AN OAK BOARDED STOOL

ENGLISH, 16TH CENTURY

Details

AN OAK BOARDED STOOL
English, 16th Century
The top with moulded edges, the aprons with shaped chamfered overhang and centred with a pointed ogee-arched open panel, the short ends extending to feet with butressed edges and a pointed ogee arch, each pointed arch topped with an incised cross, the top with spliced edge to one corner
22 in. (56 cm.) high; 24 in. (61 cm.) wide; 12 in. (30 cm.) deep

Provenance

The Dewar Collection, Dutton Homestall, East Grinstead, Sussex.

Literature

Antique Collector Magazine, Sept Oct 1949. This stool is illustrated in an article on Dutton Homestall, shown standing in The Great Hall.

Antique Collector Magazine, June 1962. This stool is shown in an advertisement of S. W. Wolsey.

Lot Essay

Boarded stools are discussed in V. Chinnery, Oak Furniture, The British Tradition, Woodbridge, 1979, p. 261. Here the author notes that 'boarded stools must have been made in enormous numbers over a very long period, being very cheap to produce in terms of time, materials and expertise. Yet the construction is intrinsically too weak and vulnerable to serve well for stools in the face of vigorous daily usage and their popularity must have progressively given way to the more serviceable joined stools... The meaning of the incised cross is not satisfactorally explained, but is a familiar feature on certain types of 16th Century furniture.'

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