Live Auction 7746Parisian Taste in London: A Private Collection and Furniture
A REGENCY OAK CORNER ARMCHAIR
Lot 248

A REGENCY OAK CORNER ARMCHAIR

CIRCA 1813

Closed10 September 2009

Price Realised

GBP 5,250

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A REGENCY OAK CORNER ARMCHAIR
CIRCA 1813
The arched padded back and shaped arms above pierced waisted splats and a curved seat covered in brass-nailed hide, on tapering turned legs, bearing a brass plaque engraved THE POET WM. WORDSWORTH'S CHAIR FROM RYDAL MOUNT, repairs to both splats, corner blocks apparently original
40 in. (102 cm.) high; 32¼ in. (82 cm.) wide; 23½ in. (60 cm.) deep

By repute William Wordsworth, Rydal Mount, Cumbria.
Purchased by the present owner from the dealer Tommy Telord in Grasmere, circa 1960. He had purchased it from a local family who in turn had reputedly acquired it from either Wordsworth's Dove Cottage, or from Brantwood, John Ruskin's home from 1872 until 1900.

Specialist note

The commemorative chair from Rydal Mount, Kendal is labelled as having been introduced by the poet William Wordsworth (d.1850) following his acquisition of the house in 1813. It evolved from the George II writing chair, and with its bowed back, pillar-supported arms and antique-fluted splats its form relates to that of a chair described in the 1780s as a Smoking Chair (see L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800; Royston, 1995, fig. 244). The interest in such commemorative poet's chairs was fostered by Luke Fildes' drawing of Charles Dickens' 'Empty Chair' published in The Graphic, 1870, and by George Godwin's collection of Suggestive Chairs illustrated in The Builder in 1878 (see C. Graham, Ceremonial and Commemorative Chairs, 1994, pp.89 and 91).