Victorian bent plywood rocking chair – Gardiner’s patents 1872 / 1873

Victorian bent plywood rocking chair – Gardiner’s Patent May 21 1872 / June 3 1873 – featuring its trademark decorative pierced seat and back. Notable features: * No joint between seat and back. * The plywood curves upward in one continuous sweep of 3-ply laminated veneer. This construction was the technical innovation protected by the Gardner patents in the early 1870s. The firm Gardner & Company operated roughly 1863–1888 and was among the first companies to mass-produce furniture using laminated plywood. Their pierced plywood seats were a technical innovation and won awards at exhibitions in the 1870s. Examples of similar Gardner chairs are now in museum collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This example came from Southside House, a William and Mary mansion in SW London, England, that was the home of the Pennington Mellor Munthe families for generations. No defects. Lightly cleaned but still features original patina.