The Steeple Ashton Chair

The year is 1656. The King has taken refuge in The Hague, Cromwell's republic is in full force in England, and Christmas is literally cancelled. One land owner, however, commissions a daring piece of furniture to signal his allegiance to the Crown, and to serve as a glowing ember to reignite the culture of England, should it fall to the Puritans.

We discovered this chair quite by accident whilst on a family holiday in Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire, and it undeniably upstages the two other chairs we love to talk about — The Rowland Hill chair and the Oxford chair in the BYRGA GENIHT collection,

The chair is absolutely laden with meaningful geometry — most notably the hexagonal projections of the rhombic dodecahedron in the form of daisy wheels, and X-shapes representing the four projections of this type. The real clinchers however, were the symbols punctuating the owner's name (John Hirn) — a poised square and a full portrait of a garnet. Clearly this man wanted to be remembered as virtuous in an age when his loyalties could have got him killed. Tucked away next to the name also appears to be an early draft of the first Union Flag, 50 years before it would be officially codified.

It is not hard to imagine Hirn sitting in the chair with the design on full show when talking with sympathetic company, and perhaps covering it over with a discreet cloth should unwelcome visitors call.

We cannot think of an item of furniture with a richer cultural story to tell, and we would like to thank owners James and Fiona for agreeing to meet us and talk about it.

You can see the chair (and a heap of other cultural treasures) for yourself by booking a stay at the house on Airbnb via the link below.