A PAIR OF GEORGE III GREY-DECORATED ARMCHAIRS

CIRCA 1765

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE III GREY-DECORATED ARMCHAIRS
Circa 1765
Each curved crestrail centered by a shell, above a shaped padded back, armrests, and bowed seat covered with a cream cotton with ribbon decoration, the armrests on scrolled inverted-cabriole supports, above a fluted seatrail centered with an acanthus-sheathed oval set with a flowerhead, on scroll-topped draped tapering rectangular legs with leather casters, formerly gilt and redecorated by current owner (2)

Provenance

A set of four, with Arthur S. Vernay, Inc. New York.
Mrs. John E. Rovensky, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 15-19 January, 1957, lot 957 (together with the second pair, lot 958).

Lot Essay

These boldly carved chairs incorporate classical carved elements of shells, husk-festoons, fluting and paterae within a frame related to patterns for chairs in the French taste, such as those introduced by Thomas Chippendale in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1752-1763. While no attributable designs for these chairs have been discovered, they are virtually identical to a set of eight hall chairs bearing the Percy crest of Hugh Smythson, 1st Duke of Northumberland and illustrated in Syon House, Middlesex, in H. Avray Tipping, English Homes, London, 1924, p. 145, plate j. Additionally, five armchairs of this pattern were illustrated by Edwards and Sons, Regent St., in The Connoisseur, February 1930.

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