E W Godwin for William Watt. An Anglo-Japanese ebonised elbow chair

Edward William Godwin (attributed). An Anglo-Japanese ebonised elbow chair, with a curved lattice back. A caned seat and turned supports with stretchers, 88cm high. Known as the Jacobean or Old English chair probably for William Watt. See Soros, Susan Weber 'The Secular Furniture of E.W. Godwin', p. 90, fig. 109 for a similar example. This model is a light variant of the armchair in keeping with Godwin's strict design philosophy in such that he would make furniture as light as possible and as strong as possible so that a maid can move pieces to clean and he likened to cane seats which were more hygienic. He was one of the very first to incorporate an element of hygiene into furniture design.