Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2011.01.53 |
Object Name |
Chair |
Date |
c1930 |
Features |
Walnut frame chair with off-white quilted upholstery. Carved cabriole front legs, sabre style back legs. Open circle 'balloon' back. Black fabric underneath seat. Small remnants of a red and white label. |
Object Story |
The Queen Anne style saw a revival in popularity during Victorian times and again in the early 1900s. This chair features cabriole style legs, carved feet and long continuous curved forms - all hallmarks of the 16th century Queen Anne style. Chair made by Gibbard Furniture for an Eaton's campaign. Only 400 of these chairs were ever made. Gibbard Furniture was a company founded by John Gibbard who was born in 1813. Around adulthood he became an apprentice to his Father, who was a carpenter and millwright. In 1836 John Gibbard moved to Napanee where he at one point worked for John Benson installing doors and windows for Benson's store. In 1860 he leased a mill from William Bartels where he made furniture as well as doors, coffins, and more. His business grew throughout his life and managed to overcome the significant challenge of two separate fires. John Gibbard passed away in 1908. Gibbard Furniture remained in the his family until 1940 when it was purchased by Jack McPherson a former Gibbard sale's manager. It remained in the McPherson family until 2009 when the factory was shut down. By the 1920s and 30s, Gibbard furniture was being marketed and distributed nationwide. This chair was produced for Eaton's, and could be ordered from a catalog alongside other Gibbard furniture. The Eaton's catalogue was first published in 1884 in Toronto, Canada and was distributed to visitors of The Exhibition. It grew quickly and soon was printing specialty catalogues, such as The Klondike Catalogue of 1898, or later Eaton's Wallpapers of 1941. The catalogue became so popular that in 1903, a separate building was needed for it's stock. Eaton's continue to publish catalogues until 1976. |
People |
Gibbard, John Bartels, William Benson, John Mcpherson McPherson, Jack |
Subjects |
Furniture Furniture industry Furniture stores Marketplaces Catalog order businesses |
Search Terms |
Gibbard's Furniture Gibbard Gibbard Furniture Gibbard's Furniture Gibbards Eaton's Catalogue |