Object Record

Images

1 of 1977

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Metadata

Object ID #

1965.002.001

Object Name

Couch

Title

Upholstered Rattan Couch

Lexicon category

2: Building Furnishings

Year Range from

1921

Year Range to

1939

Artist

Imperial Rattan Company

Made

Imperial Rattan Co. (Stratford, Ont.)

Place of Origin

Ontario

Description

Agnes Macphail's blue-cushioned wicker framed couch. There are three cushions, and the back has a matching blue upholstery, along with three matching drapes. The frame has bundled, finished canework and there are multiple vertical cylindrical canes in the design of the frame. See RELATED for the two matching side chairs.

Makers mark

The matching chair has a maker's label with "IMPERIAL RATTAN COMPANY LOCATION STRATFORD".

Provenance

The couch and chairs set was made in Stratford, Ontario by the Imperial Rattan Co. The set belonged to Miss Agnes Campbell Macphail (1890-1954), who was Canada's first female Member of Parliament, beginning in 1921. She had this wicker set when she worked and resided in Ottawa.

This item, and its two matching chairs, were sent to Grey County from Ottawa when they were in jeopardy of being burned, as no one wanted the pieces there anymore. They were at the Grey County Administration building c.1965 before they joined the museum collection.

As Macphail lost her federal riding during the Second World War, she likely obtained the set in the 1920s or 1930s? The Imperial Rattan Co. was producing aircraft bomber spars and wing parts during the Second World War, but then continued furniture making into the 1950s afterwards.

Macphail had a family connection to Stratford, as she had an aunt and uncle who lived there, and that is the town where she finished her highschool education when she left the Owen Sound Collegiate Institute. It is also where she attended the Stratford Normal School to get her teacher's training.

Collection

Furniture, 20th-c Collection

Material

Rattan/Fabric/Finish/Thread/Metal/Dye

Dimensions

H-31.89 W-75.984 D-38.189 inches

Found

Ottawa, Ontario

People

Macphail, Agnes

Function

This couch is part of a three-piece set that belonged to Agnes Campbell Macphail (1890-1954). She was Canada's first female Member of Parliament, starting in 1921. She had this wicker set when she was in Ottawa.