Settle

This settle was carved in about 1891 by Jessie Mitchell Elmslie, and is an excellent example of New Zealand made Arts and Crafts furniture. Elmslie was the third daughter of Dr Rev John Elmslie, Minister of St. Paul’s Church in Christchurch, and was taught to carve by one of her father’s parishioners. She was in her early twenties when she made this piece, and is known to have made at least one other large furniture item at around that time (a sideboard held by Canterbury Museum).

Arts and Crafts

The Arts and Crafts movement began in Britain in the 1850s and 1860s, but as historian Douglas Lloyd Jenkins notes, it ‘could not have been better tailored for adoption in the colonies’ (Lloyd Jenkins, 15). Guided by William Morris and John Ruskin, proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement sought a return to the principles and values of the Middle Ages, promoting honest craftsmanship and a simple, uncluttered country life. This proved an attractive proposition to designers and craftspeople in New Zealand, many of whom saw themselves as building a ‘Better Britain’ free from the ills of the industrial world. The designs produced under the banner of Arts and Crafts were diverse, but the uniting characteristic of all of this work was ‘its rejection of industrial manufacturing and the machine, and its overarching preference for the home-made’ (Lloyd Jenkins, 15).

Female Furniture Makers

In New Zealand, many prominent artists working in the Arts and Crafts style were women. From 1890 to 1910 the most popular Arts and Crafts activity for women was woodcarving, although many pieces went unattributed and in most cases the individual makers remain unidentified. Prior to 1890 women had had very little participation in the furniture-making trade, which was largely restricted to young men who trained through apprenticeships. Women could, however, train at art and design schools, established in Dunedin in 1870, then Christchurch (1882), Wellington (1886), Auckland (1889) and Whanganui (1892). By 1900 skilled craftswomen had become central figures in local craft furniture production, creating a wide range of distinctive works.

Neo-Classical Style

This piece is fashioned in a neo-Classical revival style, modelled on Romanesque-style cassoni (carved Italian chests popular in the sixteenth century). Settles, defined as long wooden benches with backrests and arms, were modelled on chests, and many retained this function as well as being seats or beds. They went out of fashion in the eighteenth century, but became popular again with the historicising design movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The backboard and base feature mythical figures - perhaps wyverns or seawyverns - while the arm rests are carved with floral motifs in a Greek style.

Further Reading

• Calhoun, Ann. 2000. The Arts & Crafts Movement in New Zealand 1870 - 1940. Auckland: Auckland University Press.
• Cottrell, William. 2006. Furniture of the New Zealand Colonial Era, An Illustrated History 1830 - 1900. Auckland: Reed.
• Lloyd Jenkins, Douglas. 2004. At Home: A Century of New Zealand Design. Auckland: Godwit.
• Lloyd Jenkins. Douglas, and Lucy Hammonds. 2014. 'Crafts and applied arts - Early craft education.' Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. https://teara.govt.nz/en/crafts-and-applied-arts/page-2  
• Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 'The Arts and Crafts movement.' https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/1092