Naval Chair

A mahogany folding campaign chair with caned seat.

This type of chair is known as a Naval Chair. Treve Rosoman discusses almost identical chairs, that belonged to Admiral Boscawen, in Some Aspects of Eighteenth Century Naval Furniture, published in Furniture History Vol. XXXIII, 1997. Added to this there are a similar set of chairs on board HMS Victory.

The chair works by a concertina action. The side rails and stretchers are hinged in the middle so that when the caned seat, which is hinged to the back is lifted, the front rail of the chair will push flush to the back. As this is done the side rails and stretchers fold in towards the middle of the chair giving a folded depth of only 4 inches. The speed with which this type of chair can packed made it ideal for the Navy where it was necessary to clear the decks quickly in order to bring the guns into action. Whatever couldn't be moved quickly was often thrown overboard.

The naval chair is a classic piece of campaign furniture design with the chair looking as fashionable for its day as its domestic equivalent yet folding in a simply but clever manner. We have made the cushion for it. Third to last quarter 18th century.

The final image shows a version of the naval chair with arms, which can be seen elsewhere on this website.