Windsor Armchair

Date1750-1800

OriginEngland, West Country, Cornwall or Devon

MediumElm and maple painted green and blue.

DimensionsH: 51 1/4"; OW: 24"; OD: 26 3/4"; H(seat): 14"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959-155

DescriptionArmchair: comb-back Windsor with maple crest rail with top edge shaped with 2 short peaks and rounded corners. The spindles, arm piece, seat, and legs are of elm. There are 10 spindles in the back passing through the back part of the C-shaped arm piece. Four spindles each support the arms thenselves. The seat is slightly saddled and is not very thick. The 4 roughly fashioned cylindrical splayed legs are fitted through the seat and are wedged. The entire visible surfaces are painted with coats of blue and green, now badly chipped and worn. Missing both curved fron arm supports.
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 is of a type commonly made in Cornwall or Devon in the southwest of England.