Chair identification...

Hello all, Does anyone have an idea what style chair this is? Thank you.

 

Looks like mid 19th century (refinished) walnut Rococo Revival blending to Renaissance Revival. The seat, which was probably hand caned originally, has been recovered inappropriately with a "poofy" seat and fabric.

 

This, ca. 1850-60.

 

Ghopper1924 I appreciate your prompt response. This chair was inherited from my parents and has been refinished (per your astute observation). I would however be surprised if my Dad would have not kept the "poofy" seat and fabric original if in fact it was originally caned. Having said that I did some searching many years ago and found a chair that was almost the same as the one posted and it was Italian in origin. I lost the info some years ago I believe to a computer crash. Anywho, again, I appreciate your response and recognize that "Brevity is the soul of wit" and will try to be more concise going forward.

 

Hey JohnL:

If you're game, you might want to flip the chair over and peel back a wee bit of the black liner on the bottom. You may see holes in the underside of the seat frame through which the caning was stitched, which you can kinda sorta see in my example.

I've been told that the caning on the seat on my chair dates back to before the Civil War, and from the looks of things that may be true. If you track down someone who does stitch caning in your area, you may find that it's easier than you think to restore your chair. Not that it would be worth a lot in today's depressed market, but the chair would certainly look better IMO.

It may just be my 21st century self, but I'm way too big to sit on the above chair, and I'm not a big guy. It's just so fragile now, it's more like an art object than a chair, as James observed in another thread.

Anyway, you have a cool chair, and an old one to boot. Nice post!!

 

Hey Ghopper1924, I actually felt underneath after we corresponded and felt what could be caning. I am going to take your suggestion and peel back the underlay. The chair is fragile. I thought it was a child's chair. A family member once asked if they could sit on it and I adamantly said no as I knew it could not support the weight. I also have an antique rocker with pressed leather ornamental's on it that belonged to my Great Grandmother. I will post that at some point. Thanks again.