Charles I Joined Oak Stool

Of robust rectangular form, the single-piece top with moulded edge above a plain apron, raised on four baluster-turned legs united by plain stretcher rails all around. The stool is constructed in pegged mortise-and-tenon joints and retains a rich, dry surface patina of deep brown colour.
This well-proportioned stool exemplifies the enduring Carolean style of mid-17th-century English vernacular joinery. The turning of the legs—subtly waisted and ringed in the upper section—follows patterns current in the 1630s and 1640s, before the heavier “cup-and-cover” forms of the later century became fashionable. Stools of this type were ubiquitous in prosperous English households, valued both as portable seating and as small side tables.