BY GEORGE BULLOCK, CIRCA 1810

The stylized foliate brass inlay in the 'Grecian' manner which embellishes these chairs exemplifies the type of decoration produced by the firm of George Bullock (d.1818) in the early 19th century. A drawing for a virtually identical model of chair with the comparable details of a foliate-inlaid tapering splat and shaped and inlaid crestrail appears in the Wilkinson's Tracings, the most significant resource for Bullock designs, and is reproduced in C. Wainwright, et.al., George Bullock Cabinet-Maker, London, 1988, p. 114, fig. 50. A chair firmly based upon this drawing and executed in mahogany, differing from the version offered here by its fluted columnar stiles, is also illustrated in Wainwright, p.113, cat. no. 52. A chair of similar overall design (however lacking the central splat) which reputedly belonged to Napoleon at St. Helena sold Christie's London, 8 May 1985, lot 103.