Antique Knole Sofas
A Knole sofa is a high-backed upholstered settee whose two side arms hinge down flat, held upright by cords tied over turned finials.
Antique Knole Sofas
The form takes its name from the early seventeenth-century settee at Knole in Kent, where a fixed high back and hinged, cord-tied sides let the arms drop flat. The type was revived from the late nineteenth century onwards as a drawing-room sofa, and that revival is what this archive covers.
The dating here is tight. Nineteen of the thirty listings carry a clean year, and the field runs 1890 to 1930 with nothing before or after. The 1920s is the busiest decade, followed by the 1910s and 1930s. Looser labels such as "19th Century", "Victorian" and "Edwardian" are dealer shorthand rather than a researched year, and a title reading circa 1920 can sit against a dated field of 1930.
The version you are most likely to meet is a two- or three-seat upholstered Knole of roughly 1900 to 1930, titled with no maker and no timber, sometimes with a covering colour attached. Velvet is the covering named more than once, in pink, red, wine and claret. Gold damask appears once. Only one listing names a wood at all, an oak-framed sofa; the rest are described purely as upholstery.
Roughly half the listings are plain Knole sofas or settees with no covering named, and about a fifth put the fabric in the title. Four or five are sized as small or two-seat, two as large, and about four are drop-arm, drop-end or drop-side relations sold alongside. Sofa, settee and couch all describe the same object, and one title manages all three at once.
Where The Range Splits
Size does most of the work. The titles reading "small" or "2 seat" sit at the bottom of the range, while the two described as large, one an oak-framed late Victorian and one an Edwardian in velvet, sit well above them.
Upholstery is the other divide. The two frames offered for reupholstery are near the bottom, and the highest-priced listings are the ones that name and describe their covering: claret red velvet and gold damask. A covering called out as original, such as the wine coloured velvet, is priced above plain-titled sofas of the same decade.
Dating and wording matter too. Nineteenth-century dating gathers at the top, with the 1920s and 1930s examples filling the lower half. Titles hedged as "Knole style", and the plain drop-arm and drop-end sofas, cluster low, while an unqualified "Knole sofa" spans the whole range.
Antique Knole Sofas Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for knole sofas, 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.
The 1920s is the period label used most on Sellingantiques for Knole sofas, with the 1910s and the 19th century next.
The Antique Knole Sofas Glossary
- Knole
- The high-backed sofa form with hinged side arms tied to the back. It is the defining word in these titles.
- Drop arm, drop end, drop side
- The hinged sides that fold down flat. All three phrases appear in titles, used for Knoles and for related sofas.
- Settee
- Used interchangeably with sofa and couch across these listings for the same object.
- Knole style
- A qualifier signalling the form rather than a claim of period or origin.
- For reupholstery
- Stated in two titles, meaning the frame is being sold to be recovered.
- Knowle
- A variant spelling that turns up in a single title, and the one way a search for "Knole" will miss a piece.
Antique Knole Sofas: Frequently Asked Questions
How old are Knole sofas usually?
The dated field across these thirty listings runs from 1890 to 1930, with nothing outside that forty-year window. The 1920s carries seven listings, the 1910s and 1930s four apiece.
Some are dated only as "19th Century", "Victorian" or "Edwardian". Those are shorthand rather than a researched year.
What fabrics are these sofas covered in?
Velvet is the only covering named more than once, appearing in pink, red, wine and claret. Gold damask turns up exactly once, at the very top of the range.
Around half the listings name no fabric at all and are titled simply as a Knole sofa, settee or couch.
Why do the arms fold down?
The back and both arms stand at the same height, and the arms are hinged. Cords or straps tied over turned finials hold them upright, and untying them lets the sides drop flat.
That mechanism is why titles here describe drop arm, drop end and drop side sofas, sometimes with Knole in the name and sometimes without.
Are Knole sofas marked by a maker?
No maker, workshop or retailer name appears in any of these thirty titles, and none emerged from the descriptions either.
These sofas are identified by form, date, size and covering instead. Only one listing names a timber at all, an oak-framed example.
What does Knole style mean in a listing?
It signals the form rather than a claim about period or origin. Titles using it, along with the plain drop-arm and drop-end sofas, sit low in the range.
An unqualified "Knole sofa" spans the whole range, including the top of it.
How often do these come up for sale?
Only about two a year are listed on Sellingantiques, yet eighteen different dealers have handled one. Almost nobody carries them twice.
"Country house" is the most repeated descriptive phrase after the form name itself, used in four separate titles by different hands.