Located in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
The exceptional and rare yew and elm comb-back Regional Windsor chair of large scale from the Thames Valley region, circa 1760. England
Attributed to John Pitt and Richard Hewitt.
The chair is incredibly comfortable and of generous proportions having a large ‘saddle’ style seat carved from a single piece of elm, surrounded by a gallery back, steam-bent horseshoe armrest and solid cabriole legs of yew terminating on hoofed pad feet.
Further reading: There is a notably similar chair in the Victoria & Albert Museum labelled Richard Hewett and a further by Pitt and Hewett in the Wycombe chair museum. Both of the chairs are from the Thames Valley and are of similar proportions as the chair offered. Many such chairs were made in the West of London where plentiful woods provided the raw materials. The name probably derives from the town of Windsor, situated on the river Thames and therefore ideally located as a distribution point. Windsor chairs were, however, produced in many other areas of Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries. A Windsor chair is characterised by its construction; the seat is of solid wood, with legs and arm supports dowelled into it.
Early Windsor chairs can sometimes be seen in paintings of gardens dating from the mid-18th century.
Literature: ‘The English Regional Chair’ By Bernard D.Cotton, Front Cover, page 33, plate 2.
See plates 108 & 109, in British Antique Furniture...
Category
18th Century English George III Antique Yew Armchairs