Name: Original Philip Clissett Country Armchair, Signed, Arts and Crafts Chair
Brand: Phillip Clissett

Original Philip Clissett Country Armchair, Signed, Arts and Crafts Chair

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About the Item

A spindle back armchair in ash and elm by renowned chairmaker Philip Clissett (1817-1913). This is not one of the many ‘Clissett style’ chairs; this is a fully stamped original, made by Clissett himself. An identical chair is featured in Bernard Cotton’s English Regional Chair, plate 43, page 293. There is some historic worm to the seat as pictured, but the chair is in completely original condition with no repairs or restoration. Herefordshire, second half of the 19th century. Philip Clissett lived and worked in Bosbury from about 1842 until his death in 1913. He was a chair-maker who made his chairs in the traditional way, splitting green wood, and shaping it with a draw-knife, by turning on a pole lathe, or by bending. He produced ladder-back and spindle-back chairs in many designs, with both wooden and rush seats. Clissett came to the attention of the Arts & Crafts Movement in the mid-1880s. His collaboration with the architect James MacLaren, who came upon Clissett’s workshop by chance while out for a walk, has been described as “a seminal point in the subsequent development of the Arts and Crafts Movement”. About fifty of his chairs still furnish the Great Hall of the Art Workers’ Guild in London, and he taught the Arts and Crafts designer Ernest Gimson the rudiments of chair-making. Gimson produced several designs clearly based on Clissett’s ladder-back. The Bosbury workshop was visited by many well-known architects and designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and Clissett’s chairs are known to have graced many of their houses. His work is now avidly collected, and examples can be found in museums in London, the provinces, and the USA. Born in Birtsmorton, Worcestershire in 1817, Clissett learnt his craft from his father who was himself the son of a chair-maker. After marrying a Bosbury girl, Mary Cole, in 1840, the couple moved to a cottage at Stanley Hill where Philip set up his workshop. There they raised two sons, one of whom became a chair-maker

Creator:
Phillip Clissett (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 40.95 in (104 cm)Width: 22.05 in (56 cm)Depth: 26.38 in (67 cm)
Style:
Country (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Ash,Elm,Hand-Crafted
Place of Origin:
England
Period:
Late 19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
19th Century
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Some evidence of historic woodworm - long gone but treated as a precaution.
Seller Location:
Totnes, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU6329227606102