Important Seating
Some items here will be duplicated in New Arrivals & other pages

IPS 3 - Two extremely rare & very important Morris & Co adjustable ebonised armchair's designed in 1866 with arched arms & legs united by refined bobbin turnings with adjustable back & bobbin turned stretchers on brass & ceramic castors re-upholstered in original Morris & Co double woven Bird fabric. These elegant timeless recliners were based on a design from an earlier traditional prototype found by George Warrington Taylor (Morris & Co's business manager) in the workshop of an old carpenter named Ephraim Colman in Hurstmonceaux, Sussex, in 1866. He drew a sketch & wrote description of the chair & sent it to Philip Webb & these two examples are the exact models that were adapted by Phillip Webb for production by Morris & Co. So rare to find 1, a dream to find 2. An icon of the 20th Century. Circa 1866. £SOLD. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 4 - An extremely important oak Gothic armchair designed by John Pollard Seddon & made by his family firm Thomas Seddon (Seddon & Co) who were in Bond Street & supplied furniture to Windsor castle & Buckingham Palace, founded by his Great Grandfather George Seddon. He exhibited an almost identical armchair on the Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co stand at the 1862 International Exhibition, illustrated in JEREMY COOPERS Victorian & Edwardian Furniture & Interiors, page 104 illustration 220 (the original drawing) & 227 (a variation of this chair) & another version is also illustrated in Nineteenth Century Design by Charlotte Gere & Michael Whiteway, page 84 illustration pl 83 (last 2 images). Circa 1860's. £POA. Seddon's partner at one point was E.W.Godwin a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites & some of his pupils were Ford Maddox Brown, C.F.A.Voysey & Daniel Gabriel Rossetti. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 5 - A pair of important oak Gothic chairs designed by John Pollard Seddon & made by his family firm Thomas Seddon (Seddon & Co) who were in Bond Street & supplied furniture to Windsor castle & Buckingham Palace, founded by his Great Grandfather George Seddon. He exhibited an almost identical armchair on the Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co stand at the 1862 International Exhibition, illustrated in JEREMY COOPERS victorian & Edwardian Furniture & Interiors, page 104 illustration 220 (the original drawing) & 227 (a variation of this chair) & another version is also illustrated in Nineteenth Century Design by Charlotte Gere & Michael Whiteway, page 84 illustration pl 83 (last 2 images). Circa 1860's. £POA. Seddon's partner at one point was E.W.Godwin a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites & some of his pupils were Ford Maddox Brown, C.F.A.Voysey & Daniel Gabriel Rossetti. These Seddon dining chairs & the pair below are 2 identical pairs (2 x 2), everything from the seat down is identical, the stretchers are all the same on all 4 chairs & they are all at exactly the same heights & the seats are at the same height too, the heights of the very tops of all the 4 chairs are also exactly the same the only real difference are the little carved flowers to the tops on each side, on one pair they are slightly bigger flowers but apart from that they are the same, if one was to match the finish & colour & upholster them in the same fabrics they would make a beautiful set of 4 & although they were made at different times by Seddon & Co they are incredibly alike & designed by one of the most important designers of the period & made by a company with such pedigree & with so much importance attached to them make these chairs extremely rare I have never come across single versions of these chairs before & a true delight to actually find 4, probably the only 4 known to exist. There is a number stamped to the upper leg '3172' of these chairs & '5007' stamped on the pair below which would suggest that this pair are earlier. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 6 - Another almost identical pair of oak Gothic chairs designed by John Pollard Seddon & made by his family firm Thomas Seddon (Seddon & Co) who were in Bond Street & supplied furniture to Windsor castle & Buckingham Palace, founded by his Great Grandfather George Seddon. He exhibited an almost identical armchair on the Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co stand at the 1862 International Exhibition, illustrated in JEREMY COOPERS Victorian & Edwardian Furniture & Interiors, page 104 illustration 220 (the original drawing) & 227 (a variation of this chair) & another version is also illustrated in Nineteenth Century Design by Charlotte Gere & Michael Whiteway, page 84 illustration pl 83 (last 2 images). Circa 1860's. £POA. Seddon's partner at one point was E.W.Godwin a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites & some of his pupils were Ford Maddox Brown, C.F.A.Voysey & Daniel Gabriel Rossetti. These Seddon dining chairs & the pair above are 2 identical pairs (2 x 2), everything from the seat down is identical, the stretchers are all the same on all 4 chairs & they are all at exactly the same heights & the seats are at the same height too, the heights of the very tops of all the 4 chairs are also exactly the same the only real difference are the little carved flowers to the tops on each side, on one pair they are slightly bigger flowers but apart from that they are the same, if one was to match the finish & colour & upholster them in the same fabrics they would make a beautiful set of 4 & although they were made at different times by Seddon & Co they are incredibly alike & designed by one of the most important designers of the period & made by a company with such pedigree & with so much importance attached to them make these chairs extremely rare I have never come across single versions of these chairs before & a true delight to actually find 4, probably the only 4 known to exist. There is a number stamped to the upper leg '5007' on these chairs & '3172' stamped on the pair of chairs above which would suggest that this pair are later. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 7 - A rare Gothic Revival chair designed by John Pollard Seddon & made by Gillows of Lancaster, with pyramid tops & arched & turned back with inlaid dot decoration & through pegged construction, turned stretchers & front legs with brass & ceramic castors & wonderful kick out back legs . Circa 1870. £POA. This chair shows many design details to the chair he designed for the 1862 International Exhibition especially (in the above 5 chairs) & the only other furniture company he is known to have designed for is Gillows. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 8 - An important armchair designed by Frank Brangwyn. Brangwyn's last interior designs were for the Canadian Pacific Liner; 'The SS Empress of Britain', which was launched in 1931 by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII who renounced his throne to marry Wallis Simpson in 1930. These armchairs were designed for the 1st class dining room; 'The Salle Jacque Cartier' & they were made by H.H. Martyn & Co. Cheltenham. Tragically the liner was sunk in 1940 by a 'U'boat. Brangwyn also designed marquetry panels for the private dining rooms & they were executed by the Rowley Gallery, & he also designed a frieze carved in wood for their gallery façade in 1936. £POA. In October 1940 the most famous of the Canadian Pacific Railway liners & flagship of the company's Atlantic Fleet, the Empress of Britain, was attacked & sunk. She was travelling to Glasgow from Suez via South Africa, where she was bombed near the northwest coast of Ireland by a German Focke Wulf Condor plane. When the Condor attacked the Empress of Britain the ship's crew couldn't shoot the plane down & soon the Empress was burning out of control & the Captain C.H. Sapsworth gave the order to abandon ship. 45 people died & the remaining survivors including women & children, were later rescued that day by the British destroyer HMS Echo & the Polish destroyer Burza & 3 British naval trawlers Paynter, Cape Agona & Drangey. The Empress still burning managed to stay afloat & the day after 2 Royal Navy tugs, Marauder & Thames tried to tow her into port with many escort ships around her but in spite of the protection she was given from the escort ships on October 28th, a German U-boat, U-32, managed to get by the escorts un-noticed & torpedoed the crippled Empress. She sank within ten minutes. The Empress of Britain was the largest Allied passenger liner to be sunk & weighing 42,348-tons she was the biggest merchant ship loss of the war. King George VI & Queen Elizabeth had travelled aboard Empress of Britian after their 1939 Royal Tour of Canada & they were so moved by her sad loss, that they sent their personal condolances to the CPR. The photo of the Empress below was taken in San Francisco during one of her memorable cruises & was sourced from the Canadian Pascific Railways commemorative booklet Empress of Britain: Lost in Action in the Service of her Country, October 28th, 1940. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 9 & GW Ex 5 - A rare Glasgow School oak & leather 'Abingdon' armchair designed by George Walton. Here again this design is very complicated & quite radical, with large flat arms which protrude out incorporating the back legs & upright supports quite far back giving the chair a light & airy feel, the gentle tapering legs with 1/2 splayed feet gives this unique design a wonderful balanced almost feminine feel yet the continuation below the seat of the back supports giving it a subtle architectural feel & again an infusion of his own style with Mackintosh's obsession with this type of chair-back detailing. See George Walton. Designer & Architect by Karen Moon. Page 105 image attached. Circa 1900. £POA.
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IPS 10 & GW Ex 1 - An extremely rare & important Arts & Crafts Glasgow School oak settle designed by George Walton one of 2 ever made for one his earliest Kodak commissions at 59, Brompton Rd, London. The pure Glasgow design is very complicated indeed & one can see Mackintosh's influence clearly in this piece which would have rubbed off on him while working with Mackintosh for Miss Cranston's tearooms. George Eastman was not happy that Walton had been brought in to design the top Kodak showrooms but Walton had conquered Davidson & Davidson never had any trouble squeezing the money out of Eastman to employ Walton's expertise & by the end of 1898 they had renamed his work for the showrooms to 'Kodak-oration, the decorative work of George Walton' & that time the name George Walton & the Eastman company were fused as one. 1900 was the peak of Walton's work for Kodak & the Brompton Rd commission was probably the best he achieved for Kodak alongside The Strand & Brussels showrooms. See George Walton. Designer & Architect by Karen Moon. Page 81 & 82. Circa 1900. Height 55", Width 60 1/4", Depth 16 1/4". £POA.
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IPS 11 - A rare Arts & Crafts Walnut high back 'Philippines chair' designed by George Walton. The back is 49" high a very elegant & such a refined chair & very good quality indeed. In the Philippine drawing room interior it is mentioned that here he is clear indications of the future & one can certainly see it in the maturity of design in this very elegant high back chair from Brasted in Kent a commission he worked on from 1902. £POA.
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IPS 12 - A stunning rare pair of pure Arts & Crafts oak chairs designed by George Walton with arched rush head rests flanked by bold chequer inlays, rush seats with curves below on turned legs with H shape floor stretchers. Circa 1895. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 13 - A rare pair of 'Morris' oak reclining armchairs after a design by Phillip Webb & made by Jas Shoolbred. Circa 1890. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 14 - The Butterfly chair designed by E.A.Taylor & made by Wylie & Lochhead for the 1901 Pavilion Exhibition. An important documented work of Art with Mother of Pearl & Walnut inlaid Butterflies & stylised flower heads £POA.

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IPS 15 - Tutankhamun. An extremely rare pair of stunning 1920's Egyptian revival armchairs, a copy of the most spectacular of all the six chairs found in Tutankhamun's tomb. The original when found by Howard Carter was wrapped with sheets of gold & silver & then inlaid with an array of semi-precious stones, faience & coloured glass, which together were worked into a wealth of symbolic & decorative elements. Finely detailed lion's legs support the chair, while the arm panels take the form of winged uraei (or cobras) surmounted by the double crown of Upper & Lower Egypt. Partially visible is the exquisitely rendered chair back, which depicts Queen Ankhesenamun anointing her husband beneath the life-giving rays of the sun disc. Circa late 1920's. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 16 - A stunning Egyptian Revival garden bench with Sphinx heads to the top & Sphinx wings & legs to the front & a pair of dragon like eagles face to face seperated by a Lotus Flower with a scroll style lower stretcher joining the legs. Height ", Width ", Depth ". Circa 1880. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 17 & GW.EX 1b - A fantastic Pure Arts & Crafts Oak armchair designed by MH Ballie Scott with shaped stylised winged sides faced on the outside with 1/4 sawn oak which join to the arms, a wonderful use of oak & upholstery, the upper front legs with chequer board Ebony & Boxwood inlays on square feet united by a H stretcher. circa 1898. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 18 - Set of 10 Morris & Co Hampton Court single oak dining chairs designed in the offices of Richard Norman Shaw, possibly designed by W. Lethaby & similar to those used by Norman Shaw in the Tabard Inn at Bedford Park. See Victorian & Edwardian Furniture & Interiors by Jeremy Cooper page 177 illustration 469. Circa 1890. £POA. These chairs have all been restored & are now ready for upholstery of your choice, my upholsterer will upholster them for £45 a seat + fabric. Circa 1900. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 19 - A fantastic Satin Birch Arts & Crafts armchair with Pewter & Brass stylised floral inlay's to the top, tapering back with original fabric to the seat & the back with shaped arms united to tapering front legs with extended capped tops & kick out details to the lower back legs. Made by JS Henry. Circa 1900. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 20 - An extremely rare & important set of 12 oak Arts & Crafts dining chair's designed by GM Ellwood & made by JS Henry with stunning shaped back splats which run from headrest to floor stretcher each capped at the top. A fantastic Hybrid in design designed by a genius. Circa 1905. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 21 - Another variation Mahogany Saville 3 piece suite consisting of a 2 seater settee, Ladies armchair & a Gentleman's armchair identical to the ladies version except with elongated arms of superior quality by MORRIS & Co & designed by George Jack. George Jack designed & made the top end inlaid pieces of the highest quality in design & manufacture that Morris & Co produced. Morris & Co furniture is extremely rare. Circa 1890. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 22 - A Morris & Co Mahogany armchair designed by George Jack. Circa 1890. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 23 - A stunning pair of top quality Mahogany armchairs attributed to George Jack for Morris & Co with fabulous inlaid details through out, the style & quality of these armchairs are of a more traditional influence with an artistic feel which was used extensively by George Jack. His own work for Morris & Co is very much in the Sheraton Revivalist style. Circa 1900. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 24 - A rare & excellent quality set of 12 Oak Arts & Crafts dining chairs design attributed to EA Taylor & made by Wylie & Lochhead. They have all been dis-mantled, joints cleaned, re-glued, cleaned & re-finished ready for upholstery. Circa 1900. £Sold. But I do have another 1 single for sale which has been re-covered in a quality green hide. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 25 - Set of 14 Mahogany Arts & Crafts dining chairs designed in the offices of Richard Norman Shaw & possibly designed by W. Lethaby & certainly retailed by Morris & Co. Circa 1900. Priced at £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 26 - A rare pair of Oak rush seat ladder back chairs attributed to Charles Rennie Mackintosh, for an identical chair in every detail, see Mackintosh furniture by Roger Billcliffe, page 13. He has said that 'these chairs are associated with both the Gauld furniture & other pieces for William Davidson. The elongated back with a very exaggerated rake shows his influence in a very traditional design. Circa 1893. £1750 Each. An identical chair sold at the Phillips Sale at The Glasgow School of Art on the 8th of November 2001, with commissions it made £2875. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 27 - A rare pair of 'Morris' ladies & Gentleman's reclining armchairs one is very slightly smaller than the other such a wonderful subtle difference. These two have both been professionally taken apart, all the joints cleaned, re-assembled, re-glued & clamped & they have been recovered in a contemporary Sanderson's Morris & Co Vine fabric. Circa 1890. £POA. There have been a few variations turn up of the original bobbin turned reclining armchair designed by Phillip Webb in the 1860's. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 28 - A pair of Mahogany armchair's attributed to Liberty & Co with inlays that have been inspired from work designed by George Jack for Morris & Co. They 'both' have original oval paper label's (typical of what Liberty & C0 used in this period) The straight arm version has No 1877 & the shaped arm 'low' backed version has No 1881 in hand writing with orange edging, zig-zag style to the boundary. Circa 1905. £2400 the pair. Solid as a rock you could do a hand stand on them, no problemo' & Liberty Hearts :) Click on pictures for larger version

IPS 29 - Three seater garden bench in the manner of Christopher Dresser, with fantastic double sided Owl's to each end, pierced quatrefoils with swirling floral details below & a semi-circle with stylised floral detail within a rectangle, 3 identical panels to the back rest, finishing with a superb kick out back leg. Made by Falkirk foundry with original patented design sketch dated 13/06/1876. £POA. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS - A rare & fantastic Oak Arts & Crafts armchair attributed to E.Punnet & made by William Birch with wonderful Mother of Pearl & Ebony stylised floral inlay . A tremendous design that is well balanced & encompasses the true Glasgow Style. An identical version is illustrated in 'The Birch Design Ledger, illustration number & there is another example in the collection at The Glasgow School of Art (GSA). 1901. £SOLD. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS - A rare & famous oak Arts & Crafts armchair with wonderful Ebony & Walnut inlay of a stylised Tulip. Designed by E.G.Punnet & made by William Birch for Liberty & Co. Circa 1895. £SOLD. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS - A Mahogany Saville armchair of superior quality by MORRIS & Co & designed by George Jack. George Jack designed & made the top end inlaid pieces of the highest quality in design & manufacture that Morris & Co produced. Morris & Co furniture is extremely rare. Circa 1890. £SOLD. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS - A superb quality 'Morris' Walnut armchair after a design by Phillip Webb with arched arms & legs united by refined turnings with adjustable back & incised turned stretchers on brass & ceramic castors re-upholstered in a contemporary Morris & Co Vine fabric by Sanderson's. Circa 1890. £SOLD. Click on pictures for larger version

IPS - A wonderful pair of Arts & Crafts chairs attributed to George Walton (see Victorian & Edwardian Furniture & Interiors by Jeremy Cooper page 233) with stylied fruitwood inlays in discs which have 3 elongated back splats in pyramid form, small upholstered panels to each top corner & square tapering legs. Circa 1900. £SOLD. Click on pictures for larger version

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