What is the commonest form in this category?

A Victorian or Regency dining or side chair, sold as a pair or a set. The word chairs appears in 510 titles and dining chairs in 313. Pairs are the single commonest grouping at 192 titles, with sets of six and four the next steps up.

Why do some listings say simulated rosewood?

Rosewood was expensive, so chair-makers grained and painted cheaper timber, often beech, to get the same dark figured look. It was a normal trade practice, not a later dodge. Simulated appears in 64 titles and faux in 23. They run across the whole range, and some of the higher-priced bergères are among them.

How large do the dining sets get?

Sets of six and four dominate, but eights, nines and tens appear regularly in titles. The largest recorded on Sellingantiques is a set of twelve William IV dining chairs, which appears once.

Which names appear on rosewood chairs?

Gillows is the one name that behaves like a category rather than one dealer's stock, appearing from ten different dealers. It turns up variously as by, stamped, attributed to, in the manner of, or of Gillows design. Gillows-attributed dining sets and bergères cluster among the highest titles.

Are there non-British rosewood chairs?

Yes, a small but persistent minority. Anglo-Indian, Burmese and Bombay chairs appear, along with Chinese hongmu and Qing throne chairs. The rarest are the 18th-century Portuguese and Anglo-Portuguese chairs, which turn up only a couple of times.

What unusual forms turn up in rosewood?

Beyond dining chairs and armchairs, the small forms include nursing, slipper, prie dieu, dressing-table and children's chairs. One-offs recorded include a child's correction chair, an adjustable music chair, a harp chair, a revolving dressing-table chair, a corner chair, a rocking chair, a campaign armchair and a nine-piece inlaid parlour suite.