A Highly Decorative Limed Backed Settle

This is a Highly Decorative Back Settle (a high-back wooden bench, originally used in halls and kitchens) and can be used for a multiple of purposes.

• “Constructed with 18thc coffer pieces”
  The carved panels in the back—especially those arched, fan-shaped motifs—were almost certainly salvaged from an 18th-century coffer (chest). These are genuine period carvings reused later.
• “With later pieces”
  The seat, arms, legs, and probably the framing elements were added in the 19th or early 20th century, when it was fashionable to repurpose antique oak panels into “romantic” furniture.
• “Limed”
  The pale, chalky finish is a limed oak treatment, which highlights carving by settling white pigment into the grain. This finish is decorative and not original to the 18th century.
• Decoration & construction
  The heavy, symmetrical carving, panelled back, and architectural feel suggest it was made to look older and grander than a typical domestic settle—very much in line with Victorian or Edwardian antiquarian taste.