BH | Studio Tetbury Cane-Back Dining Chair

Cane seating arrived in Europe in the seventeenth century, when ships trading with the East brought rattan home and chairmakers learned to weave its split skin into a fine, open mesh. In Restoration England a caned chair was the height of fashion, and in French country houses the cane-backed chair has been a fixture of the dining room ever since.

This is the armless version, with a straight, gently raked back holding a woven cane panel, with the frame finished in Jet or Honey. The seat is padded with dense foam and upholstered in a heathered grey fabric with a soft, flecked surface, and its slim legs and square seat keep the outline neat. With no arms it slides fully under the table, which suits a smaller dining room. Cane, an open mesh of split rattan, keeps it light and airy, the chair is rated to 330 lbs, and glides protect the floor.

Line them up along both sides of a long table in a modern farmhouse kitchen, with an armchair at each end, black pendants overhead and a linen runner down the middle. A single chair also suits a hall beside a console, or a small desk in a bedroom. Grey with either frame is calm and versatile: lovely with white subway tile, oak floors, a big olive tree in a pot and pewter candlesticks. This listing is for one chair.