Magnificent Dated Welsh High Back Oak Settle

£3,950.00

A Welsh oak settle of large scale and good colour, the high back framed by a broad moulding with two tiers of rectangular fielded panels interspersed by channel-moulded muntins. The distinctively shaped arms of “hooked” profile are supported by baluster turnings above a shallow, moulded-edge seat and the four turned front legs are joined by stretchers.
There are two additional stretchers linking the rear of the two central legs to the rear underside of the seat, historic repairs, probably added not long after the settle was made. Most unusually, there are initials and a date in tiny lettering, inscribed into the centre of the top rail just beneath the moulding “E. W. 1745”. Glamorganshire, circa 1745.

Literature:

This remarkable settle shares a number of features with a group of settles and chairs from an area of mid Glamorgan covering the Neath, Afan, Llynfi, Garw and Ogwr valleys. Richard Bebb illustrates two settles from this group in “Welsh Furniture, 1250-1950” vol. one. The first, on page 288, fig. 481, from Gelli, Glyncorrwg, is also shown in a photograph of the interior of Gelli, taken in 1895 (vol. 1, fig 143). The other settle is shown on page 289, fig. 482 and research has revealed this was the settle sold in the dispersal sale of the contents of Llanharan House, Glamorgan, in November 1953. Included as Lot 137, in the Hall, it was described as “a Queen Anne Oak Settle with panelled back and narrow seat with squab cushion in pink fabric cover with valance, on turned legs, 8`3” wide” and sold for £10.

The large scale and high, panelled back framed by a broad moulding along with a shallow seat and “hooked” arm terminals with open stretchered legs are the defining characteristics. Richard Bebb also illustrates, (on page 311 of vol one, fig 530), an extraordinary arm chair with these same features that link it, unequivocally, to this group of seat furniture.