Drawing for a metamorphic library chair published in Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, 1811
A REGENCY MAHOGANY METAMORPHIC ARMCHAIR, English, circa 1811
Height: 29 in; 73 cm
Width: 22 in; 56 cm
Depth: 42¾ in; 108.5 cm
As an armchair:
Height: 36 in; 91.5 cm
Height of seat: 20 in; 51 cm
Width: 22 in; 56 cm
Depth: 25 in; 63.5 cm
Further images
A Regency mahogany metamorphic library armchair by Morgan & Sanders.
Note: The red morocco leather inserts and the caned seat panel are of later date.
Furniture innovations and metamorphic furniture especially were extremely popular at the beginning of the 19th century. Morgan & Sanders, London furniture-makers with a Royal warrant from the Prince of Wales, were at the forefront of fashion. Their patented design for a metamorphic library chair was published by Rudolph Ackermann in his hugely influential periodical, Repository of Arts, in July 1811.
Provenance
Private collection, England.Literature
Rudolph Ackermann, Repository of Arts, vol. 1, July 1811, pl. 29.
Ralph Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, 1964, p. 341, fig. 11; an almost identical model from the same workshop.
