Windsors at West Wycombe
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Windsor chair, perhaps the most quintessential of all English furniture designs, is synonomous with the area around High Wycombe where they were manufactured from the late 18th to the mid-20th century. From 6-31 May 2012 West Wycombe Park in Buckinghamshire will host an exhibition of more than 35 of the very best examples of finely crafted 18th century English Windsor chairs known to exist in the UK. 'Windsors at Wycombe' will include exhibits drawn from both private and public collections.
There is no conclusive evidence as to why 'Windsor' became the common name for these chairs, although recent research shows that the earliest Windsors, painted Forest chairs designed for outdoor use, were made in the Windsor area. Windsor was a convenient distribution centre from where locally made chairs could be transported by river to London and elsewhere. The Thames valley region was certainly the centre for chair making in the South of England.
In time the term 'Windsor' usually referred to the polished indoor chair whilst 'Forest' implied an outdoor chair. It was not until the 19th century that Windsor became the universal term for the design, by which time it had become so popular that, combined with the rise of mass-production methods, it is thought that some 4,500 were made every day in the High Wycombe area.
The essence of practicality, the Windsor chair is characterised by a one-piece wooden seat into which the legs are inserted from below, while the spindles and other elements supporting the back and arm-bow slot in from above - it is essentially a stool with a back. The design, light, strong, elegant and relatively inexpensive, could be as simple or as elaborate as taste or customer required, which meant that the Windsor made its way into both affluent and poorer homes alike.
West Wycombe Park is normally only open to the public from June through August, so this exhibition offers an extended opportunity to visit the house during May. The Windsor chair exhibition will be displayed within the public rooms of this Palladian villa, among the most theatrical and Italianate in England. Lavishly decorated, it has recently featured in films and TV series, including Downton Abbey and Wallis & Edward, directed by Madonna.
The exhibition is curated by Robert Parrott and Michael Harding Hill (author of Windsor Chairs: An Illustrated Celebration
).
WINDSORS AT WEST WYCOMBE
A Definitive Exhibition of 18th Century English Windsor Chairs
6-31 May 2012
West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire
Images:
1. Rare early C18th painted low-back Forest chair (garden Windsor), one of two similar pairs believed to have come from Bayfield Hall, Norfolk. c1730.
2. A painted low-back Windsor from a set of six hall chairs supplied to John Perceval (1711-1770), second Earl of Egremont, for his Somerset residence, Enmore Castle, nr Bridgewater. The armorial tablet commemorates his second marriage in 1756. COURTESY: MOXHAMS ANTIQUES.
3. Rare painted X-frame low-back Forest chair (garden Windsor) with original decoration and a slatted seat, c.1800.
4. A rare mid-eighteenth century comb-back Forest chair (garden Windsor) retaining its original green paint finish. c1745. COURTESY: VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM.
5. 'Pitt-type' comb back chair c.1750, one of a small group (5, possibly 6, so far identified) though to have been made by John Pitt (1714-1759), the earliest known Windsor chair maker, who worked in Upoton-cum-Chalvey, now part of Slough (a few miles from Windsor), Bucks. COURTESY: WYCOMBE MUSEUM.
6. A painted comb-back Forest chair (garden Windsor) with an unusual circular seat; once owned by the poet Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), c.1770. COURTESY: VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM.
7. In addition to armchairs and side chairs, two and three seat Windsor and Forest settees were also made in several styles (e.g comb-back, bow-back and gothick), however very few of these are to be found today. This is a two seat comb-back Windsor settee with 'blade' feet and a well-shaped comb-rail; one of a pair from Jesus College, Oxford. c.1760. COURTESY: JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD.
8. A late 18th C child's high chair of comb-back Windsor form with a scroll comb-rail and a simple pierced splat. c.1800.
9. A painted American 'Sack-back' Windsor; note the absence of a splat, the decorative turning, the circular seat and the splay of the legs. c.1780. COURTESY: AMERICAN MUSEUM, BATH.