{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O132470"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O132470/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH6020/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH6020/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BH6020","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O132470/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O132470","accessionNumber":"CIRC.119-1971","objectType":"Chair","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Ladderback chairs (so-called because of the construction of the backs) started to be made across Britain in the seventeenth century.  In the 1890s Ernest Gimson, a London architect, adapted and simplified the vernacular chairs he found still being made in the Cotswolds.  This chair is his design.  After his death in 1919, production of his furniture was continued by one of the craftsmen at his workshop, Edward Gardiner, who taught Neville Neal, the maker of this chair. Gardiner died in 1958, but as late as 1971 Neal was still making chairs like this, using techniques stretching back centuries and materials sourced near his Warwickshire workshop. The rushes for the seat, for instance, came from local rivers.","physicalDescription":"Ladder back chair made of ash with turned legs and stretchers, a rush seat and five back splats increasing in size as they get higher.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Gimson, Ernest William","id":"A8433"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Neal, Neville","id":"A18992"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ash (wood)","id":"AAT164025"},{"text":"rush","id":"AAT11889"}],"techniques":[{"text":"turning","id":"AAT53158"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Turned and bent ash, with a rush seat","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[{"text":"Arts and Crafts (movement)","id":"AAT21205"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006BH6020"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES343045"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Chair","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rugby","id":"x33295"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1971","earliest":"1971-01-01","latest":"1971-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"1055","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"470","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"395","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Extrapolated from imperial dimensions on register","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Ladderback chair made of turned ash and rush, designed by Ernest Gimson and made by Neville Neal in 1971.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Shown in the travelling exhibition 'Rural Chairs' organized by the Circulation Department of the V&A, 1974.  The handlist records:\n'27. GIMSON SINGLE LADDER-BACK CHAIR. Ash with rush seat. Made to a design of Ernest Gimson (see No. 24) by Neville Neal, of Stockton, near Rugby. Neal was trained by Edward Gardiner, one of Gimson's craftsmen at the Daneway Workshops. Made in 1971.'"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Twentieth Century Gallery, 70-74 (not used)\r\n\r\nGimson's ladderback is based on a 17th-century pattern.  Neal was an apprentice of Edward Gardiner (died 1958), the first craftsman to make Gimson's version of this chair. Neal still makes the chair today at Gimson's workbench using rushes from local rivers.  Neal's son, Lawrence, intends to follow his example and maintain the tradition of hand-built rural chairs.","date":{"text":"1992","earliest":"1992-01-01","latest":"1992-12-31"}},{"text":"LADDERBACK CHAIR\r\n\r\nDesigned by Ernest Gimson (British, 1864-1919), about 1900\r\nMade by Neville Neal (British, born 1925), 1971\r\nAsh with rush seat\r\n\r\nNeville Neal trained with Edward Gardiner, one of Gimson's craftsmen at Daneway House Workshops. He makes approximately 200 chairs a year in batches of about 20, spending a week turning, a week assembling and two or three weeks rushing.\r\n\r\nCirc.119-1971","date":{"text":"1989-2006","earliest":"1989-01-01","latest":"2006-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["CIRC.119-1971"],"accessionNumberNum":"119","accessionNumberPrefix":"CIRC","accessionYear":1971,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2007-02-28","availableToBook":true}}