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Lot Essay
These elaborately conceived chairs correspond to patterns published in the third edition of Thomas Chippendale's Director (pl.X-XIII) and dated 1753-1761 as well as 'Parlour Chair' patterns published by rival cabinet-makers/designers John Mayhew and William Ince in Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762, plates IX and X. The design most closely relates to a pen and ink drawing executed by Chippendale for the third edition of the Director as reproduced in P. Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1958, pl.100. The chairs are predominantly designed in the 'French' or rococo manner but incorporate gothic-inspired features such as the ogee arches to the back.
A single armchair formerly in the collection of Percy Macquoid, Esq. features the same pattern back and is illustrated in P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture: The Age of Mahogany, London, 1906, fig.186. The chair was later sold, the Property of a Lady, Christie's London, 16 November 1989, lot 37 (£13,200). A set of ten chairs of the same basic design but lacking some of the details to the carving was sold Sotheby's London, 17 November 1989, lot 70 (£220,000).
A single armchair formerly in the collection of Percy Macquoid, Esq. features the same pattern back and is illustrated in P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture: The Age of Mahogany, London, 1906, fig.186. The chair was later sold, the Property of a Lady, Christie's London, 16 November 1989, lot 37 (£13,200). A set of ten chairs of the same basic design but lacking some of the details to the carving was sold Sotheby's London, 17 November 1989, lot 70 (£220,000).