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Lot Essay
This eagle-footed parlour chair, part of a larger, set, reflects the antique or 'Roman' fashion introduced at St. Giles's House, Dorset by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury (d.1771), around the time of his appointment in 1734 as George II's Lord Lieutenant of Dorset. In view of the stylistic date of the chairs, it is tempting to identify them with a 1735 payment of £41.12.0. for 'makeing Wallnutt Chairs' listed in the Earl's 'Extraordinary Disburstments for the House and Gardens' at St.Giles's. It is made out in the name of an unidentified craftsman listed as 'Gurd', and this might possibly have been intended as the Haymarket chair-maker George Cure (d. 1759), 'Upholsterer' to Frederick Prince of Wales (The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, pp. 219-220).
The present chair was originally part of a set of at least ten as another pair from the set was offered Christie's, London, 23 April 2003, lot 29 incised with the numbers III and X. A further pair (the other two offered as part of lot 37 and illustrated in the St. Giles's sale) was sold Sotheby's, New York, 26 October 2002, lot 1802.
Appropriate for the embellishment of the Earl's banqueting hall, their eagle ornament evokes the mythological tale of the youthful shepherd Ganymede. When not actually in use, such chairs played an architectural role in being arrayed in lines along the walls. Here, their finely sculpted backs, being fretted with 'vase' pillars or splats, helped to recall the Roman tradition of ornamenting a vestibulum hall with ancestral urns or vases. At the same time, they introduced an air of novelty, being evolved from ancient Chinese patterns, which were then known as 'Indian' because of their importation by the East India Companies through the Coromandel coast of India (A. Bowett, 'The India-back Chair 1715-40', Apollo, January 2003, pp. 3-9).
The present chair was originally part of a set of at least ten as another pair from the set was offered Christie's, London, 23 April 2003, lot 29 incised with the numbers III and X. A further pair (the other two offered as part of lot 37 and illustrated in the St. Giles's sale) was sold Sotheby's, New York, 26 October 2002, lot 1802.
Appropriate for the embellishment of the Earl's banqueting hall, their eagle ornament evokes the mythological tale of the youthful shepherd Ganymede. When not actually in use, such chairs played an architectural role in being arrayed in lines along the walls. Here, their finely sculpted backs, being fretted with 'vase' pillars or splats, helped to recall the Roman tradition of ornamenting a vestibulum hall with ancestral urns or vases. At the same time, they introduced an air of novelty, being evolved from ancient Chinese patterns, which were then known as 'Indian' because of their importation by the East India Companies through the Coromandel coast of India (A. Bowett, 'The India-back Chair 1715-40', Apollo, January 2003, pp. 3-9).