Queen Anne Style Setee (Ca. 1930)

The Completed Settee

It has been a while since I have written about an upholstered piece so this post is devoted to the restoration of a Queen Anne style setee made sometime in the early part of the 20th century, I am guessing around 1930. At first glance, I thought that this might be a period Queen Anne settee. For a look at the restoration of a period sofa, follow this link:

http://johnmarkpower.blogspot.com/2010/05/queen-anne-sofa-walnut-sofa-ca-1705.html 

Upon closer inspection of the underside of this settee, it was aparant that it was a modern piece made in the Queen Anne style. With this in mind, this was a well constructed settee with a nice shaped apron and down cushion. The interior wood used for the frame was poplar placing it's origin in America and  the wood used on the legs was mahogany.

The frame was in good shape but the webbing that held the springs in place had failed causing the seat to collapse. There were also several loose joints, mostly where the front legs attached to the frame. In addition, the fabric need to be replaced and the finish needed to be cleaned and spruced up a bit. Below are a few photos of the restoration of this beautiful settee.

This photo below shows the settee prior to restoration and upholstering.

As stated above, the webbing had failed on the underside of the settee as seen here. This was a bit of a blessing  because by removing it, it be came easier to access the frame from underneath and glue the loose joinery.

This photo shows the underside of the settee with the webbing removed. The front legs are also removed in this photo so that the old glue could be scraped form the joinery and the legs glued back onto the frame.

These next two photos show the frame being glued up. The legs are also being reattached to the frame.

After the repairs were complete, I cleaned the finish on the legs and added some french polish to bring back the finish. Once all of this was done, it was off to the upholsterer to be upholstered with the new fabric. Below are a few photos of the completed settee.

Three Completed Pieces

Below are some photos of the New England Maple side chair, the Victorian Walnut side chair, and the Queen Anne walnut sofa I have been working on completed. the first pictures of the chairs show the chair once the finish work was completed, and the later photos show the chairs back from the Caner.

Here is a photo of the New England Queen Anne side chair with the finish work completed. I maintained the existing finish and was able to clean and French Polish the chair.

Here are three photos of the chair completed with the new rush seat. A customer asked me recently what rush is, and the answer is that it is a name derived from "Bull Rush Cattail Leaves" which traditionally were collected in the fall from ponds and dried in a barn. To make the seat, the leaves were soaked for some time and then woven into a cord. There is now a man made rush made from paper which is made from the same process. What you see below is the real natural rush which is appropriate for period pieces.

Here is a photo of the Victorian side chair completed before going to the Caner. I fixed some mending plates which were oxidized to look old to the inside rim of the chair to prevent it from breaking again. this is also the original finish restored.Here is the chair back from the Caner. What is interesting about this chair is that the holes in the back of the seat are spaced closer than those in the front, the result is 1) an odd number of holes, and 2) that the seat has a fan effect which can be seen in the photo below.

Last but certainly not least is the Queen Anne sofa. the old upholstery was kept on this piece and all of the restoration concerned the framework of the legs. Once again, this is the existing finish restored.

Queen Anne Walnut Sofa (ca. 1705)

I received an English sofa from the Queen Anne period recently that needed to have the joinery repaired and the wood work restored. The upholstery was in pretty good shape so no reupholstering was required. The Queen Anne period of furniture design lasted in England from around 1700-1725. The primary wood of choice for this period was Walnut with Oak being used as a secondary wood. The true end of the Queen Anne period in England came with the lifting of import taxes for Mahogany in 1733 which ushered in the use of Mahogany for the next 100 years.

When trying to date this sofa I found a nice comparable in a German book on English furniture entitled MOBEL UND RAUMKUNST IN ENGLAND VON 1680-1800. below is the photo of the settee in this case with the date of 1705 being attached to the piece.

There is certainly a range of time this sofa could have been made, but looking at the construction details of the Sofa compared to the Settee, I think they are pretty close in age. The only ornamental detail missing in the settee is the Cockle or Scallop shell which adorns the knees of the Cabriole legs of the Sofa. This ornamentation found it's first use in the Queen Anne period and was in use during the entire period. In fact, the shell carving on the knee is a key attribute to Queen Anne seating furniture.

One other design note is the use of the two rolls connected by a sweeping curve for the arms which made it's debut in the William and Mary period and continued on into Queen Anne. below is a photo detailing the arm.

Here is a photo of the Cabriole leg with the Cockle or Scallop shell carving on the knee.

I was asked to repair and install a broken stretcher that was broken during a move but as is usually the case found a lot more damage once I started to look into the piece. The sofa has been repaired several times throughout years and over all, all of the joinery on the bottom of the sofa had become loose and needed to be re glued. Below are some photos of he repair followed by the restoration of the finish.


A fracture in one of the back legs that came apart during the repair.

One of the legs removed from the sofa with the loosened returns sitting beside it.

All of the joinery on this leg had been repaired, but had come loose again.Some broken joinery that was repaired with dowels.

The broken stretcher was repaired by drilling a dowel through the broken section and the stretcher and inserting an oak dowel. Oak is used throughout the piece and I feel like it is a stronger wood for the joinery, so I used it.

When I saw this, I thought that maybe I was looking at a really good fake! the lines running horizontally on the back side of this leg were created by a Band Saw which was not used in furniture making until the 19th Century. What this actually is is a patch on the back side of this leg.The color difference in the wood on the bottom half of the photo is the new Walnut that was glued to the old to make the repair above.

Here is a photo of the legs and stretchers removed from the sofa. Once the glue was cleaned off, the sofa was put back together.

Here is a photo of the sofa being glued up using band clamps and pipe clamps.

A detail of the gluing shows the return blocks being attached to the leg in this photo

The last three photos show the restoration of the finish. The upholstery has been taped off with blue masking tape to protect it from finish. I will post photos of the completed sofa in my next entry.

New England Queen Anne Side Chair (1715-1740)

Below are some photos of a chair I have been working on. The chair is a Queen Anne side chair from New England. It dates to somewhere between 1715 and 1740. These chairs, often called "Splat Back" chairs or "Fiddle Back" chairs were made in the southern sections of New England during the first half of the 18th century. The form evolved from an earlier style called "Bannister Backs" which would have three or four uprights in the back cut to resemble the silhouettes of turned columns. The single vasiform splat probably came from English pieces which in turn got the idea from Chinese influences. These chairs were made with straight backs that were set at an angle for comfort. Later Queen Anne side chairs would have a curved splat that would accommodate the back of the seated person.
The turnings are largely a holdover form the earlier William and Mary chairs, most notably the modified ball and ring motif on the front stretcher. At first, I thought that there was some later Chippendale influence in the crest rail design with the upturned wings, but I have found several examples like this one which have the same design all firmly established in the American Queen Anne period.

The legs, splat, and shoe of the chair are made from Maple, the splat and shoe being made from tiger stripe or "Fiddle Back" Maple (the wood used for the back and sides of violins is quarter sawn Tiger Stripe Maple). This probably added to the nick name of " Fiddle Back" chairs, but the main reason for the name is the shape of the back splat loosely resembling that of a violin.
The stretchers are made of Hickory and the crest rail is made from a porous wood resembling Walnut but lighter in color. It could be a light piece of Walnut or perhaps Butternut or even Birch.

One other notable characteristic of this chair is the height of the shoe above the seat. This is seen in most forms of this chair and again is a carry over from the earlier "Bannister Back" chairs. I read that most of these chairs would have been painted originally, but I saw no evidence of this on this chair. The finish is shellac based and as been with the chair for some time. It is a completely restorable finish.

Over all the chair is in pretty good shape considering the age. It was a little loose and needed a new seat. The original seats for most of the chairs were rush and not splint so replacing the seat does not affect the value. Below are some photos of the chair and the repairs done to it.
The Chair as it came to me.Here is a side view showing the back sloping rake which made the chair more comfortable. Here is a photo of the back of the shoe where an old repair of a nail was made. this may have worked for a time, but pressure on the shoe has opened up the break again.After the seat was removed, I found that one of the Hickory stretchers for the seat was badly cracked. Luckily it could be repaired and did not need to be replaced. The crest rail was attached with pinned mortise and tenon joinery. This is the only place that the chair was pinned. On the left side (facing) the pin had fallen out, so I carved a replacement.Here is a photo of the chair being tightened (using appropriate hide glue) and all of the above repairs being made. In a future entry I will show the restoration of the finish.