Lot Essay
Designed in the early 19th Century antique style, after the French manner, these caned bergère library reading-chairs relate in form to a pattern illustrated in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker, Upholsterer and General Artist's Encyclopedia, 1804. In Messrs Gillow's Estimate Sketch Book for 31 March 1803, this design is referred to an Ashburnhami while by 1807 it is referred to as an Uxbridge Chair, after one supplied to Henry Bayle, 1st Earl of Uxbridge. A pair of similar chairs were sold from Mere Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire, Christie's house sale, 23 May 1994, lot 197.