Artist
HENRY COOMBS
Black and Green Coombs Chair
Credit LineGift of Don and Pat Westover House, Palmer, Ontario, 1974
Object number1974.039.003
Label TextHenry Coombs (1819-1882) learned the skills to build furniture, including this arrow-back chair, during a five-year-long apprenticeship that began in 1835. Even this seemingly basic chair is complicated. The seats are shaped to support the buttocks and upper thighs. The backrests are angled and shaped to align with the sitter’s back. The legs are splayed to give the chair stability. Stretchers between the chair legs give them strength.
The different pieces of the chairs are held together with socket and tenon and mortise and tenon joints. While other manufacturers had adopted machinery, Coombs still trusted the skill of trained craftsmen.
NameChair
c. 1890-1910
