Lot Essay
The chairs have richly fretted and looped backs, of veil-draped shield form, and are centred by a feathered badge incorporating that of Juno's peacock. The pattern reflects the elegant chair patterns designed around 1780 by the architect James Wyatt (d.1815) and adopted by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV (F. Fergusson, 'Wyatt Chairs', Burlington Magazine, July 1977, p. 495, fig. 35).
Wyatt's designs were adopted by Gillows and this pattern relates to their 'Feather and drapery' back illustrated in their 1788 Estimate Sketch Book now preserved at the Westminster Public Library (L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, no. 273).
The chairs originally formed part of a suite at Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, of which one settee survives in a private collection in the USA and another was acquired in 1929 by the Metropolitan Museum, New York (F.L. Hinckley, The More Significant Georgian Furniture, New York, 1990, pl. 46). Four further armchairs were sold in these Rooms on 1 December 1977, lot 79. The suite is likely to have been commissioned by the Hon. Mary Leigh (d.1806) following her inheritance of the Stoneleigh estate from her brother in 1786 and can be attributed to George Seddon Sons & Thomas Shackleton of Aldersgate Street on account of their close relationship to the suite of satinwood 'Elbow Chairs' japanned with peacock feathers supplied by them in 1790 to Hauteville House, Guernsey (D. FitzGerald, Georgian Furniture, London, 1969, no. 116).
Wyatt's designs were adopted by Gillows and this pattern relates to their 'Feather and drapery' back illustrated in their 1788 Estimate Sketch Book now preserved at the Westminster Public Library (L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, no. 273).
The chairs originally formed part of a suite at Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, of which one settee survives in a private collection in the USA and another was acquired in 1929 by the Metropolitan Museum, New York (F.L. Hinckley, The More Significant Georgian Furniture, New York, 1990, pl. 46). Four further armchairs were sold in these Rooms on 1 December 1977, lot 79. The suite is likely to have been commissioned by the Hon. Mary Leigh (d.1806) following her inheritance of the Stoneleigh estate from her brother in 1786 and can be attributed to George Seddon Sons & Thomas Shackleton of Aldersgate Street on account of their close relationship to the suite of satinwood 'Elbow Chairs' japanned with peacock feathers supplied by them in 1790 to Hauteville House, Guernsey (D. FitzGerald, Georgian Furniture, London, 1969, no. 116).