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A very charismatic pair of primitive country made Irish Hedge chairs originating from County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Likely from the late 19th Century or early 20th Century.

Constructed in pine and painted.

Construction is typical of chairs from the north west of Ireland.

Rare to find as a pair.

These Northern Irish hedge chairs* have a characteristic composite seat construction.

The backrest/rail is curved with the four spindles through tenoned and wedged above.

The seat being comprised of four thick pieces of wood, joined by mortise and tenon wedged joints and a thin pine plank seat board

The legs and spindles are all through wedged into the thickest part of the seat and splayed

The chair has had a small amount of historic woodworm, now extinct, and painted in their entirety. Painting is especially common on Irish vernacular country-made furniture and houses for protection and longevity and this chair has seen a life of utility.

- It is identified** that similar to the primitive Scottish crofter made chairs from Sutherland/Caithness and the west coast (The Northern Tradition of Scottish crofter made chairs***) the Northern Irish chairs of County Antrim and County Derry also overcame a lack of readily available large-dimension timber, capitalising on what was available in terms of material and their economic use to construct a functional and utilitarian vernacular chair. It is also recognised that maritime links between the north of Scotland and the port of Derry may have influenced similarities in design.

Reference:

*Ulster Folk Museum contains similar examples

** Kinmonth, C. (2020) Irish Country Furniture and furnishings 1700-2000. Cork University Press.

***Ross Noble, R. (1987) The chairs of Sutherland and Caithness: A Northern Tradition in Highland chair-making. The Regional Furniture Society, Vol 1.

Co. Antrim, Ireland c1900

Price is for the pair.

Measurements: H: 30” (76cm); W: 17” (43cm); D: 15.25” (39cm)

Pair of c. 1900 Primitive Irish Hedge Chairs

£795.00Price
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