X-Frame chair for the House of Lords by A. W. N. Pugin

X-Frame chair for the House of Lords

Manufactured by John Webb, New Bond Street

c.1847

Stained pine

The chair sits on floor tiles from the House of Commons (1847-01850), which the museum label explains “were the earliest extensive series of tile floors made in the 19th century.” They were manufactured by Minton & Co., Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. (Museum no. C1-1985).

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Related Material

Chairs Designed for the House of Lords

X-Frame chair

Houses of Parliament

Commentary

Pugin's collaboration with John Webb, as a dealer in antiquities, seems to have started when he was working on St Mary's College, Oscott, in the West Midlands (1837-41; see Hill 179), and in fact it was Webb to whom Pugin turned in 1847 for the lavishly ornamented Royal Throne in the House of Lords (Alexander 82). The Prince's Chamber was also splendidly furnished in collaboration with Webb, who made up Pugin's designs for "two octagonal tables and sixteen chairs, as well as two clock cases, all in oak" (Cannadine 124). — Jacqueline Banerjee

Sources

Alexander, Michael. Medievalism: The Middle Ages in Modern England. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

Cannadine, David. The Houses of Parliament: History, Art, Architecture. London and New York: Merrell, 2000.

Hill, Rosemary. God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2008. [Review]

Whiteway, Michael. A. W. N. Pugin 1812-1852: An Exhibition Catalogue. London: The Fine Art Society with Haslam & Whiteway Ltd., 7-23 December 2011.

Last modified 29 May 2014