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A quality chair must be covered for you to sit down in it. By this we mean that it may be dressed either by a cane weaver or by an upholsterer.
Cane weavers
Very different techniques were used to prepare a chair for caning and a chair to be covered. Manufacturing was more complicated and therefore more expensive. Cane was a kind of wicker imported from the East Indies which was used in the mid-18th century.
Upholsterers
Their work took two forms: either they covered chairs for carpenters – in this case they became their creditors – or, much more commonly and as trade and wealth became more widespread, they became businessmen. In this case, they bought the chair from the carpenter to complete it themselves and sell it directly.
Among the other trades to be found working for upholsterers were fabric manufacturers, leatherworkers and designer/ornamentalists.
For example, they designed a range of chair upholstery models.
Braid makers contributed their buttons, trimmings, tassels, fringes, etc.
Plumassiers worked with feathers in all colours and for all occasions for plumage and ornaments.
It is therefore clear that a trading upholsterer had great responsibility and an important coordinating role to play with his suppliers.
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The stamp
The first reason for the stamp derived from the desire of the carpenter-cabinet maker community to control their manufacturing monopoly and maintain and ensure rigorous working standards. The stamp was also the mark with which master carpenter-cabinet makers vouched their responsibility for the quality of their work.
The first stamps of the 18th century date from around 1753 when each master carpenter-cabinet maker branded their work with an iron bearing his name or initials.
Original text taken from: The Art of the Chair in Eighteenth Century France by Bill G.B. Pallot |
