A superb, rare, impressively sized and extremely comfortable early-Victorian Windsor armchair in wonderful condition and built to last. Most likely …
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A superb, rare, impressively sized and extremely comfortable early-Victorian Windsor armchair in wonderful condition and built to last. Most likely made in England around 1840, this stunning and robust antique piece is a Windsor-chair-lover’s dream. It features a gorgeous, timeless design, is bursting with character and will add a fabulous rustic impact, beautiful, aged colouring, bygone quality craftsmanship and a super, minimalist, farmhouse aesthetic to any interior.
Impressively sized and reassuringly heavy, this fantastic and substantial Windsor chair was made to be used and enjoyed as well as appreciated. Crafted from ash and elm, it was likely made in the West Country in the Early Victorian Era or possibly earlier and displays some knockout design features.
Sometimes called Hoop Back or Bow Back Windsors due to the lovely shape of their backs, this one features a particularly stunning and beautifully curved, flattened and tapering single-piece bent ash back, which matches the single-piece enveloping arm bow. This Windsor armchair is especially rare for not only for having such a high back, which gives it wonderful presence in a room, but for the sloping, semi-reclined angle of the back, making it the ideal armchair to relax in after a long day!
We absolutely love the minimalist style of the tapering ash ‘stick-back’ spindles on display too – the nine (or eighteen, bisected) spindles to the back and the two further ones on each side are all robust and substantial, ensuring their longevity, and cast a fabulous and timelessly elegant silhouette – very lovely, very simple-yet-beautifully-crafted and very rare!
As with all traditionally crafted Windsor chairs, this has a single piece seat into which the arms and legs slot. In this case it is a substantial, single-piece, solid elm seat, gently saddle-carved to the front. And if the back and seat are beautifully minimalist in their aesthetic, then the lower section is outstandingly robust and curvy, and features four extremely substantial, wonderfully chunky and shapely, turned and tapering legs, which match the arm supports and are supported by gently tapering, turned stretchers.
Dripping with quality and character, this fantastic early Victorian piece displays beautiful antique tones where the original wood stain has worn from chocolate- to golden-brown after so many decades of use. All in all, this is an outstanding, robust and impressive early/mid 19th Century Windsor armchair, which won’t fail to enhance any setting with super craftsmanship and an ageless and characterful farmhouse-minimalist aesthetic.
CONDITION
This is in very-good-excellent antique condition. Impressively sized, reassuringly heavy and structurally sound, it was expertly crafted to last for centuries and has clearly been well used and loved. It has minor to-be-expected signs of its considerable age, including minor knocks and bumps as well as the sumptuous wear to the original wood stain, which only adds to its antique appeal. Quite remarkably, it appears without any signs of restoration, the substantial spindles are all in-tact, the feet aren’t worn down like so many Windsors of a similar age, and it has no loose joints. Overall this is an incredible Windsor armchair in really wonderful antique condition and if well looked after, it should be just as breath-taking and usable for many more generations to come – please see the photos.
MEASUREMENTS
Height – 106cm, Width – 54cm, Depth – 78cm, Seat Height – 43cm, Seat Width – 40cm, Seat Depth – 36.5cm, Arm Height – 67cm, Weight – 9kg.
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