With a fantastic colour and rich patination, and in entirely original condition, this exceptional and rare 18th century combe back ‘hedge chair’ has a yew wood bow and comb crest rail and yew wood spindles, legs and stretchers. The seat is a thickly cut slab of burr and figured elm..It is difficult to be precise about the origins of these primitive hedge chairs because so little was documented in the 1700s and they were made by itinerant bands of workers, such as wheelrights with basic hand held tools and honed carpentry skills, who travelled from village to village all over the country – wherever there was need for the work of making and repairing furniture, carts, ploughs, and cart wheels..Landowners and wealthy farmers would employ them but records of the services provided and the sums paid are virtually non existent..The undished seat of this chair is a single slab of elm worked with a hand held adze. The stretchers and legs were formed using a knife drawn o...