Arthur W. Simpson (Attrib.) Arts & Crafts Lakes School English Oak Fire-screen c

  

Arts & Crafts Lakes School English Oak Fire-screen c. Fitness for Purpose and Pleasure in Use. An Arts & Crafts Lakes School English Oak Fire-screen by Arthur W. Probably the most decorative fire-screen we have seen, and a good size too.

Well figured quarter-sawn English Oak (quarter-sawing is a way of sawing oak to produce boards with superior strength which also reveals decorative'medullary rays' in its grain). Glass covered William Morris fabric panel. Overall Width 820mm (2 feet 8 1/4 inches). Overall Height 910mm (2 feet 11 3/4 inches).

Overall Depth 290mm (11 1/4 inches). Its not very often that we attribute items to Arthur Simpson. We've seen to many items attributed just because they are oak with some carving on! This item, however was from a Kendal residence and the style and quality of the carved panel, really is what you expect only from a genuine Simpson item.

Good condition with good colour, tight joints and original finish. One chip to the oak on the edge of the fabric panel. Back is probably a later replacement.

A few other minor marks and dints, though not many foran item that has been in use for 90 or so years. Simpson and his Kendal based furniture making company'The Handicrafts' was a renowned arts and crafts maker associated with very high quality hand crafted furniture, who worked with by members of the Artworker's Guild, such as Voysey and Baillie-Scott. Today, items of Simpson furniture are hard to find and avidly collected. Materials, workmanship and design are always of the highest quality. The most British of woods, that can produce really special results. English oak has been used for hundreds of years to construct everything from sea-going vessels to fine furniture. Although oak grows widely across Europe and North America, craftsmen continue to cherish English oak which grows more slowly than its foreign counterparts giving it strength, durability.

Quarter sawn boards are very straight grained and have distinctive growth rings and medullary rays that give a very beautiful effect as well as being renowned for their superior stability and strength. About Arts & Crafts Lakes School.

The Arts & Crafts Lakes School was a development of the Arts and Craft Cotswold School. The most significant designers and makers were Arthur Simpson, in Kendal, Stanley Webb Davies at Windermere and the Keswick School of Industrial Arts. Peter Hall of Staveley still produces furniture in this tradition. The Lakes School maintained the ideals with its simple lines, attention to the finest of details, the use of beautiful locally materials and the focus traditional tools and techniques. In fact Stanley Webb Davies' workshop didn't use any power tools at all, even to cut logs from timber!

The dominant material was English Oak and typical decorative details often include exposed joints and subtle carved details. Handicraft Antiques specialises in high quality Arts & Crafts Movement and Yorkshire School furniture from about 1900 onwards. Central to our philosophy is to sell furniture and furnishings that exhibit great design, outstanding quality of workmanship, are made with beautiful materials and are functionally useful and useable.

Many of our items will be of a similar cost to a modern mass produced equivalent, yet are likely to hold their financial value, or even appreciate over time, whereas inferior mass produced new items are very likely to quickly lose value. Our stock typically reflects some of the best designers and makers of their period including, Ernest Gimson, Peter Waals, Arthur Simpson, Stanley Webb Davies, Gordon Russell, Edward Barnsley, Liberty, Ambrose Heal, Robert Mouseman Thompson, Alan Grainger, Peter Hall of Staveley and numerous other craftsmen from the Arts and Crafts Movement, but also selected other items by less well known makers that are just beautifully designed and made. There is of course a subjective element to describing the condition of items, so if something is not as clear as it should, be please ask for clarification. It's not normally possible or desirable to restore items to perfect as new condition, so unless otherwise stated you should expect items to have some character - small amounts of age related wear and tear, such as light scratches, tiny chips/dings, minor marks and slight colour variations. These won't detract from the overall appearance and are generally only noticeable on close inspection.