Childs Orkney Chair

1900 - 1920

Sold by Colin Brand Antiques

Description

The Orkney chair is Scotland’s most celebrated example of vernacular furniture. The characteristic high back and low seat were designed to keep the drafts away and the inhabitant as close to the warmth of the fire as possible. For centuries, these chairs were made on Orkney by and for Orcadians. In the absence of a great number of trees, they were made from a small amount of driftwood and large quantities of the straw.

In the late C19th, local carpenter David Munro Kirkness, a keen businessman, shipped examples of his chair to the port of Leith, where they were seen by buyers from Liberty of London, which led to a lucrative deal to distribute them world-wide. After the death of Kirkness in 1936, the chair making was taken over by fellow Orkney resident, Reynold Eunson in 1956, who continued the tradition until 1978.

Physical Dimensions

Height

84cm (33.07")

Width

51cm (20.08")

Depth

45cm (17.72")

Declaration

Colin Brand Antiques has dated this piece to the 1900s.

Reference Numbers

Sellingantiques Reference

SA1066737

Dealers Internal Reference

CRBJR/2015

Dealers Notes

Colin Brand Antiques Est. 1984

Description

The Orkney chair is Scotland’s most celebrated example of vernacular furniture.

“

The characteristic high back and low seat were designed to keep the drafts away and the inhabitant as close to the warmth of the fire as possible.

Colin Brand Antiques

For centuries, these chairs were made on Orkney by and for Orcadians. In the absence of a great number of trees, they were made from a small amount of driftwood and large quantities of the straw.

In the late C19th, local carpenter David Munro Kirkness, a keen businessman, shipped examples of his chair to the port of Leith, where they were seen by buyers from Liberty of London, which led to a lucrative deal to distribute them world-wide. After the death of Kirkness in 1936, the chair making was taken over by fellow Orkney resident, Reynold Eunson in 1956, who continued the tradition until 1978.