Morris chair
The armchair with an adjustable back that became the Arts and Crafts favourite – and the forerunner of the recliner.
From about 1866 the firm William Morris founded in 1861 sold an armchair with an adjustable back. Its model was a simple chair that one of the firm’s associates had seen at a country joiner’s.
The chair became so popular that ‘Morris chair’ became the name of a whole type, not least in the United States, where Gustav Stickley and others made their own versions around 1900.
Materials: Ebonised beech or oak; loose cushions covered in Morris & Co. fabrics
Manufacture: Made by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (later Morris & Co.) in London, after a model from a joiner in Sussex.
A back frame that tilts and is held by a peg or rod behind the arms.
Loose cushions on seat and back.
Straight arms and visible, simple joints.