It is covered with a green linen, stamped with a symmetrical pattern including a watered design. This type of textile is likely to have been a common furnishing fabric in the early eighteenth century. The survival of original upholstery from this date is very rare and particularly on more modest, middle-status chairs. The Geffrye Museum specialises in the study of the homes of the English, urban middle classes. This form of chair, known at the time as an ‘easy chair’ is a key piece in the inventories of middling Londoners in the first half of the eighteenth century.

Provenance

Spains Hall, Finchingfield, Essex.