{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O53099"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O53099/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018KU1467/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018KU1467/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2018KU1467","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KU1468","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KU1469","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BB4597","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O53099/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O53099","accessionNumber":"W.17-1977","objectType":"Armchair","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This armchair (the pair to W.16-1977) originally formed one of a set of four settees and at least twenty-five armchairs, made for the Earl of Shaftesbury at St Giles’s House, in Dorset. They may have been made for a large saloon or drawing room, or perhaps for a long suite of rooms. The set was probably made in the workshop of William Vile and John Cobb, one of the most accomplished furniture-making firms of the 18th century. Vile’s specialism was carving, and it is likely that he designed these chairs and supervised their making in the workshop. He had trained with William Hallett, who had also made furniture for Lord Shaftesbury from 1744 until his own retirement, in 1752.\r\n\r\nThe modern silk covers, put on by the Museum, were dyed to match a surviving fragment of the original, and the chairs have been upholstered in the traditional 18th-century manner, with tufting, piping (or ‘welting’) and close nailing.","physicalDescription":"Mahogany armchairs with rectangular stuffed backs and stuffed seats, the shaped padded arms on the downcurved supports headed by flowerheads and carved with chains of flowers on a  trellis and rosette pattern ground, the seatrails carved with scallop-shells and flowerheads dvdided by leaf-scroll sprays and with a rosette and ribbon lower moulding, the square legs carved similarly to the arms and ending in guttae feet.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Vile and Cobb","id":"A1363"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"probably"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"},{"text":"beech","id":"AAT11948"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved mahogany on a beech under-frame","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2018KU1467","2018KU1468","2018KU1469","2006BB4597"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES342496"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Armchair","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1755-1765","earliest":"1750-01-01","latest":"1765-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"W.16-1977","id":"O53098"},"association":"Set"}],"creditLine":"Given by Mr and Mrs Francis Hock","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"39","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"30","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"28","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from paper records; not checked (8/11/2005)","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Two sofas from the same set were offered for sale by Ronald Phillips in 2024, advertised in <i>Country Life</i>, 19 June 2024, vol. CCXXII, no. 25","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Carved mahogany armchair from St Giles's House, English, ca. 1755--65","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"This chair and its pair (W.16-1977) were formerly attributed to William Hallett, on the strength of the payments to him in the accounts of the 4th Earl of Shaftesbury, 1745--52 (see DEFM, p. 389). However, the chairs are unlikely to date from before 1755 at the very earliest, and Hallett appears to have effectively retired in the early 1750s (though he afterwards provided financial backing to the partnership of Vile & Cobb, established c. 1752). William Vile, who had been Hallett's principal journeyman, is quite likely to have retained the custom of Lord Shaftesbury. A stylistic link is presented by the stools supplied by Vile & Cobb to The Vyne, Hampshire, in 1753, which have similar feet in the form of architectural guttae (Anthony Coleridge, <i>Chippendale Furniture</i> (1968), p. 27, fig. 28).","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"acanthus","id":"AAT164902"},{"text":"acorn","id":"AAT251844"},{"text":"scrolls","id":"AAT10094"},{"text":"trellis","id":"AAT6785"},{"text":"rosettes","id":"AAT9972"},{"text":"scallop-shell","id":"AAT167875"},{"text":"leaf scrolls","id":"AAT10104"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"(W.16 & 17-1977)\r\n\r\nPAIR OF ARMCHAIRS\r\nENGLISH; about 1755\r\nMahogany\r\n\r\nAttributed to William Hallett (d.1770) of Long Acre, London.  Part of a set of furniture made for St. Giles house, Dorset.\r\n\r\nGiven by Mr. And Mrs. Francis Hock.","date":{"text":"pre October 2000","earliest":null,"latest":"2000-09-30"}},{"text":"These chairs were made for Antony Ashley-Cooper; 4th Earl of Shaftesbury (1711-71).  The house was remodelled in the 1740s by the architect Henry Flitcroft (1697-1769).  William Hallett was paid £167 for carved chairs in 1744.  The modern silk has been dyed to match a fragment of the original.","date":{"text":"1996","earliest":"1996-01-01","latest":"1996-12-31"}},{"text":"Part of a set of furniture made for hte 4th Earl of Shaftwesbury at St. Giles's House, Dorset, and attributed to William Hallett (d.1781) of Long Acre, London.  The rails and legs are richly ornamented with acanthus leaves, acorns, and scrolls.  The modern silk cover has been dyed to match a fragment of the original and has been re-upholstered in the traditional manner with tufting, piping, and close nailing.","date":{"text":"pre 1996","earliest":null,"latest":"1995-12-31"}},{"text":"W.16 & 17-1977\r\n\r\nThese two splendid chairs have just been re-upholstered in the correct manner for their period.  A fragment of the original covering material gave a clue to the colour, and the modern silk has been dyed to match.\r\nVery great care has been taken to achieve the correct profiles in the stuffing, first by studying contemporary illustrations and then by securing the padding in the manner favoured at the time.  The disposition of the tufts (the technique which led to 'buttoning' in the next century) has also been carefully considered, as has the alignment of the nailing, piping, and seaming.  \r\nThese handsome specimens of what were at the time called 'French chairs' came from St. Giles's House, Dorset, and have been attributed to Thomas Chippendale, but there is no evidence for this.  The name of William Vile has also been suggested and the carving certainly has affinities with work known to be from his establishment.  Like Chippendale, Vile and his partner, John Cobb, worked for the Crown.  For the moment, one can only say that they must have been made in the workshops of one of the leading London chairmakers or upholsterers of the day.","date":{"text":"1978","earliest":"1978-01-01","latest":"1978-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["W.17-1977"],"accessionNumberNum":"17","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1977,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-23","recordCreationDate":"2001-01-25","availableToBook":true}}