Gillows: A Late 18th Century Ash Windsor Chair Possibly for the American Market

With a spindle back and shaped sycamore saddle seat on front outswept ring turned legs, joined by a crinoline curved stretcher with extra long joining rods to the rear legs.
The famous firm of Gillows of Lancaster and London produced Windsor chairs from as early as the mid-eighteenth until well into the nineteenth century, and this distinctive style is unique to the Gillows workshop. There are two drawings of identical chairs in the Gillows cost books for 1798 and 1806. Although primarily produced for the English market, Gillows had a thriving business providing this model to the American market following the War of Independence, shipping through Jamaica. Gillows sent unfinished chairs where they would be assembled, painted, if they were in inexpensive woods, and sold on to American agents and clients.
The present example was originally painted in a deep green paint over a lead white grain filler, and then further repainted green in 1879 (the underside of the seat is painted with this date suggesting the restoration) and there is the residue of a thick black varnish possibly added when it was fashionable in the late 19th century.
Very rarely seen on the market, and when found in the US incorrectly attributed to American makers, this is a historically important piece.