailles, more venerable shade in any poetical the River Thames, just west of London, possessed of a Windsor chair.” As by which means she lost nothing description.” home of Windsor castle and the American Windsors were not made worth seeing.” The first reference to Windsor center of the region where the earliest before 1725, we have to presume that In a letter dated May 21, 1740, chairs indoors is in a 1725 inventory: Windsors were made. There is another this was an imported English chair, Lady Hartford, of Richkings, also in “Seaven Japan’d Windsor Chairs, in name, “forest chairs,” that is sometimes and therefore that the form (and the Buckinghamshire, wrote: “There is the Library of the Duke of Chandos applied to Windsors made for outdoor name) must have existed in England one walk that I am extremely partial at Canons,” – the japanning would use, which appears to have been their prior to 1708, possibly reaching back to; and which is rightly called the certainly qualify these chairs as “extra- original function. By the nineteenth into the late seventeenth century. Abbey-walk, since it is composed of ordinary.” century, Windsor chairs had become The earliest English reference is in prodigiously high beech trees, that

A cabriole leg comb-back with “fetlock” feet, c. 1750s.

This large Thames Valley chair is notable for having four cabriole legs An unusual bow-back with ribbon slats, c. 1770s. with stylized fetlock feet. It also has a good yoke-shaped comb-rail, simplified A fine, large bow-back Thames Valley armchair, perhaps vasiform splat and well-formed flat dating from the 1770s. Unusually, however, the outer spindle on underarm supports. Unusually, there the back is actually a flat, ribbon splat. This feature is sometimes are just two thick spindles either found on comb-backs where the splats are mortised into the side of the back splat and only three comb, but is rare on a bow-back. Cabriole legged bow-backs under each arm, making for an open usually have turned rear legs: The cabriole rear legs seen here and sturdy appearance. Normally, on are usually found on higher quality comb-backs. At least two a Thames Valley chair at this time one would expect to see a chairs of this design are known. minimum of three long and four short spindles. Private collection. Photo: Chris Challis Photography. Private collection. Photo: Chris Challis Photography.

Page 34 ◆ Antiques Journal ◆ February 2012 www.antiquesjournal.com Forest Chairs

RIGHT: Painted X-frame low-back chair, c. 1800 (right).

A rare low-back Forest chair retaining most of its original paint. The design of this type of Windsor chair bears a strong resemblance to mahogany X-frame stools made in the Regency period and contemporary advertisements show that the stool seat without the back was also available. A rare, if not unique feature is the seat, which is curved and slatted rather than being saddle-shaped and solid. Private collection. Photo: Chris Challis Photography.

BELOW: Two low-back Forest chairs with a diminutive comb-rail, early 18th century (left).

Both chairs retain an old grey/green paint finish and differ mainly in their stretchers. They have broad elm saddle seats with two deep edge grooves and cigar-shaped front legs with turned ring details. The small comb-rail is a rare feature. Each chair is one of a pair, and the four are the only known examples of their type. They are from Bayfield Hall in North Norfolk. The fact that they have 21 spindles suggests they were made in the Thames Valley. Photo: Chris Challis Photography.

www.antiquesjournal.com February 2012 ◆ Antiques Journal ◆ Page 35 The Bodleian Library Windsors

Comb-back library elbow chair, c. 1756 (left) and library backstool c. 1755 (right.)

This comb-back is one of a large group in the curator’s room at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Under the heading “Bills for 1756” the library daybook records that a Mr. Munday supplied three dozen Windsors at 8s 6d each, total cost £15-06-00. Munday was the retailer, and the chairmaker is unknown, but perhaps was local. The elbow chair has a sturdy, rural look, and the backstool is an unusual form, but both may have been made by the same maker: the legs are similarly formed with a spoke-shave. Both are of simple design with few embellishments – appropriate for a scholarly setting. In 1766, a letter in Jackson’s Oxford Journal noted, “The Bodleian Library has most confessedly been much improved by the introduction of Windsor Chairs so admirably calculated for ornament and repose.” Courtesy Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Photo: Chris Challis Photography.

The chairs discussed here are A mahogany elbow chair, mid- selected from an exhibition of 35 18th century. exceptional Windsor chairs, Windsors A “formal” Windsor with at Wycombe, that will run from May 6 cabriole legs, out-swept arms to 31 at the National Trust property, and shaped cresting rail. This West Wycombe Park (which, chair is constructed on Windsor incidentally, is featured in Downton principles, except that, in order to Abbey). Open Sundays through maintain the unbroken surface of Thursdays, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. For more the saddle seat, the legs are dove- information, visit www.nationaltrust. tailed into it from below instead org.uk/main/w-westwycombepark. of being through-mortised. The The exhibition is curated by quality of construction of this chair with its massive seat and Michael Harding-Hill, author of scrolled corners, together with Windsor Chairs, an Illustrated its beautifully drawn cabriole Celebration (Antique Collectors Club, legs suggests a major (probably 2003), and Robert Parrott, council London) cabinetmaker. member of the Regional Furniture Courtesy: Red Lodge, Bristol. Society with a special interest in the Photo: Antique Collectors’ Club. history of the English Windsor chair. The photo captions are drawn from the exhibition labels prepared by the curators.

Page 36 ◆ Antiques Journal ◆ February 2012 www.antiquesjournal.com