A 19th century English Spindle back chair. Made from ash with an elm seat. Untouched original colour.

No makers mark can be found on the chair but it was possibly made by William Cole, who was a chair maker from Bosbury, Herefordshire and taught Philip Clissett his brother-in-law.

17¾” wide x 13” deep x 33¾” high / 45cm wide x 33cm deep x 86cm high

Circa 1880

£425 sold

See: The English Regional Chair by Dr B Cotton, Antique Collectors Club

& English Country Furniture by D. Knell, Antique Collectors Club

Philip Clissett (born 8 January 1817, Birtsmorton, Worcestershire, died 17 January 1913, Bosbury, Herefordshire) was a Victorian country chair maker who influenced and inspired the English Arts and Crafts Movement through various architects and designers. His chance meeting with James Maclaren has been described as “undoubtedly a seminal point in the subsequent development of the Arts and Crafts Movement”, and led to the furnishing of the meeting room of the Art Workers Guild with a large number of his chairs which can still be seen today. These chairs have been “highly influential”, having been “seen by almost everyone involved in art and design from the late 1880s”. They particularly influenced Ernest Gimson who, in 1890, spent six weeks with Clissett learning to make chairs.

Clissett’s chairs are now widely collected, and can be found in various museums, including:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Museum of the Home, London

Leicester Museum & Gallery

The Black & White House Museum, Hereford

Los Angeles County Museum of Art