£1,400.00
A ladies’ Orkney chair, having a dark stained oak and Scots pine frame; classic David Kirkness style woven oat straw back with the top rail finishing in marram (seagrass); the back and simple open scroll end arms supported on rectangular uprights fixed with brass round-headed screws; drop-in pine framed marram cord seat. Raised on four square tapering legs, all braced by conforming stretchers.
Stamped “XII” to frame and seat.
Great character and patina, in excellent, solid condition.
Interesting provenance with purported connection to the Bloomsbury Group, early 20th Century.
Dimensions:
Height: 84 cm (33 inches)
Height of seat: 36 cm (14 inches)
Width: 53 cm (20.75 inches)
Depth: 47 cm (18.5 inches)
Please enquire for delivery cost.
Orkney chairs have been made on this Northern Scottish archipelago since the 1700s, the tradition of working with straw going back as far as the Bronze Age (circa 3000 BC – circa 1200 BC). The Orkney chair was revived in the late 19th Century by David Munro Kirkness (1855-1936), a carpenter, joiner and undertaker from Kirkwall, who began to specialise in their manufacture in around 1884. He employed craftsmen in his workshop to make the wooden frames, which were then sent out to workers on different islands to weave the backs.
The chairs gained popularity with the Arts and Crafts Movement, becoming greatly sought after particularly by female clients with fashionable artistic homes. This was assisted by the support of the Scottish Home Industries Association, founded in 1899 by the Countess of Rosebery to ensure the fair payment of craftspeople and promote their work at British and international exhibitions. Kirkness’ chairs were exhibited at the fifth Scottish International Exhibition held in Edinburgh in 1890. They subsequently featured in drawing and sitting rooms designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, were presented to King Edward VII, and were sold by Wylie & Lochhead in Glasgow and Liberty & Co in London (shown as the “Stronza” armchair on page 45 and page 29 of the Liberty Yuletide Gifts catalogues of 1900 and 1901 respectively).
