Pray Be Seated

I have mentioned many times before just how popular the dog is, from creators of the most beautiful masterpieces down to the cheapest form of advertising: In one role or another, the dog is there. The only other animal that pretends to come anywhere near is the horse. This feature focuses on seats that have in one way or another been embellished with or created on the dog.

Scotland’s greatest poet and defender of the Scottish dialect who has become celebrated the world over was Robert Burns, known familiarly as Rabbie Burns. He was born in 1759 in a cottage his father built and was the eldest son of tenant farmers. Much of his education came from his father.

The Rabbie Burns chair was made in 1858, just before the first centenary of Burns’ birth. It is constructed of wood taken from the Kilmarnock printing press that produced the first editions of Burns’ poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect. The carvings of the two dogs on the chair depict “Luath” and “Caesar” from the poem “The Twa Dogs.” The dogs are a Collie and a Newfoundland who in the poem converse — not in a complimentary way — on the subject of men and their manners. Sir Edwin Landseer depicted the two dogs in a painting also titled “The Twa Dogs,” which he painted when he was only 19 years old. It was exhibited at the British Institution in 1858.

Also Scottish in origin is the pair of antler chairs. Probably made in the middle years of the 19th Century, the antlers are from the stag of a red deer, Britain’s largest land mammal, found mainly in the Scottish Highlands. The ends of the chairs’ arms, the base of the antlers, are each carved with the head of a dog.

The mid-Victorian Irish throne chair was made by Arthur Jones and Sons of Dublin for the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. Made of walnut, it is decorated to illustrate the history, antiquities, animals and vegetation of Ireland. The carved decoration features a harp, oak leaves, stag and two magnificent Irish Wolfhounds on the arms, one lying the other sitting. The chair was sold by Callam’s Auction in Ayr, Scotland, for a hammer price of £44,000 against a modest estimate of just £2,000-3,000. It was probably part of a large suite of furniture made by Jones’ specifically for the exhibition.

Coalbrookdale sits on the banks of the River Severn as it meanders through Wales and England on its way to the Bristol Chanel. It was here in 1767 that the Coalbrookdale Company, under the leadership of Abraham Darby III, made the first cast-iron rails that triggered the start of the Industrial Revolution, which would eventually change the world. The area is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major tourist attraction.

The company went on to art castings, the Deerhound table being the best known and most ambitious. Garden seats were among the most popular designs, and the seat end was the second design registered by the Coalbrookdale Company, which it did on April 6, 1844. The dog, grapes and serpent design is a true Victorian classic.

Cast-iron and wood garden seats were the height of popularity in the 19th Century, and many other foundries followed Coalbrookdale’s example. One such example from an unknown foundry is the seat with a central panel to the back of a Pointer on point surrounded by foliage.

Resin is often used as a more recent substitute for metals, and the Dachshund bench over four feet long from Black Country Metalworks is made of cast resin. Because of its unique shape, the Dachshund is one of the most versatile breeds. Over time the breed has been used to define nationhood, as the butt of 19th-Century cartoonists and political satirists, and every conceivable art form beside, both two and three dimensional. During World War I, Dachshunds — a favorite breed of Kaiser Wilhelm II — fell so far out of favor in England and the United States they were put to sleep or stoned in the streets. Now the breed is one of the most popular worldwide.

The modern fairground carousel was born in the 18th Century. By the early 19th Century, carousels with carved horses had appeared. Soon, potable travelling machines spread throughout Europe, and in the eastern United States many were used in picnic grounds and parks. As the carousels increased in size because of the evolution of the power source from human/horse power to steam and electricity, the carvings became larger and more intricate and forms other than the horse began to appear.

Because of the breed’s size, the Mastiff leant itself to be a carousel. The great collector of Mastiff art, Marie Antoinette Moore, had a polychromed one that was made circa 1890 by the Looff factory of Rhode Island. It is now in the AKC Museum of the Dog, along with many other artifacts from the Moore collection. The one illustrated is a rare example of a Poodle in lion trim with a mane and pom poms on its legs and tail.

My final seat has no image of a dog, but is a Victorian/Edwardian dog carriage. It is made of wood and iron, with a canvas hood with tassels and button-back upholstery. A dog of a suitable size would have been trained, as a horse, donkey or pony would, to go in the shafts. It is a suitable size for a child who would have been led around the grounds of a large family home. This was no yeomen’s or peasant’s piece. The harness would be similar to the one illustrated, leather traces and girth, with a leather and wrought-iron collar. It would most likely have been estate made.