Folding wooden chair
Production date
1904
Country
Australia
State/Province
Queensland
See full details
Object detail
Description
A folding wooden chair with interlocking joints made by the Wally Chair Company Brisbane. The chair has, apparently, been cut cleverly from a single piece of wood, including the hinge.
Classification
FURNITURE Domestic chair
MARITIME TECHNOLOGY Ship Furniture chair
MARITIME TECHNOLOGY Ship Furniture chair
Maker
Production date
1904
Production place
Measurements
Dimensions when open - L 755 x W 335 x H 715 mm
Dimensions when closed - L 1080 x W x 335 x H 55 mm
Weight - 6.1 kg
Dimensions when closed - L 1080 x W x 335 x H 55 mm
Weight - 6.1 kg
Media/Materials description
Made from native Silky Oak (Grevillea Robusta)
Signature/Marks
WALLY CHAIR COY \ 15 CENTRAL \ CHAMBERS \ BRISBANE \ REC 25FEB04
History and use
The John Webster collection consists of a folding wooden chair, known as the ‘Wally Chair’, made by the Wally Chair Company, Brisbane, in 1904. Designed and made over a century ago, the Wally chair was discovered by the donor, a curator and historian, at a well-known second-hand shop in Auckland, New Zealand.
The chair’s former owner is thought to be Mrs Juliet Wray Sharman, (née Juliet Flegeltaub), a former Australian-born actress and musical star of the late nineteenth century and first cousin to Walter Flegeltaub, the owner and of the Wally Chair Company, and designer of the ‘Wally Chair’.
At the age of twenty-one, Juliet Wray Flegeltaub married prominent Auckland doctor, Edward William Sharman, in Sydney on 15 March 1897. She moved permanently to live with her husband in Auckland in December 1897 after the completion of her work contract with J. C. Williamson’s Comic Opera Company. Edward Sharman died in June 1946 with Juliet passing away in 1951. Their only child, a daughter, Bettina, known as ‘Betty’ died unmarried in 2017 leaving the bulk of her estate to the University of Auckland.
In excellent condition, the chair is one of only two such chairs that are known to exist today. Its aesthetic appeal lies particularly in its size, daintiness and cleverness of construction together with its arched gothic cut-out design elements which give it an ecclesiastical/monastic appearance.
The chair is an important historical object, providing a tangible connection to one of early Brisbane’s prominent Jewish families and to Brisbane's history and people at the turn of the twentieth century. Its interpretive potential lies in its ability to illuminate historical and social change in early Brisbane society and in the evolution of Australian furniture styles and manufacturing which, until the early 1900s, were firmly entrenched in British ideas, despite evident climate and lifestyle conditions.
The chair’s former owner is thought to be Mrs Juliet Wray Sharman, (née Juliet Flegeltaub), a former Australian-born actress and musical star of the late nineteenth century and first cousin to Walter Flegeltaub, the owner and of the Wally Chair Company, and designer of the ‘Wally Chair’.
At the age of twenty-one, Juliet Wray Flegeltaub married prominent Auckland doctor, Edward William Sharman, in Sydney on 15 March 1897. She moved permanently to live with her husband in Auckland in December 1897 after the completion of her work contract with J. C. Williamson’s Comic Opera Company. Edward Sharman died in June 1946 with Juliet passing away in 1951. Their only child, a daughter, Bettina, known as ‘Betty’ died unmarried in 2017 leaving the bulk of her estate to the University of Auckland.
In excellent condition, the chair is one of only two such chairs that are known to exist today. Its aesthetic appeal lies particularly in its size, daintiness and cleverness of construction together with its arched gothic cut-out design elements which give it an ecclesiastical/monastic appearance.
The chair is an important historical object, providing a tangible connection to one of early Brisbane’s prominent Jewish families and to Brisbane's history and people at the turn of the twentieth century. Its interpretive potential lies in its ability to illuminate historical and social change in early Brisbane society and in the evolution of Australian furniture styles and manufacturing which, until the early 1900s, were firmly entrenched in British ideas, despite evident climate and lifestyle conditions.
Associated person
Registration number
H49711
Share
Country
State/Province
Category
