Lot Essay
This settee forms part of a larger suite comprising at least eight solid back armchairs and a pair of padded back chairs which were sold en suite with this settee in 1987 (lots 60 and 62). Two of the armchairs are illustrated in H. Cescinsky, The Old World House, vol. II, 1924, p. 63.
This compass-fronted settee with Jove's eagle-headed arm-supports and scaly claw feet embellished with Venus's scallop-shell derives from patterns introduced by Messr. Gillow of London and Lancaster in the early 19th century. A chair of related pattern bearing the brand 'Gillows Lancaster' was sold in these Rooms, 22 April 1989, lot 69 and corresponds to an 1827 sketch pattern in the Gillows Estimate Sketch Books, preserved in the Westiminister Library, London (no. 3603 supplied to their London branch Messrs. Fergusson & Co).
This compass-fronted settee with Jove's eagle-headed arm-supports and scaly claw feet embellished with Venus's scallop-shell derives from patterns introduced by Messr. Gillow of London and Lancaster in the early 19th century. A chair of related pattern bearing the brand 'Gillows Lancaster' was sold in these Rooms, 22 April 1989, lot 69 and corresponds to an 1827 sketch pattern in the Gillows Estimate Sketch Books, preserved in the Westiminister Library, London (no. 3603 supplied to their London branch Messrs. Fergusson & Co).