{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O15900"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15900/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP2988/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP2988/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AP2988","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE3965","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE3964","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE3963","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE3962","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE3961","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY8763","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O15900/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O15900","accessionNumber":"CIRC.232-1960","objectType":"Armchair","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>Ladder-back chairs like this were first made in the Middle Ages, but were most widespread between 1700 and 1900. These were simple, inexpensive chairs made and used in rural communities<br><br><b>Materials & Making</b><br>Individual regional makers often added characteristic details to the turned and shaped elements.  For example, it was usual for the ash rear uprights of ladder-back chairs to be steam bent in a slight reclining curve.  However, Ernest Gimson's chair has straight uprights.  The rush used to make the seat was either harvested from British rivers during July, or imported from The Netherlands.  It was an arduous and skilled job to weave rush seats by hand. They were often undertaken by out-workers after the chairmaker, known as a bodger, had made the frame.<br><br><b>People</b><br>Philip Clissett, a traditional chair bodger from the village of Bosbury, Herefordshire, sold some of his chairs to the Art Workers Guild in London in 1888. There, they influenced leading Arts and Crafts architects and designers. In 1890 he taught Gimson how to make ladder-back chairs. Gimson gave up making chairs himself in 1904, after which his designs were made by his assistant, Edward Gardiner.","physicalDescription":"Ash ladder-back armchair with rush seat.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Gimson, Ernest William","id":"A8433"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Gimson, Ernest William","id":"A8433"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"possibly"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ash","id":"AAT164025"},{"text":"rush","id":"AAT11889"}],"techniques":[{"text":"turning","id":"AAT53158"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Ash, turned on a pole-lathe, with splats of riven ash; replacement rush seat","categories":[{"text":"Images Online","id":"THES48937"},{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AP2988","2006AE3965","2006AE3964","2006AE3963","2006AE3962","2006AE3961","2018KY8763"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"125G (VA)","id":"THES49212"},"free":"","case":"PL5","shelf":"","box":"26"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Armchair","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Gloucestershire","id":"x28892"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1892-1904","earliest":"1892-01-01","latest":"1904-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"125.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"55.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"48.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: Measured; 04/01/1999 by sf","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Designed and possibly made by Ernest W. Gimson (born in Leicester, 1864, died in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 1919) in Pinbury or Sapperton, Gloucestershire\r\n\r\nObject sampling carried out by Jo Darrah, V&A Science; drawer/slide reference 7/81.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Ladder-back armchair, ash, with rush seat, designed by Ernest Gimson, Britain, after 1888","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Livingstone, Karen & Parry, Linda (eds.), <i>International Arts and Crafts</i>, London : V&A Publications, 2005","id":"AUTH357959"},"details":"p.102","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Elizabeth Aslin, <i>Nineteenth Century English Furniture</i> (London, Faber, 1962), plate 108."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\nThis chair epitomises the Arts and Crafts style. It is based on a traditional country design and is simple in form and traditional in structure.  In 1892, Ernest Gimson, a London-based architect and designer, moved to the Cotswolds. There he set up a workshop dedicated to the idea of a community of craftsmen making good quality objects by hand.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}},{"text":"International Arts & Crafts\r\nArts & Crafts was often based on traditional country forms.  Gimson was one of a number of London architects who left the city to set up his own workshop in the country.  A chair 'bodger' from Herefordshire called Philip Clisset, showed him how to make ladderback chairs, a type that had been common since the early 18th century.","date":{"text":"17/03/2005","earliest":"2005-03-17","latest":"2005-03-17"}}],"partNumbers":["CIRC.232-1960"],"accessionNumberNum":"232","accessionNumberPrefix":"CIRC","accessionYear":1960,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN2588","2019LU2163"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-13","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}