CIRCA 1780, AFTER DESIGN BY JAMES WYATT

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED AND PARCEL-GILT OPEN ARMCHAIRS
Circa 1780, after design by James Wyatt
Each with a shield-shaped padded back beneath a floral and trailing husk-carved crestrail centering an anthemion, the serpentine seat flanked by padded arms with husk-carved supports, covered in ivory silk damask, on paterae-headed tapering fluted legs part-filled with chandelles on faceted feet, redecorated (2)

Provenance

The Sir Michael Sobell Collection, sold Christie's London, 23 June 1994, lot 104

Lot Essay

These armchairs with their shield-form backs of antique 'pelta' form are of a type much favored by the architect James Wyatt (d.1813). An armchair of this pattern features in an unidentified room elevation of circa 1780. These chairs share the same distinctive scrolled supports to the back, serpentined seat-rail and arms united with the front legs. The whole design is illustrated in J.Cornforth and J.Fowler, English Decoration in the 18th Century, 1974, fig.13. The chair in the design is inscribed 'in canvas/5 Guin Each' which refers to the chair price prior to covering.