A rare Arts & Crafts, Regency Revival mahogany crinoline stretchered, Ionic topped Windsor chair by Birch & Co of High Wycombe. UK c 1870.
92cm.H x 57cm x 57cm.
Price inc GST SOLD
Ref: M. Harding-Hill, Windsor Chairs: An Illustrated Celebration, Woodbridge 2003, pp.149-151, where this chair is photographed & discussed with the reproduced Birch & Co cost book.
The top rail is most unusual, being modelled on an architectural Ionic capital, with combing.
The combination with the twisted and reeded elements gives an urbane Regency flair to a form of chair that is more vernacular in its origins.
Birch & Company dated back to the 1840s, and specialised in luxurious variations of vernacular chairs, and the classic Windsor model, often in exotic imported timbers. These appealed to those decorating in the new taste that came in the wake of the Arts and Crafts movement & the interiors of the artists of the Chelsea set.
The chairs were retailed at major London department stores including Liberty’s.
Mint original condition & fine patina. It is beautifully made.