An Arts & Crafts Cotswold School English Oak Rocking Chair by Neville Neal c. 1990. A beautiful arts and crafts chair, to an Ernest Gimson design, made with English woodland Ash and rushes, with an honest unassuming natural beauty. Featuring:

• Made in Soild Ash.

• Spindle turned back.

• Rush seat.

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Height 1040mm (3 feet 4 3/4 inches).

• Overall Width 550mm (1 foot 9 1/2 inches).

• Overall Depth 750mm (2 feet 5 1/2 inches).

c. 1990.

Maker's stamp on the back leg.

Very good condition with tight joints, solid rush and original finish. One small chip off the back of the top rail. If you wish to have further specific photographs or talk to us for a more detailed condition report then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Neville Neal: Neville Neal joined Edward Gardiner as a pupil in 1939, making chairs to Ernest Gimson designs, following the tradition of Philip Clissett. After Gardiner's death in 1958, he established workshop in Stockton, continuing the use tools, techniques and patterns original used by Gimson. Materials are English woodland timber and rushes (most commonly ash) which creates light, strong and lasting chairs, with an honest unassuming natural beauty.

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.

The Cotswold School was a development of the Arts and Craft Movement started largely by Ernest Gimson and the brothers Sidney and Ernest Barnsley. The furniture is instantly recognisable with its simple lines, attention to the finest of details, and use of beautiful materials. Cotswold School designs were crafted from local materials using traditional tools and techniques and with decorative details derived largely from utilitarian elements: exposed joinery, unusual panels, interesting pulls and latches crafted either from wood or from metal using traditional smithing techniques, and close attention to form as well as to wood grain and pattern. Where decorative details were added they generally took the form of traditional embellishment such as exposed joints, chamfered edges and chip carved edge details. The style was embraced and developed by other designers and craftsmen including Gordon Russell, Stanley Webb Davies in Cumbria, Sid Barnsley's son Edward, Arthur Romney Green in Hampshire, Robin Nance in St Ives and Ambrose Heal are a handful of such men out of many. The best developed their own style within the established tradition.