This elegant chair is a fine example of the Queen Anne period c.1700; tall and elegant, it has the angled front legs the advent of which was the 1690s, and was an important new stage in English chair design. The fashionable life of the ''corner horsebone'' leg was from the 1690s to about 1715.This style of cane backed and seated chairs had represented a revolution in seating comfort, but with the disadvantage of fragility.A surprising number of these chairs still exist (they were made in their thousands) but many are now suitable only for decorative purposes as woodworm, frequent recaning and damage to the joints and the tall backs have rendered them virtually unusable.This one has been recaned, is sound and completely usable.The chair is ''japanned'', which was an English attempt to copy the very fashionable lacquered furniture being imported from the Orient. ''Japanning'' was a prolonged, and therefore expensive, business. In the 1690s it was advised that 24 coats of...