A pair of 19th century spindle back side chairs attributed to the Owen family of chair makers from Clun village in Shropshire.
The chairs are turned from ash with tenoned elm seats. Both chairs have a wonderful worn surface and a lovely colour.
(An old repair to the underside of one seat)
18” wide x 14½”deep 35½” high / 45.7cm wide x 36.8cm deep x 90cm high
£840.00
A very similar chair is illustrated in The English Regional Chair by Bernard D. Cotton and published by the Antique Collectors Club, 1st published in 1997.
The following extract is taken from the West Midland, Shropshire & Staffordshire section.
”If the Northern Shropshire/Staffordshire towns may be thought to represent relatively sophisticated communities, other parts of Shropshire underwent relatively little social development between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In consequence, the poorer and more isolated communities retained their traditional crafts and way of life well into this century. The village of Clun represents such a community, and here lived what was probably the longest continuing family of truly vernacular chair makers in the country, the Owen’s, who pursued their craft over several generations, from at least the early nineteenth century and probably much before this, until about 1910. Elderly villagers recall that the last Owen worked in a small workshop at Church Bank, Clun, and made simple wooden seated spindle back chairs of the type shown in Figure WM52 using wood from nearby Clinton Coppice. The chairs that Owen made were typically loaded onto a handcart which he pushed, early on Saturday mornings, to the market of the Welsh border town of Newtown, some twelve miles away. It is believed by the residents of Clun that this was his main trade outlet, and that his wife’s family was able to offer him accommodation overnight.
J.Owen proved to be the last of the Clun line of chair makers, however, since Clinton Coppice was sold in 1898 by the Clun Burgesses, depriving Owen of his source of wood. Local rememberance of Owen chairs indicates that his designs were confined to variations of spindle back chairs”
Also recored in Christopher Gilberts book – English Vernacular Furniture 1750-1900 (Yale 1991)
Owen,- Clun, Shropshire; chair makers (fl.c.1875)
A dynasty of chairmakers whose last active member, J. Owen (d. 1900), was a self-employed part-time chairmaker who rented a building at a sawyer’s yard and turned parts from coppice ash. The finished chairs (said to be spindle backs) were sent to local markets in his hand cart.
“Turnery – The products, craft, trade or mistery of the turner, whose products entirely comprise those formed on the lathe or throw by cutting with a sharp tool into solid material revolving about a centre. The technique allows a limited range of products, including simple furniture (especially chairs with board or rush seats, stools, mural cupboards, tables and cradles)”
Taken from Names for Things, a Description of Household Stuff, Furniture and Interiors 1500 – 1900 By Victor Chinnery, published by Oblong 2016