Two-Seat Caned Settee in Solid Teak, Oval Medallion Back & Linen-Jute Seat — Louis XVI Manner

About this object

A two-seat settee in the Louis XVI manner, built in solid teak left close to its natural colour, with back and curved arms filled entirely in hand-woven rattan cane. The composition centres on an oval medallion — itself caned — set within the arched back, a frame-within-a-frame that is the signature of the late-eighteenth-century French canapé. The seat is a fixed cushion in a linen-jute blend, its dry, granular weave matched deliberately to the tone of the cane so the whole piece reads in one breath: timber, fibre, light. Caning is the slowest work in this workshop. Each panel is woven by hand in the traditional eight-step pattern — verticals, horizontals, then the two diagonals that lock the octagonal mesh — and this settee is double-caned, woven on both faces of the frame, so the back is finished whichever way it faces a room. The medallion is the test piece: weaving cane inside a circular frame means every strand changes length, and only an experienced caner keeps the tension even all the way round. The frame beneath carries the full Louis XVI kit — guilloche-carved apron, rosettes at the leg blocks, stop-fluted legs — left unstained so the carving reads in shadow rather than contrast. Cane is furniture for climates like ours — it breathes, it weighs little, and has cooled Indian verandahs and French salons alike for two centuries. This settee works hardest in places a full sofa overwhelms: the foot of a bed, an entrance hall, a bay window, the landing of a stair. Because it is finished on both faces, it can float in the middle of a room with its back to the door — a placement almost no other seat survives. Made to order in 6–8 weeks; finish tone, cushion fabric, and matching single chair available at order.