{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O61449"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O61449/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HD2194/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HD2194/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014HD2194","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O61449/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O61449","accessionNumber":"CIRC.24:1, 2-1958","objectType":"Armchair","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The Tabard Inn was part of the Bedford Park garden suburb in Chiswick, developed in the 1870s. Designed by the architect, Richard Norman Shaw, the inn was furnished with a set of settles and chairs, including this example. The shape of the chair, with its back splat and shaped arms, shows the influence of eighteenth-century furniture designs on Arts and Crafts makers. It may have been made by Morris & Co., who illustrated a very similar chair in their early twentieth-century catalogue, or by William Birch, a firm of chair-makers in High Wycombe, who produced an upholstered version of the chair for dining rooms.","physicalDescription":"Oak with turned front legs with ringed decoration, square section front and side stretchers, flat scroll arms on vase-shaped supports, indented back rail and solid splat; drop-in rush seat.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Morris & Co.","id":"A1365"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"possibly"},{"name":{"text":"William Birch & Co","id":"AUTH361530"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT25370"},"note":"possibly"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oak","id":"AAT12264"},{"text":"rush","id":"AAT11889"}],"techniques":[{"text":"turning","id":"AAT53158"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oak with rush seat","categories":[{"text":"Drinking","id":"THES48965"},{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[{"text":"Arts and Crafts Movement","id":"AAT21205"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2014HD2194"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES342438"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES342438"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drop-in seat","id":""}],[{"text":"Armchair","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"},{"place":{"text":"High Wycombe","id":"x28904"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1880","earliest":"1875-01-01","latest":"1884-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Patrick & McGregor Ltd","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"115","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"56","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"47","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"6","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Stamped inside back seat rail at centre"},{"content":"OB","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Stamped on outside back seat rail proper left"}],"objectHistory":"In 1958 Elizabeth Aslin, the nineteenth-century furniture specialist in the Department of Circulation, visited the Tabard Inn, Bedford Park, Chiswick, which was then being refurbished, and saw a collection of furniture, intended for disposal,  in the upper room. She recommended the acquisition of this chair, one of several examples, from the licensees, Messrs. Patrick & Macgregor.\r\n\r\nWhen originally acquired, the chair was thought to have been possibly designed in the office of the architect, Richard Norman Shaw, who designed the Tabard Inn 1879-1880. In 2008 Andrew Saint, author of the standard work on Shaw, confirmed that it was unlikely that Shaw's office were responsible as there is no evidence to support this theory. The chair might have been made by Morris & Co. who illustrated a similar design, 'Hampton Court', for an armchair, price 53s 6d (£2 92p), and a single chair, price 32s (£1 60p), in their catalogue c. 1912. A much closer design, with an upholstered seat instead of the rush drop in seat on Circ. 24-1958, was illustrated by William Birch & Son, High Wycombe, in their catalogue of Dining Room chairs, n.d., page 16, no. 2766 (photocopy in Craftsmen file, FTF Information Section), and it is possible that this firm was actually responsible for the Tabard Inn chairs.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Armchair of oak with rush seat; possibly made either by Morris & Co., or by William Birch Ltd., for the Tabard Inn, Bedford Park,  English about 1880","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Shown in the travelling exhibition 'Rural Chairs' organized by the Circulation Department of the V&A in 1974. The handlist records:\n'23. LARGE ARMCHAIR WITH RUSH SEAT. Oak with turned front legs and scroll arms, indented back rail and solid splat. The last two features recall Queen Anne chairs and accord with the building from which the chair came - the Tabard Inn, Bedford Park. Probably designed in the office of the architect Richard Norman Shaw about 1876 but made by Morris & Co. 'Hampton Court' chair has the same back design.'"}],"production":"There is no evidence that this chair was designed in the office of Richard Norman Shaw, the architect responsible for the Tabard Inn, as originally thought when the chair was acquired.  Andrew Saint, author of the standard work on Shaw, thinks it is unlikely that he, or his office, were responsible for any furniture for Bedford Park, apart from the pews in St.Michael's Church.","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"ARMCHAIR\r\nENGLISH; 1876\r\nOffice of R.N. Shaw\r\nProbably made by Morris & Co., London\r\nOak\r\nGiven by Messrs Patrick Macgregor Ltd.\r\nDesigned as part of the furnishings of the Tabard Inn, Bedford Park, London, built to the designs of Shaw in 1876 and named after Chaucer's celebrated inn, the chair is a subtle amalgam of vernacular and Queen Anne forms. It could have been designed either by Shaw or by Lethaby who was in his office at this date.","date":{"text":"1993","earliest":"1993-01-01","latest":"1993-12-31"}},{"text":"LARGE ARMCHAIR WITH RUSH SEAT\r\nOak with turned front legs and scroll arms, indented back rail and solid splat. The last two feature recall Queen Ann chairs and accord with the building frm which the chair came- the Tabard Inn, Bedford Park. Probably designed in the office of the architect Richard Norman Shaw about 1876 but made by Morris & Co. 'Hampton Court' chair has the same back design.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["CIRC.24:2-1958","CIRC.24:1-1958"],"accessionNumberNum":"24","accessionNumberPrefix":"CIRC","accessionYear":1958,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","drop-in seat","Armchair"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-23","recordCreationDate":"2001-07-26","availableToBook":true}}