£2,000
Auction: Design Since 1860
beech and cherry, with rush upholstery
Literature: Dekorative Kunst, illustrated magazine for applied arts, vol.3, Munich, 1899, p. 247 where this chair is illustrated
Cooper, Jeremy Victorian and Edwardian Furniture and Interiors London 1987, p. 200, illus. 522
Whiteway, Michael and Gere, Charlotte Nineteenth-Century Design London 1993, p. 253, plate 319
Note: These armchairs were originally designed by Ashbee for the dining room of the house which he designed and built for his mother and sisters at 37 Cheyne Walk, London circa 1893-4. The house was built on the site of a 16th century Inn named the Magpie & Stump. Ashbee retained the name and accommodated his architectural practice and a studio for the Guild & School of Handicraft. The watercolour illustration by Fleetwood Varley shows similar chairs in situ in the dining room.