Cane Seating

The use of cane for seat furniture was introduced shortly after 1660. The cane provided by the class of palms known as Rattans ( Genera; calamus and daemonorops ) was imported from the Malay Peninsula by the East India Company.

The early canework had a large mesh, but this became finer towards the end of the 17th century, and a fine close mesh was used by the late 18th century. In the last quarter of the 18th century, panels of oval or rectangular canework were occasionally introduced as decorative elements in chair backs with caned seats to match. Gradually, cane work became used in other domestic furniture: bed heads and feet framed in mahogany, screens, and... "Anything where lightness, elasticity, cleanness and durability, ought to be combined" ( Sheraton - The Cabinet Dictionary, 1803).

Caned seat furniture was intermittently in favour throughout the 19th century, and the 'steamer' chair usually had a caned seat, the 'Derby' variety had a caned seat and back.

Cane today is easily available, though its use is mainly put to restoration work - the economics of today dictating machine-woven cane, fitted to modern chairs and furniture.

Rush Seating

Bulrush ( Scirpus Lacustris ) is a native perennial which grows in silty lakes, rivers and ponds throughout Britain. t flowers June to July, and fruits August to September.

The weaving of rushes has been practised for many centuries. Indications of seats of woven rush have been discovered in Egyptian Second Dynasty tombs, but certainly since the Middle Ages rushes have been used for stool and chair seating, basket work and floor matting.

During the 18th & 19th centuries, the rushed seats were frequently painted, and in The Cabinet Dictionary (1803), Sheraton gives detailed directions as follows: "Rush-bottom chairs ought always to have their seats primed with common white lead, ground up in linseed oil, and diluted with sprits of turpentine. This first priming preserves the rushes, and hardens them." Three coats of this primer were generally given to provide even uniformity over the weave.

Rushes are harvested in June or July, dried outside, and are best kept in "Bolts" ( Bundles of rush ) in a dry, airy place. Rushes stored properly can be used for two to three years. They provide a very durable natural material, that gives much pleasure when worked.