LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY.

This chair has the sculptured qualities of Windsors made in the Celtic areas of Britain, and retains the marks of its production as clear evidence of how it was made. Chairs of this kind were often made, as in this case, by a maker skilled in the use of a limited range of agricultural woodworking tools. For example, this chair has the faceted back and under-arm spindles created from cleft or split ash and oak which was 'drawn' or shaped using a draw horse or foot held vice and a draw knife; and the underneath of the seat has the vigorous, highly visible marks of a side axe used to shape its under surface and the deeply chamfered edges, a device intended to make the seat appear thinner than it actually is. Interestingly, none of the spindles are morticed through the arms or top rail in the common manner of 'stick' construction chairs, rather the back spindles are morticed and held into the broad curved comb rail with pegs driven in from the front.