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Description: | The revival of the Elizabethan' style at the beginning of the Victorian period marked the emerging interest in the medieval, renaissance and the gothic and its relationship to national identity. The commencement of the new Palace of Westminster in 1834, following Charles Barry's Gothic designs, and the establishment of Schools of Design near centres of manufacture, such Burslem and Bradford, encouraged and promoted this new identity. Consequently interest in British history and its virtues were reinvented not only in customs, folklore and architecture, but also in the revival of a number of art and design styles such Elizabethan, Tudor and Pre-Raphaelite. This chair exemplifies this emerging interest and romantised notion of the Elizabethan period. In terms of chair manufacture, there are numerous examples of impersonation and substitution of expensive components by more mundane ones' at this time. (Edwards, Clive, Victorian Furniture, Manchester University Press, 1993, p. 94). This chair is a fine example of this: the manufacture of the components has been sacrificed at the expense of the design. Whilst the mechanisation process is innovative, the product being produced harks back to a bygone age. It is not until the twentieth century that we see design and manufacture looking forward and challenging traditional views of form and function. The chair design follows that of a late seventeenth century chair of the baroque form made popular by the designs of Daniel Marot. The back uprights in the form of barley twists' and the super-imposed crest rail and splats formed of moulded scrolls, leaf work, trellis and paterae with a plumed surmount, are typical of that period. (Symonds & Whineray, R.W. & B.B, Victorian Furniture, Country Life, 1965, p. 142, 177). The under-frame is supported on twisted and block legs with H-stretchers, with a central vertical carved rail. The chair has as walnut splat the remainder is of chestnut, an unlikely combination on a seventeenth century chair. There is an uncertain inscription written on the bottom of the back splat. Additions And Alterations: Twentieth century upholstery | Source: | Vads | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=9127... | Go to resource |
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