Coombs Chair
Credit LineGift of Dr. J. Malcolm Smith, London, Ontario, 1999
Object number1999.003.575
Label TextHenry Coombs (1819-1882) learned the skills to build furniture, including this chicken coop chair, during a five-year-long apprenticeship that began in 1835. He had much to learn. 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.
English-born Henry Coombs (1819-1882) immigrated to London in 1843 and soon opened a cabinet-making business. He operated it at King and Richmond streets, on the northwest corner of the Market Square, until he closed up shop in 1875. The notice announcing the closure highlighted the medals Coombs’ furniture had won locally and in Paris, France. It also noted that customers could be confident of the quality of his goods. While other manufacturers had adopted machinery, Coombs still trusted the skill of trained craftsmen.
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