E. W. Godwin for William Watt, Anglo-Japanese Jacobean Armchair, Velvet Seat

By E. W. Godwin for William Watt, this walnut armchair aligned to the Aesthetic Movement (c.1860 to c.1900) and Anglo-Japanese Old English taste, c.1877. Godwin first created this chair pattern in 1867 for his own use, with the design later entering production and appearing in William Watt’s Art Furniture from Designs by E. W. Godwin and Others, 1877, plate 15.*

Godwin admired and collected Georgian furniture for it's simplicity and function and this Jacobean design evolves from Sheraton armchairs of the 1780s although the back is the most clearly Anglo-Japanese element. Its broad curved crest rail sits above a series of fine horizontal rails, divided by vertical uprights into a restrained geometric grid. This gives the chair a lighter, more abstract character than a conventional historic revival armchair, moving the form away from direct Jacobean reproduction and into Godwin’s aesthetic style.

The shaped arms sweep forward from square rear blocks into rounded hand rests, supported by slender turned uprights. The front and rear posts are divided by elongated rectangular blocks, while the high cross stretcher follows Godwin’s original arrangement and gives the frame its distinctive look.

The upholstered seat is rounded to the front, covered in mustard velvet and finished with brass nailhead trim. The chair retains the visual tension that made Godwin’s furniture so influential, historic reference, functional clarity and a precise use of line. Like Godwin’s better known coffee tables, this armchair design was widely copied by other makers during his lifetime, which underlines the strength and commercial reach of the model.**

References / Provenance

* William Watt, Art Furniture from Designs by E. W. Godwin and Others, 1877, plate 15. The design appears in the catalogue under Old English or Jacobean furniture.

** Comparable published examples record this chair pattern as first created by Godwin in 1867 and later produced through William Watt. Related examples are described as ebonised or stained wood armchairs in the Anglo-Japanese Old English or Jacobean taste.