Wednesday, November 29, 2017

European Sedan Chairs

Anonymous European artist
Design for Sedan Chair
ca. 1775-80
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous European artist
Design for Sedan Chair
ca. 1775
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Severio della Gatta
Midwife with Baby transported to church in Sedan Chair for Christening
1827
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Severio della Gatta
Journey by Sedan Chair with Mt Vesuvius in background
1828
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
Mr. Winkle's Situation when the Door blew-to
1837
steel-engraving
Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

Mr. Winkle jumped out of bed, wondering very much what could possibly be the matter, and hastily putting on his stockings and slippers, folded his dressing-gown round him, lighted a flat candle from the rush-light that was burning in the fireplace, and hurried downstairs.

"Here's somebody comin' at last, ma'am," said the short chairman.

"I wish I was behind him with a bradawl," muttered the long one.

"Who's there?" cried Mr. Winkle, undoing the chain.

"Don't stop to ask questions, cast-iron head," replied the long man, with great disgust, taking it for granted that the inquirer was a footman, "but open the door."

"Come, look sharp, timber eyelids," added the other encouragingly.

Mr. Winkle, being half asleep, obeyed the command mechanically, opened the door a little, and peeped out.  The first thing he saw, was the red glare of the link-boy's torch.  Startled by the sudden fear that the house might be on fire, he hastily threw the door wide open, and holding the candle above his head, stared eagerly before him, not quite certain whether what he saw was a sedan-chair or a fire engine.  At this instant there came a violent gust of wind; the light was blown out; Mr. Winkle felt himself irresistibly impelled on to the steps, and the door blew to, with a loud crash.

"Well, young man, now you have done it!" said the short chairman.

Mr. Winkle, catching sight of a lady's face at the window of the sedan, turned hastily round, plied the knocker with all his might and main, and called frantically upon the chairman to take the chair away again.

"Take it away, take it away," cried Mr. Winkle.  "Here's somebody coming out of another house; put me into the chair.  Hide me!  Do something with me!"

All this time he was shivering with cold; and every time he raised his hand to the knocker, the wind took the dressing-gown in a most unpleasant manner.

 Charles Dickens, from chapter 36 of The Pickwick Paper (1837)

Pietro Bonato after Giacomo Beys
Pope Pius VI carried over a mountain pass in a Sedan Chair
(as prisoner of Napoleon being transported to France, where he died in 1799)

ca. 1804
stipple engraving
British Museum

Carrington Bowles
The Return from a Masquerade (in a Sedan Chair) - A Morning Scene
1784
hand-colored mezzotint
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Isaac Robert Cruikshank
A Cruise to Covent Garden (in a Sedan Chair)
1806
hand-colored etching
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

George Cruikshank
Pride and Exaltation in a Sedan Chair
before 1878
engraving
Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco

Paul and Thomas Sandby
The Piazza, Covent Garden, London
 (with row of unoccupied Sedan Chairs for hire)

1770
drawing
British Museum

Charles James Grant
Satirical Print - Whig Politicians carrying Daniel O'Connell in a Sedan Chair
before 1837
wood-engraving, letterpress
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Anonymous Italian craftspeople
Sedan Chair
ca. 1750-60
carved and gilded poplar and lindenwood, gilt-bronze mounts
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Anonymous Italian or French craftspeople
Sedan Chair
ca. 1750
gilt-wood, gilt-metal, painted panels
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco

Anonymous Italian craftspeople
Sedan Chair
ca. 1750
gilt-wood, red leather, gilt-bronze
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Anonymous French craftspeople
Sedan Chair
ca. 1745-75
Painted wood, metal fittings
Victoria & Albert Museum, London