{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O60629"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O60629/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG1017/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG1017/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BG1017","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HV4070","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JT7645","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC4323","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O60629/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O60629","accessionNumber":"W.45-1925","objectType":"Armchair","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This distinctive form of armchair is based on a French 16th century model. The form was used particularly in Eastern Scotland and also in Salisbury, where a group of chairs has been identified, which may come from the same workshop. The French origin of the design may have suggested the name <i>caqueteuse</i> (a chattering woman or a gossip) which was used for such chairs in the early 20th century by British collectors.  Some French chairs of the period were known as <i>caquetoires</i>, but these were usually upholstered.\r\n\r\nThis famous chair was formerly in the collection of Percy Macquoid, who illustrated it in his influential book <i> The History of English Furniture</i>, published in 1904. He described who it was found covered in layers of black paint in the village of Colyton, Devon in about 1860. Some obvious repairs indicate that the chair was restored in the 19th century, and probably taken apart completely at this time.  The chair was dated by its carved back panel but some experts have questioned whether this dates from the 16th century. They have argued that the hairstyle, the low-cut bodice and puffed, slashed sleeves suggest a 19th-century version of 16th-century costume, possibly intended to represent Mary, Queen of Scots.  It is possible that a 19th-century panel was inserted into an earlier chair frame, or that the chair was actually created as a fake in the 19th century.","physicalDescription":"Oak, tall, oblong back carved with a female bust in a lozenge panel reserved on a ground of symmetrical scrollwork, terminating in flowers and cherubs heads. Hexagonal seat with rail cusped in front. The arms, which are supported by four uprights, follow the outline of the seat; rectangular legs with broad front rail and short back rail connected by stretcher. Back is carved with Renaissance ornament, the famale bust is dressed in costume of about 1535. The blunt and summary style of the carving points to West Country origins.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oak","id":"AAT12264"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oak, with carved decoration","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"Scotland","id":"THES262877"}],"styles":[{"text":"Renaissance","id":"AAT21140"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006BG1017","2015HV4070","2017JT7645","2017KC4323"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES342339"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Armchair","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1550-1600","earliest":"1550-01-01","latest":"1600-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"19th century","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1900-12-31"},"association":{"text":"altered","id":"AAT105442"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"122","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"61","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"38.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from departmental catalogue.  Not checked on object","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought for £231 from Mssrs Mallet &amp; Sons, 40 New Bond Street, London W1\nSee RP 25/4864\r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"Comparable chairs\r\nOak, (3 ft. 6 in. x 1 ft. 10 in. x 1 ft. 5 in.) Burrell Collection, Glasgow (14/182) formerly Edgworth Manor, Cirencester; illustrated in Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition. A History of Early Furniture in the British Isles and New England, rev. ed. (Woodbridge: ACC Art Books, 2016), fig. 3:32\r\nProbably English. Oak, 1525-30 \"Though of coarser execution and finish, there are evident similarities between this chair and figure 3:29 [W.45-1925]","briefDescription":"Armchair of caqueteuse form, the back panel carved with the bust of a woman in profile","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Victoria & Albert Museum: Fifty Masterpieces of Woodwork (London, 1955), no. 17.\n<b>An Arm-chair (Caquetoire)</b>\nDuring the medieval period, domestic chairs were extremely scarce in England, and were regarded as symbols of authority mainly reserved for the master of a household. But by the middle of the sixteenth century, chairs were for the first time coming into general use, and the ponderous box-like structures of earlier times were superseded by lighter varieties.  \r\nThis carved oak arm-chair is a fine specimen of a type known in France as a caquetoire (caqueter to chatter) in allusion to their supposed use for gossiping by women. The tall back is carved with Renaissance ornament and a female bust set within a lozenge in the costume of about 1535. The blunt and summary style of the carving points to a West Country origin, and among the many  caquetoire chairs in French collections no really close parallel appears to exist. When found over fifty years ago in the village of Colyton, Devonshire, the chair was covered with many coats of black paint, which probably accounts for its remarkable state of preservation. Formerly in the Macquoid Collection, it was purchased by the Museum in 1925.  \n\r\n<i>English; about 1535.  </i>\r\nH. 48 in., W. 24 in., D. 15 in. \r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition. A History of Early Furniture in the British Isles and New England, rev. ed. (Woodbridge: ACC Art Books, 2016), fig. 3:29, p.201\n'Joined caqueteuse armchair. Anglo-French. Oak, c1530. The chair may perhaps be regarded as the feminine counterpart of the previous example [3:28]. Both chairs tend towards the Court style of Henry VIII, and it is possible that both were made in London at about the same time.'\nRelates the chair to an 'Anglo-French' armchair with the personal arms of Sir Rhys ap Thomas of Dynefwr, Carmarthenshire that was possibly commissioned and made in France (Welsh Folk Museum, St Fagan's): 'the two forms (perhaps) represent the types of armchairs normally occupied by a rich husband and wife in the early sixteenth century...Apart from the differences in form, these two are very similar in details such as the mouldings of the arms, the character of the carved decoration, and the setting of the back panels within the framing members (with a stepped rebate). Perhaps they represent an aristocratic or courtly taste, which carries the suggestion that they may have been London-made...'"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Recent Acquisitions at South Kensington', in Country Life, Dec 31st 1927 pxxvi\r\n'The oak caqueteuse, or conversation chair, illustrated below was bought at the Macquoid sale. The type originated in France, and English examples are scarce. This one was found in the village of Colyton, Devon, a county that had, from early times, a close intercourse with the opposite French coast. The tall, slightly fan-shaped back is boldly carved with arabesques of Renaissance character, centring in a panel containing a female bust set in a lozenge, the heraldic attribute of a woman. It is a very good example of the better-class work of the time, and will date from <i>circa</i> 1535.'"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Armchair\r\nEnglish (West Country)\r\nsecond half of the sixteenth century\r\nW.45-1925\r\n\r\nOak, found in Colyton, South Devon. This type of chair originated in France: they have in the past frequently been called \"Caqueteuses\" or \"Caquetoires\", but this early description seems only to have been used for upholstered chairs.","date":{"text":"1975","earliest":"1975-01-01","latest":"1975-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["W.45-1925"],"accessionNumberNum":"45","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1925,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-23","recordCreationDate":"2001-07-05","availableToBook":true}}