This drawing-room chair with Jupiter's eagle monopodiae is designed in the 'antique' manner associated with William Kent (d.1748). In place of the eagle-heads emerging from Roman foliage, they are portayed here with feather-plumed legs. A chair with Roman foliate carving is illustrated in H. Cescinsky, English Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, n.d. [1909], vol. II, p. 25. A chair with feather-plumed legs, as here, is in the Duke of Norfolk's collection at Arundel Castle (see: S. Jervis, 'Furniture at Arundel Castle', Connoisseur, March 1978, p. 213)
Dr. Frank Crozer Knowles was a collector of the generation advised by Robert Symonds. Like many of his English contempoaries he formed a collection of high quality early Georgian walnut and mahogany, much of it upholstered in 18th Century needlework and tapestry. He particularly valued the collection of Percival Griffiths and acquired at least three lots from the latter's sale in these Rooms in September 1939. His collection was kept together by his nephew between 1957 and 1988.