Windsor Armchair

DateCa. 1750

Attributed to Richard Hewitt of Slough

OriginEngland, Thames Valley, Buckinghamshire

MediumElm arm rail, elm or ash seat; fruitwood (cherry) legs.

DimensionsOH: 40 1/2"; OW: 26 1/4"; OD: 19 1/2".

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958-477

DescriptionWindsor Armchair. Straight cresting rail, sides indented; solid vase-shaped splat; four spindles on either side of splat above curved arm rail; eight spindles on either side of splat below arm rail; shaped supports beneath ends of arms; dished seat; four cabriole legs tenoned through seat; terminating in pad feet; three ring and baluster turned stretchers, one at each side and one medial. Remnants of staining and black paint.
Label TextWindsor chairs are characterised by their shaped, plank seats with the legs and back elements tenoned into the seat. Chairs of this sort appear in 18th century English paintings and prints being used in gardens and on porches but they also were used inside homes. Most Windsor chairs were produced of multiple types of wood for the different elements (seat, legs, back arms, and spindles) based on the properties of those woods and painted to unify the appearance and protect the surface. Green was a common early color. First produced in England, American Windsor chairmakers copied the form imburing their products with distinct regional design characteristics. This example, with its cabriole shaped front legs and back with a solid, shaped splat is of a type produced in Buckinghamshire in Engand's Thames River Valley. A chair of a related design in the Victoria and Albert Museum (W.9-1988) was labeled by its maker, Richard Hewett, a wheelwright in Slough.