Description
An elegant Queen Anne period walnut stool in fine original condition. Now re-upholstered and close nailed.
Raised on elegantly drawn cabriole legs with inside lapping and pad feet.
Original surface and condition, and very good colour.
Raised on slender cabriole legs with ‘C’ scrolls and pad feet. The seat rails are delicately arched.
Of particular note with this example are the beautifully controlled, delicate cabriole legs so evocative of the best of the Queen Anne period (1665 – 1714). A few years earlier the legs would most likely have been turned, and united with a stretcher, losing some of that quintessentially English purity of line which had reached a peak during Queen Anne’s short reign.
Pre 1700, stools were generally available in houses, and chairs were rare. As the 18th century wore on this state of affairs was reversed. The chair was no longer a seat of special honour. Incidentally the early stages of the emancipation of women can almost be measured by this change. Prior to the 17th century, except in high society, there was often only one chair and that was reserved for the head of the household. It is partly for this reason that Queen Anne stools such as the one we have for sale here, are rare.
