Early 20th-century parlor tub chair with refinished dark frame, carved scroll stretcher, and rose, charcoal, and gold-toned damask velvet, three-quarter front studio view
Rear three-quarter studio view of the tub chair showing the curved enclosing back, scrolled arm terminal, and turned carved stretchers
Swatch of Black Edition Jacinta Rhodonite damask velvet showing the distressed damask motif in rose, mauve, charcoal, and cream over a gold-toned ground
Early 20th-century parlor tub chair with refinished dark frame, carved scroll stretcher, and rose, charcoal, and gold-toned damask velvet, three-quarter front studio view
Rear three-quarter studio view of the tub chair showing the curved enclosing back, scrolled arm terminal, and turned carved stretchers
Swatch of Black Edition Jacinta Rhodonite damask velvet showing the distressed damask motif in rose, mauve, charcoal, and cream over a gold-toned ground

The Rose Obscura | Early 20th-Century Parlor Tub Chair

$5,500.00

Carved scroll stretcher beneath a curved, enclosing back

A curved back and continuous arms enclose a single seat on this early 20th-century parlor tub chair, its carved hardwood frame refinished to a deep, even tone. Splayed legs meet in the chair's defining element, a carved scroll stretcher cut in low relief, with turned cross-members below. The seat and enclosing back are reupholstered in Black Edition's Jacinta Rhodonite, a damask velvet of rose, mauve, and charcoal over a gold-toned ground.

27 W × 23 D × 33¼ H in. | Circa 1900–1925 | Origin not established

Includes complimentary insured white-glove delivery throughout the contiguous United States. Your piece is professionally packed, transported, delivered into your home, and placed in the room of your choice. Transit typically takes 2 to 6 weeks.

Carved scroll stretcher beneath a curved, enclosing back

A curved back and continuous arms enclose a single seat on this early 20th-century parlor tub chair, its carved hardwood frame refinished to a deep, even tone. Splayed legs meet in the chair's defining element, a carved scroll stretcher cut in low relief, with turned cross-members below. The seat and enclosing back are reupholstered in Black Edition's Jacinta Rhodonite, a damask velvet of rose, mauve, and charcoal over a gold-toned ground.

27 W × 23 D × 33¼ H in. | Circa 1900–1925 | Origin not established

Includes complimentary insured white-glove delivery throughout the contiguous United States. Your piece is professionally packed, transported, delivered into your home, and placed in the room of your choice. Transit typically takes 2 to 6 weeks.

Living With This Object

In a room, the tub chair's enclosing back and low scrolled arms gather the sitter into a single curve, so the piece reads as one continuous form rather than a set of parts. The dark frame draws a firm outline around the muted damask, and the carved scroll stretcher carries the eye down to the base, giving the chair a settled, grounded stance among the surrounding furnishings.

The room view below is an AI visualization, offered to suggest scale and placement. It is a rendered image, not a photograph of the chair in this room.

  • Suited to libraries, dressing rooms, and sitting rooms, where seating defines a place rather than simply occupying one. Its compact footprint and enclosing form let it work as both an occasional chair and a focal point, holding a corner or fireside without crowding the room.

    • Type: Parlor tub chair (armchair)

    • Style: Early 20th century; carving in the revived Baroque taste

    • Date: Circa 1900–1925

    • Origin: Not established

    • Provenance: Most recent documented acquisition through a Redlands auction

    • Material: Hardwood frame; upholstered seat and back

    • Finish: Refinished; dark, near-black applied stain (not original)

    • Construction: Carved and turned frame; upholstered seat and enclosing back

    • Maker & Origin: Unattributed; no mark located

    • Condition: Restored; frame refinished, reupholstered, seat-frame crack stabilized with two support brackets; sound and usable

    • Dimensions: 27 W × 23 D × 33¼ H in.; seat height 18 in

    • Upholstery: Black Edition 'Jacinta Rhodonite' damask velvet, fully reupholstered (see The Black Edition 'Jacinta Rhodonite' Velvet)

    • Original: The carved hardwood frame, including the scroll stretcher and turned cross-members, appears original; no evidence of replaced frame elements.

    • Replaced: Upholstery renewed; the earlier floral cover removed and the seat and enclosing back reupholstered (see Upholstery).

    • Repaired: A crack in the seat frame was stabilized with two triangular support brackets added during restoration; the seat is now sound and sturdy.

    • Finish Work: The frame was stripped and refinished in a dark, near-black stain. The present surface is applied, not original.

  • A carved scroll stretcher spans the front legs, C-scrolls flanking a central foliate cartouche, with turned baluster cross-members tying the base together. Cut in low relief, it is integral to the frame rather than applied. Carving of this kind belongs to seat furniture worked in the revived Baroque taste, which supports the early-twentieth-century range set out under Maker & Origin.

  • No maker's mark was located, so the chair is left unattributed rather than assigned. The barrel-back form, the scrolled arm terminals, and the carved scroll stretcher are all consistent with manufacture in the early twentieth century, circa 1900 to 1925. That reading rests on form and carving rather than a mark, so the date is an informed inference. The tub form itself was produced in more than one country, and the national origin of the form is not a record of where this example was built; with no mark, the manufacture origin is not established. The velvet is woven in the United Kingdom, which documents the covering, not the chair.

  • The show wood is a close-grained hardwood, and the dark applied stain obscures the grain, so the species is not identifiable from the finished surfaces and is recorded simply as hardwood. The frame is carved and turned throughout: scrolled arm terminals, the carved scroll stretcher, turned baluster cross-stretchers, and splayed legs. Its joinery is not fully visible and reads as traditional frame-and-seat construction. The present dark finish is an applied stain, its fuller history set out under Condition & Restoration.

  • The covering is new to the chair, chosen for this restoration rather than original to it: a damask velvet in muted, low-contrast tones, rose, mauve, charcoal, and cream over a finely figured, gold-toned ground, with restrained coral accents and a soft sheen to the pile. The large-scale damask motif emerges gradually through embossing and density rather than sharp contrast.

    • Manufacturer: Black Edition

    • Pattern / Colorway: Jacinta Rhodonite

    • Design style: Damask

    • Fabric type: Woven velvet

    • Composition: 41 percent viscose, 39 percent polyester, 20 percent cotton; pile 100 percent viscose (as stated by the maker)

    • Performance: Martindale 40,000 rubs; rated for high-use upholstery (as stated)

    • Certifications: REACH compliant; PFAS free (as stated)

    • Textile origin: United Kingdom

    • Reupholstered: Yes, in full, in this restoration

  • Chairs of this kind, their enclosing backs and continuous arms wrapping the sitter, belonged to the private and salon seating of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, made for extended sitting rather than display. By the time this example came in for restoration it wore a floral cover, since removed, and whether that covering was its first is not recorded. The wear it carried, together with the documented restoration set out under Condition & Restoration, marks a chair returned to use rather than left as found. The chair entered the Acanthus Home collection following its appearance at auction in Redlands, California, the earliest documented point in its present history. Its maker is not identified, its exact date and the country of its making are not established, and no ownership earlier than that auction is recorded. The record ends where the evidence ends.

  • Is this antique or vintage? Antique. The threshold is one hundred years, so a piece made in 1926 or earlier qualifies, and this early 20th-century parlor tub chair dates to roughly 1900 to 1925. The form and revived-Baroque carving support that range; because it rests on style rather than a mark, an in-hand inspection could refine the year.

    Has it been restored or reupholstered? Yes. The frame was stripped and refinished in a dark stain, so the present surface is applied rather than original. The seat and enclosing back were reupholstered, the earlier floral cover removed, and a crack in the seat frame was stabilized with two triangular support brackets. It is now sound and ready to use.

    What wood is the frame? The species is not confirmed. The show wood is a close-grained hardwood, but the dark applied stain obscures the grain, so it cannot be identified by eye, and the spec fields record it simply as hardwood. We would rather record hardwood than name a species we cannot verify.

    Is the upholstery new, and what is it? Yes. The chair was reupholstered in Black Edition's Jacinta Rhodonite, a damask velvet woven of viscose, polyester, and cotton with a viscose pile, made in the United Kingdom. It is rated for high-use upholstery at 40,000 Martindale rubs, and the cloth is REACH compliant and PFAS free.

    Where was the chair made? Origin is not established. The chair carries no maker's mark, and the tub form was made in more than one country, so we do not assign one on style alone. The velvet is woven in the United Kingdom, but that is the covering, not evidence of where the frame was built.