Andrew Lenehan Colonial Cedar Reclining Armchair
A Colonial cedar reclining armchair by Andrew Lenehan, the buttoned upholstered back between swept uprights, the padded seat flanked by upholstered scrolled arms, on turned front legs with brass castors, covered in black horsehair, paper trade label to rear seat rail, height 40.55 in., width 24.80 in., depth 28.35 in. Other Notes: Irish furniture maker Andrew Lenehan (1815-1886) arrived in Sydney in 1835 with James Templeton, another Irish cabinet maker and by 1841 had acquired Templeton's business and continued to thrive in various locations in Sydney designing and supplying 'superior furniture' to the wealthy of the colony, including Government house.
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- Castors - Wheels, fitted especially to chair legs, couches, tables and some smaller pieces of furniture, to enable them to be easily moved about. The earliest castors were of brass, with shanks fitting into the base of the leg, and the wheels often made of leather. In the late 18th century, brass 'bucket' or 'cup' castors were introduced, either rounded or square, fitting directly over the end of the leg and held in place with screws. The wheels were generally solid brass. Bucket/cup castors continued in use throughout the 19th century and indeed are still made today. In the later 19th century wheels were sometimes made of wood, china, either white or brown, and sometimes of steel.
- Rail - A term used by cabinet makers for the horizontal sections of the frame of an item such as a chair or settee which have a front rail, a back rail and two side rails, and also on a door or carcase, where the rails are joined to the vertical framings.
- Turning - Any part of a piece of furniture that has been turned and shaped with chisels on a lathe. Turned sections include legs, columns, feet, finials, pedestals, stretchers, spindles etc. There have been many varieties and fashions over the centuries: baluster, melon, barley-sugar, bobbin, cotton-reel, rope-twist, and so on. Split turning implies a turned section that has been cut in half lengthwise and applied to a cabinet front as a false decorative support.
- Horsehair - Horsehair fabric is a woven textile made from the mane and tail hair of horses, used in upholstery in the 19th century, when it was a staple of high-end furniture production.
The hair is collected from horses by grooming or clipping the mane and tail. It is then washed and sorted, with longer strands usually reserved for the warp (lengthwise) threads and shorter ones for the weft (crosswise) threads. The horsehair is then spun into yarn and woven into a durable, tightly-woven fabric with a distinctive texture. Horsehair fabric has a natural lustre and is known for its resilience and durability, making it an ideal material for upholstery.
This item has been included into following indexes:
- chairs, singles / pairs / threes, style or period
- chairs, singles / pairs / threes, timber - cedar 281
- Lenehan, Andrew (Australia) - furniture, designers and makers 36
