Side chair, ca. 1903

Oak, original rush seat
Probably made by Frederig (or Frederik) Cristen Nielsen
h. 39 1/3 in. (100 cm) - w. 13 1/3 in. (34 cm) - d. 18 1/8 in. (46 cm)

PROVENANCE : Presumably made for Sydney Claridge-Turner, general manager of the Essex & Suffolk Equitable Insurance Company and owner of the house The Homestead,designed by Voysey in 1905. Both house and company office are known to have been furnished with chairs of this design. However, the estate which this chair came from also contained a Voysey-designed bed identical to the one seen in period photographs of the Homestead bedroom. It is therefore very likely that this chair was made for The Homestead - By family descent to Sydney’s son Herbert John Claridge-Turner (1910-1978) - The Cotswold Auction Company, Cirencester, 3rd March 2020, lot 1118.

SIMILAR PIECES : Other notable examples of this chair are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (promised gift of the Crab Tree Farm Foundation) and Blackwell House in Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria.

LITERATURE : David Gebhard, Charles F. A. Voysey, Architect, 1975, page 161 - Wendy Hitchmough, C.F.A. Voysey, London, 1995, page 130, number 26 - Karen Livingstone, Max Donnelly and Linda Parry, C.F.A. Voysey, Arts and Crafts designer, 2016, page 178.