Antique white wicker armchair ID

Jason
by Jason
Can anyone help identify this wicker chair? Have found nothing close to this design with harp lyre style backing. I believe the wicker seat once existed but was replaced with a piece of wood insert.
  5 answers
  • Nancy Nancy on Jun 30, 2016
    I would need to really inspect it closely but investigate Heywood-Wakefield Co. They produced wicker and rattan chairs from 1890's to 1990's. The balls on the lyre's spindles are reminiscent of some of their styles. Could be a nice reproduction. Chair seat would most likely have been made of tightly woven wicker (cane?).
    • Jason Jason on Jul 01, 2016
      Thank you so much Nancy. Included more pictures. I fell in love with this and bought it. I deal with many antiques but not wicker generally. This caught my eye and had to have it and was the right price to take a chance
  • Bryan's Workshop Bryan's Workshop on Jul 01, 2016
    Lovely! All of the spitcurls and beads make me believe it's a Whitney Reed chair. How heavy is it! The frame should be a solid wood like maple. Judging from the bottom and back, this chair looks like it was painted by an owner. What does the top of the seat look like with out the pillow? The underside of that is where the tag or stamp is or was.
    • Jason Jason on Jul 01, 2016
      It weights 12-13lbs. It had been painted o believe. Think it was black. See pics in reply above. The wicker seat was replaced with a piece of wood
  • Joann Joann on Jul 04, 2016
    If you would like to replace the wicker seat, it's pretty easy. That was machine-woven cane and the spline is still there. You'd just have to remove the old spline, buy a piece of cane seating and some new spline and follow directions for replacing cane seating. (Those directions are plentiful on the web and in many books.) Your local hardware store should have some info on where to buy seating.
  • Jason Jason on Jul 23, 2016
    I think I will be replacing the seat back to original. It is a Heywood Wakefield lady's arm chair.
  • Jason Jason on Jul 26, 2016
    Found the chair in the 1888-1889 Heywood Wakefield catalogue. Thanks so much for the help.