拍品专文
D.M. KIRKNESS and the ORKNEY CHAIR
Straw backed chairs from Orkney are one of the most distinctive forms of British Regional chair. They originate on islands where home grown wood is scarce, and where the inhabitants turned to other natural materials to supply many of their needs. Paramount amongst these was the straw produced from the native black oats, which, when hand threshed, and cleaned (and called gloy at this stage) was able to be used in the manufacture of many kinds of domestic items, including round storage containers, cubbies, for storing eggs, wool and small amounts of grain. A specialised cubbie was made, called the spoon cubbie, which hung by the fire with an opening to put horn spoons in. Even a cubbie for use as a muzzle for foals and calves was made. Kaesies, which were larger containers, often made from heather for extra resilience, were used for holding meal and corn. Thick and thin straw ropes were made for thatching and animal halters. Straw boots provided winter warmth, and mats and mattresses were made too.
To make many of these items, as well as the chair backs, the straw was made into hand shaped coils or gongs which were sewn together with bent grass, a fibrous plant which grows in abundance on marginal ground throughout Orkney and which, when cut and left to dry in sheaves in the open air, was then twisted together in two strands to form a cord which had many uses including providing seating and in sewing together the coils of straw. This was done using a needle with a large, flat head, and the top-most coil on the chair backs was sewn tightly to the one below with a continuous sewn band, to make a strong rim. The ends of each straw coil were also fixed with the bent grass cord to the two wooden uprights.
Straw-backed chairs, or straw stools as they were termed, took a number of forms, including the manufacture of a low round stool without a back; those with round bases and a coiled straw back without a wooden frame to support it, and those with wooden bases and uprights which held curved straw backs and sometimes hoods. Chairs of the latter kind were made for both adults and children, and were produced by crofters to their own particular designs for themselves and members of their families.
The earliest time of production for these chairs is uncertain. Certainly many examples made during the 19th century survive on the islands, but few, if any, seem to date earlier than this. Although popular and well thought of by Orcadians and visitors to the islands, there appears not to have been any organised manufacture of these chairs until the end of the 19th century, when an Orcadian, David Munro Kirkness, who had been born on Westray in 1855, and later moved to Kirkwall to begin an apprenticeship as a joiner, opened his own business as a carpenter and undertaker in about 1880. Shortly afterwards, as his obituary in 1936 records, he began to make and "perfect" Orkney chairs. Clearly Kirkness was influenced in this by the Arts and Crafts movement, and he modified the traditional forms of chair which typically have enclosed bases, to produce a chair with an open wooden framework in the base, into which he offered to fit a drawer at extra cost.
The time consuming tasks of making the straw backs and bent grass seats were undertaken by outworkers who worked on the islands of Westray, Papa Westray and Deerness, and the celebrated picture reproduced here shows two of his workers, R. Foubister and his daughter Lizzie, of Nessie, Tankerness, making straw backs. Mr Foubister is shown coiling the straw and sewing the coils together. His daughter is twisting the bent grass to make the thread.
His chairs have other refinements which reflect his interests in Arts and Crafts design, including the use of flattened supports for the arms and backs of the chairs which terminated in a wedge shaped joint onto the seat frame, and which were screwed to the seat frame with prominent round headed coffin screws. This altogether new approach to the more common box seated examples found elsewhere on the islands must have seemed very avant-garde and its social acceptance was assured when a wealthy member of Orkney society, Sheriff substitute Thoms, ordered one of his newly designed chairs for his home and subsequently brought the chair to the attention of the Highland Home Industries, which, in turn, led to an appreciation of his chair design and the inclusion of his work within the establishment of Scottish Arts and Crafts. Indeed, his acceptance as a designer and craftsman was such that many examples were given to members of the British Royal family, particularly as wedding gifts from the people of Orkney; these included chairs specially made for Edward VII and for Queen Mary before her coronation.
Orkney chairs from the Kirkness workshop also found favour in London and other metropolitan centres, and examples were shown in housing exhibitions promoted by major stores in London, Manchester and Glasgow. His fame spread abroad, too, and invoices in his business papers show that he exported many of his chairs to private and trade buyers in South Africa, Australia and Canada.
Kirkness maintainted his workshops at 12 and 14 Palace Street over a fifty year period, producing, it is reported in his obituary, some 14,000 chairs during his working life. He seems to have produced closely similar designs during the whole of this period, offering four models: a Hooded chair, a Gentleman's chair, a Lady's chair and a child's chair. These were made with either a wooden seat or in what he described as a "rush" seat, although in reality this was bent grass, which is now known as sea grass. He made the frames in "white deal" which he would either stain green or brown and then varnish. Alternatively, the frames were made from imported oak, then fumed to darken them and then oiled. A number of those made in oak, including that given to Queen Mary, claim a particular association with Orkney, which is reflected in his label stating that (this chair is) "Made from oak couples used in the extension of St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, by Bishop Reid between the years 1540 and 1558, and removed when the roofs were repaired in 1889. Made by D.M. Kirkness, 14, Palace Street, Kirkwall, 5th October 1896".
An example of a Lady's Orkney chair carrying this inscription, in Kirkness' own handwriting can be seen at the British Regional Furniture Centre, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Dr.B.D.Cotton
May 1999
Straw backed chairs from Orkney are one of the most distinctive forms of British Regional chair. They originate on islands where home grown wood is scarce, and where the inhabitants turned to other natural materials to supply many of their needs. Paramount amongst these was the straw produced from the native black oats, which, when hand threshed, and cleaned (and called gloy at this stage) was able to be used in the manufacture of many kinds of domestic items, including round storage containers, cubbies, for storing eggs, wool and small amounts of grain. A specialised cubbie was made, called the spoon cubbie, which hung by the fire with an opening to put horn spoons in. Even a cubbie for use as a muzzle for foals and calves was made. Kaesies, which were larger containers, often made from heather for extra resilience, were used for holding meal and corn. Thick and thin straw ropes were made for thatching and animal halters. Straw boots provided winter warmth, and mats and mattresses were made too.
To make many of these items, as well as the chair backs, the straw was made into hand shaped coils or gongs which were sewn together with bent grass, a fibrous plant which grows in abundance on marginal ground throughout Orkney and which, when cut and left to dry in sheaves in the open air, was then twisted together in two strands to form a cord which had many uses including providing seating and in sewing together the coils of straw. This was done using a needle with a large, flat head, and the top-most coil on the chair backs was sewn tightly to the one below with a continuous sewn band, to make a strong rim. The ends of each straw coil were also fixed with the bent grass cord to the two wooden uprights.
Straw-backed chairs, or straw stools as they were termed, took a number of forms, including the manufacture of a low round stool without a back; those with round bases and a coiled straw back without a wooden frame to support it, and those with wooden bases and uprights which held curved straw backs and sometimes hoods. Chairs of the latter kind were made for both adults and children, and were produced by crofters to their own particular designs for themselves and members of their families.
The earliest time of production for these chairs is uncertain. Certainly many examples made during the 19th century survive on the islands, but few, if any, seem to date earlier than this. Although popular and well thought of by Orcadians and visitors to the islands, there appears not to have been any organised manufacture of these chairs until the end of the 19th century, when an Orcadian, David Munro Kirkness, who had been born on Westray in 1855, and later moved to Kirkwall to begin an apprenticeship as a joiner, opened his own business as a carpenter and undertaker in about 1880. Shortly afterwards, as his obituary in 1936 records, he began to make and "perfect" Orkney chairs. Clearly Kirkness was influenced in this by the Arts and Crafts movement, and he modified the traditional forms of chair which typically have enclosed bases, to produce a chair with an open wooden framework in the base, into which he offered to fit a drawer at extra cost.
The time consuming tasks of making the straw backs and bent grass seats were undertaken by outworkers who worked on the islands of Westray, Papa Westray and Deerness, and the celebrated picture reproduced here shows two of his workers, R. Foubister and his daughter Lizzie, of Nessie, Tankerness, making straw backs. Mr Foubister is shown coiling the straw and sewing the coils together. His daughter is twisting the bent grass to make the thread.
His chairs have other refinements which reflect his interests in Arts and Crafts design, including the use of flattened supports for the arms and backs of the chairs which terminated in a wedge shaped joint onto the seat frame, and which were screwed to the seat frame with prominent round headed coffin screws. This altogether new approach to the more common box seated examples found elsewhere on the islands must have seemed very avant-garde and its social acceptance was assured when a wealthy member of Orkney society, Sheriff substitute Thoms, ordered one of his newly designed chairs for his home and subsequently brought the chair to the attention of the Highland Home Industries, which, in turn, led to an appreciation of his chair design and the inclusion of his work within the establishment of Scottish Arts and Crafts. Indeed, his acceptance as a designer and craftsman was such that many examples were given to members of the British Royal family, particularly as wedding gifts from the people of Orkney; these included chairs specially made for Edward VII and for Queen Mary before her coronation.
Orkney chairs from the Kirkness workshop also found favour in London and other metropolitan centres, and examples were shown in housing exhibitions promoted by major stores in London, Manchester and Glasgow. His fame spread abroad, too, and invoices in his business papers show that he exported many of his chairs to private and trade buyers in South Africa, Australia and Canada.
Kirkness maintainted his workshops at 12 and 14 Palace Street over a fifty year period, producing, it is reported in his obituary, some 14,000 chairs during his working life. He seems to have produced closely similar designs during the whole of this period, offering four models: a Hooded chair, a Gentleman's chair, a Lady's chair and a child's chair. These were made with either a wooden seat or in what he described as a "rush" seat, although in reality this was bent grass, which is now known as sea grass. He made the frames in "white deal" which he would either stain green or brown and then varnish. Alternatively, the frames were made from imported oak, then fumed to darken them and then oiled. A number of those made in oak, including that given to Queen Mary, claim a particular association with Orkney, which is reflected in his label stating that (this chair is) "Made from oak couples used in the extension of St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, by Bishop Reid between the years 1540 and 1558, and removed when the roofs were repaired in 1889. Made by D.M. Kirkness, 14, Palace Street, Kirkwall, 5th October 1896".
An example of a Lady's Orkney chair carrying this inscription, in Kirkness' own handwriting can be seen at the British Regional Furniture Centre, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Dr.B.D.Cotton
May 1999