Antique Queen Anne Chairs
Cabriole-legged, curve-backed English seat furniture in walnut or mahogany, made for the dining table and the fireside in a pattern first set in the early 18th century and copied ever since.
Antique Queen Anne Chairs
The form belongs to the early 18th century, when English chair makers gave up turned legs and stretchers for the S-curved cabriole leg, a solid shaped splat and a hooped back cut to fit a sitter's spine. Walnut was the usual timber. Walnut still leads the titles on Sellingantiques, with mahogany second and a little oak behind it.
The pattern was revived from the late 19th century onwards, and the revival is what you will meet. Of 391 listings, 115 carry a date in the 1920s against 35 given as 18th Century. Titles say "style", "design", "manner", "revival" or "influenced" far more often than they claim the period outright.
Two shapes dominate. Sets of dining chairs are the largest block, a third of all titles, sold as six or eight and occasionally as ten, twelve, fourteen or sixteen, with the carvers counted separately in the 6+2 fashion. Upholstered wing armchairs are the next largest, often in walnut and often covered in leather.
Around them sit singles and pairs: carvers, open-arm elbow chairs, desk and library chairs, and side chairs without arms. Period pieces are a small share, clustered under George I and George II headings with dates from 1700 to 1720. Dutch and Anglo-Dutch marquetry chairs turn up in a handful of titles; the rest are English, with occasional Welsh and Scottish entries.
Where The Range Splits
Age does most of the work. The 18th-century and early Georgian entries hold the top of the range, and the highest-priced record in the archive is not a big dining set but a small group of four early Georgian walnut and marquetry side chairs dated 1715. A 1920s revival set of six sits at the bottom. Reading the dated field alongside the title matters, because period-looking descriptions are often given a much later decade.
After that, count and timber. Sets of twelve, fourteen and sixteen sit well above pairs and singles, and the largest lot recorded is a set of sixteen in mahogany. Figure in the wood lifts a set too: burr walnut is named in 24 titles and always as a point in its favour, along with red walnut, Cuban mahogany, figured elm and cherry, while plainer unnamed timbers gather at the cheap end.
Decoration is the third lever, and it is thin on the ground. Marquetry, parcel-gilt, giltwood, japanned, lacquered, chinoiserie and painted surfaces together account for barely a dozen titles across the whole archive, and they sit high. A firm's name in the title is uncommon as well, whether stamped, labelled or given only as an attribution, and those chairs sit in the upper half.
Antique Queen Anne Chairs Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for queen anne chairs, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
Dutch and Anglo-Dutch examples are the scarcest on Sellingantiques - a few marquetry walnut chairs among an otherwise almost wholly English population.
The Antique Queen Anne Chairs Glossary
- Cabriole leg
- The S-curved leg that defines the form, swelling at the knee and tapering to the foot. Titles frequently pair it with claw-and-ball feet.
- Splat back
- The central upright in the chair back. Listings specify vase splat, pierced splat and painted splat, the solid vase shape being the one the early pattern used.
- Carver
- The armchair in a dining set. Sets are written as 6+2 or 4+2, meaning single chairs plus carvers, so a set of eight may be six and two.
- Wing / wingback
- An upholstered armchair with side panels flanking the back. It carries 66 titles, commonly in walnut and often with leather.
- Burr walnut
- Walnut cut from a burr growth on the tree, giving a dense swirling figure. Named in 24 titles and always used as a selling point.
- Bended back
- An early term for the shaped, curved back of the period chair. It appears on one period walnut entry and reads as a sign of old wording rather than revival copy.
Antique Queen Anne Chairs: Frequently Asked Questions
Are these chairs actually from Queen Anne's reign?
Only a small number are. The dated field spans 1700 to 1930, and 115 listings fall in the 1920s against 35 given as 18th Century.
Most titles are worded as style, design, manner, revival or influenced. The revival is the category rather than a footnote to it.
What set sizes come up?
Six and eight are the common counts, appearing in 31 and 28 titles. Four turns up as well, and singles and pairs are steady, with pairs in a fifth of all titles.
Bigger sets exist. Ten, twelve, fourteen and sixteen all appear, and the largest single lot recorded on Sellingantiques is a set of sixteen mahogany dining chairs.
Which timbers do they come in?
Walnut dominates the titles, with mahogany second and oak making up a small share behind them.
Figured cuts get named when they are there: burr walnut in 24 titles, plus red walnut, Cuban mahogany, figured elm and cherry.
How often do they come up for sale?
About 37 chairs and chair sets reach the market in a year.
138 different dealers have listed one, so the category is spread thin across the trade rather than held by a few specialists.
Do decorated or painted examples exist?
Yes, but they are thin on the ground. Japanned, lacquered, parcel-gilt, giltwood, chinoiserie and painted surfaces together account for barely a dozen titles.
Marquetry appears in a similar handful, including the Dutch and Anglo-Dutch walnut chairs, which are the scarcest origins recorded.
What unusual forms turn up in this category?
Corner chairs, gossip chairs, nursery chairs, counter stools, tub-back and barrel-back armchairs each surface once or twice. A bergere set of six and a two-seater settee have both sold in among the chairs.
Children's chairs appear perhaps a dozen times across the archive, in walnut and mahogany, sometimes as a small set.