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Lot Essay
The armchairs can be dated to circa 1690 owing to certain features they share with a walnut caned chair at Dunster Castle, Somerset, illustrated in A. Bowett, English Furniture 1660-1714 From Charles II to Queen Anne, Woodbridge, 2002, p. 234, plate 8:11. Both chair designs incorporate similar Carolean style carving, serpentine-curved arms, turned stretchers and baluster-turned back posts. Bowett notes that chairs with the latter feature are unlikely to predate circa 1690.
One notable difference between the two chair designs are the solid splats of lot 88, which represent an unusual alternative to caning for chair backs of this period. An example of another piece displaying similar close-set vertical splats is a walnut daybed, acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1925, currently on loan to Turton Tower, Bolton, illustrated in J. Gloag, The Englishman's Chair, 1964, plate 29. The daybed has other similarities in common with the chairs, such as the paw feet and carved front stretcher which are of identical design. The armchairs may possibly belong to the same suite as this daybed, or perhaps at least, the same workshop. The daybed does not feature the same 'WS' mark.
The 'WS' mark on these chairs may refer to the Edinburgh cabinet-maker, William Scott who began trading in 1685 and was granted, circa 1692, the sole right to make caned chairs in Scotland by William III.
One notable difference between the two chair designs are the solid splats of lot 88, which represent an unusual alternative to caning for chair backs of this period. An example of another piece displaying similar close-set vertical splats is a walnut daybed, acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1925, currently on loan to Turton Tower, Bolton, illustrated in J. Gloag, The Englishman's Chair, 1964, plate 29. The daybed has other similarities in common with the chairs, such as the paw feet and carved front stretcher which are of identical design. The armchairs may possibly belong to the same suite as this daybed, or perhaps at least, the same workshop. The daybed does not feature the same 'WS' mark.
The 'WS' mark on these chairs may refer to the Edinburgh cabinet-maker, William Scott who began trading in 1685 and was granted, circa 1692, the sole right to make caned chairs in Scotland by William III.