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Lot Essay
A single chair of precisely the same design at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London but constructed of padouk and with brass-inlaid splat is attributed to the celebrated cabinet-maker John Channon (d. 1779) who is recorded working in London from 1737 (see C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch, John Channon and Brass-Inlaid Furniture, 1730-1760, New Haven, 1993, p.128, fig.173 and D. Fitz-Gerald, ed., Georgian Furniture, London, 1969, no.38). While Channon often worked in exotic woods, the chairs share many idiosyncratic carved details such as the relief-molded arch to the inside edge of the foot - which relates to contemporary ormolu mounts of Continental examples - and the unusually shaped shoe at the base of the back which lend credence to this attribution. Channon was principally a cabinet-maker and frame-maker although a few surviving invoices show that he invoiced chairs. Christopher Gilbert and Tessa Murdock present the possibility that Channon's involvement in chair-making may have been as retailer. These chairs and the example at the Victoria and Albert Museum are particularly wonderful in that the back legs are carved fully in the round, a feature often not found on even the best quality seat furniture.
Other chair-makers were producing designs of similar inspiration. A chair design exhibiting a padded back but the same interrupted compass-form seat centered by a shell appears on the trade card of John Hodson, cabinet-maker recorded working on Frith Street, London from 1723 to as late as 1786. Early Hodson commissions include that for the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle (invoiced in 1738) and Lord Leicester at Holkham Hall (1736). A 1735-1736 bill covering furniture supplied to the Kennedys at Dalquharran included '6 Virginia walnutt Chairs'.
A similar pair of armchairs of a slightly less elaborate form was sold in these Rooms, The Property of a New York Estate, 29 January 1994, lot 243 ($85,800). Another pair of side chairs with same profile seatrail was sold Christie's London, 18 November 1993, lot 77 (£54,300).
Other chair-makers were producing designs of similar inspiration. A chair design exhibiting a padded back but the same interrupted compass-form seat centered by a shell appears on the trade card of John Hodson, cabinet-maker recorded working on Frith Street, London from 1723 to as late as 1786. Early Hodson commissions include that for the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle (invoiced in 1738) and Lord Leicester at Holkham Hall (1736). A 1735-1736 bill covering furniture supplied to the Kennedys at Dalquharran included '6 Virginia walnutt Chairs'.
A similar pair of armchairs of a slightly less elaborate form was sold in these Rooms, The Property of a New York Estate, 29 January 1994, lot 243 ($85,800). Another pair of side chairs with same profile seatrail was sold Christie's London, 18 November 1993, lot 77 (£54,300).