Below is some interesting history regarding chairs we are often asked to recover.
Further in this post, some pictures of some train carriage seating we have upholstered as part of the refurbishment of the "3801" by Eveleigh Projects. We completed this job a while back but thought it would be a good inclusion with this post.
Balloon back chairs
This style of chair was made between c1850 and c1890, and
were inspired by Continental designs. They were originally intended for the
salon, rather than as dining chairs, so carvers are extremely rare. The finer
examples have cabriole front legs and are usually in walnut, but there are also
many less attractive examples made in their thousands for a mass market. Fakes
are unlikely as they have always been in plentiful supply and modestly priced.
However, copies have been known to have been imported from the Far East which
are heavier than the Victorian originals, and are obvious copies.
Bergere Chairs
Bergere Chairs As with many furniture terms, bergere is used
not altogether correctly. Often featured to describe a particular type of
armchair and settee with caned sides and back, a bergere was originally any
armchair with upholstered sides. This particular form of seating first appeared
in France c1725 and gradually spread in popularity to other European countries
displacing chairs with open arms. The name is now perhaps most frequently
applied to a style of chair which was popular during the Regency period: often
of square form but sometimes with a curved back and having caned sides, back
and seat (usually fitted with a squab cushion). Similar upholstered examples
can be found but these usually date from a little later.
Chaises Longues & Daybeds
Chaises Longues & Daybeds The Regency period saw the
introduction of the chaise longue, a fully upholstered chair with an elongated
seat and inclined back and arms. They were sometimes made in mirror image
pairs, with headrests at opposite ends, but are now mostly found as single
examples. The frames of Victorian chaises longues were often elaborately
carved.
Chippendale style chairs
Chippendale chair
designs were often copied in the Victorian period, and these copies are now
very collectable in their own right. Reproductions can be distinguished from
chairs made during the Chippendale period by the use of exaggerated elements of
Chippendale style such as very pronounced cabriole legs, an over-elaborate base
splat, and a large amount of carving. The quality of the carving, though
competent, is often rather stiff and lifeless, and is shallower than 18thC
carving with less undercutting. The chair will have a lesser degree of wear
than period examples, and sometimes were made with corner brackets that were
not found on chairs until the 19thC. Breaks sometimes occur in the scrolled
ends of top rails, and a repair would be difficult to disguise against close
inspection.
Dining Chairs
By the second half of the 18thC the dining room had become
the focal point of any great house. There the main meal of the day was taken
and the long D-end dining tables which permanently graced the rooms cried out
for equally 'long' sets of chairs to accommodate the diners. Until then meals
had usually been quite intimate affairs eaten in private apartments off folding
tables while seated on parlour or side chairs. While breakfast and supper might
still be taken in that way, by 1800 the importance of the dining room as the
centre of the house was established, and so it continued through the 19thC.
Now, despite our reversion to less formal eating habits, the demand for sets of
dining chairs remains strong with premiums being paid for large sets.
THE 3801
Seating upholstered by Cover It Upholstery Sydney
