Philip Clissett, Chairmaker
  • Home
  • Biography
    • Philip's life story
    • Photographs
  • Family history
  • Chairs
    • Spindleback chairs
    • Ladderback chairs
    • Special chairs
    • Relatives' chairs
    • Chairmaking
    • Chairmakers
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • T&C etc
    • Copyright
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy

An extraordinary Philip Clissett ladderback chair

6/2/2016

0 Comments

 
PicturePhotograph courtesy of the Souter-Rees collection care of Paul A. Shutler
Although Philip Clissett made spindleback chairs with wooden seats, the only ladderback chairs known to be made by him are rush-seated. Thanks to the sharp eye of Paul Shutler, we now know of the existence of at least one ladderback with a wooden seat.

This chair is extraordinary in more ways than one. It's built on Clissett's spindleback frame which differs from the usual ladderback in having no finials, vase-shaped front feet, and entirely different arms and under-arm turnings. In addition, it's stamped "PC" on the top of the front legs - the normal ladderbacks are are almost never stamped, and can't be stamped in this position because of their finials.

Furthermore, the slats on this ladderback are very different. Although graduated in terms of both height and width of the central part, this graduation is nowhere near as marked as normal, and the upper slats have less height than usual. And, whereas each slat would normally be shaped towards the top to create a blade-like edge, these are entirely unworked leaving a square edge along their entire length.

It's tempting to speculate that this chair is the forerunner of the famous ladderback, tweaked by James MacLaren, bought by many Arts & Crafts practitioners and followers, and still gracing the Meeting Hall of the Art Workers' Guild. There are similarities to a chair made by Philip's uncle which adds some credence to the speculation. But there is also some evidence that Philip made chairs that mix the styles seen in his spindlebacks and ladderbacks. So we're left, yet again, uncertain of exactly what we're looking at!

Many thanks to Paul for letting me know about this chair, and giving me an opportunity to have a good look at it (and for letting me use the photographs).

0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Terry Rowell

    Copyright

    This blog is copyright, and the intellectual property of its author.
    Protected by Copyscape Duplicate Content Detection Tool
    © T.A. Rowell 2020

    Archives

    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2019
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All
    Arnold Dunbar Smith
    Arts & Crafts Movement
    Art Workers Guild
    Barnard's Inn
    Barry Parker
    Bedford Lemere & Co
    Bending Timber
    Cecil Brewer
    Chairmaking
    Chairs
    Charles Rennie Mackintosh
    Clarice Cliff
    Collections
    Ernest Gimson
    Exhibition
    Garden City
    George Frampton
    Hereford
    High Chairs
    James Maclaren
    Joseph Holland Tringham
    Ladderback
    Letchworth
    Longdon
    Museums
    National Portrait Gallery
    Newport
    Painting
    Raymond Unwin
    Samuel Clissett
    Spindleback
    Stool
    Tools
    William Cole
    William Morris
    Wilson Bidwell
    Workshop

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.