Lot Essay
The serpentined and ribboned-back parlour chair is designed in the George II 'picturesque' manner popularised by the engravings of W. de la Cour's First Book of Ornaments, 1741 and M. Darly's Second Book of Chairs, 1751. The splat's conjoined circles tie the back's arched, antique fluted and serpentined-truss upright, while the fluted and truss-scrolled legs terminate in shell-wrapped feet. Two chairs, with the same patterned back (with the addition of an arched centre cresting) and related legs terminating in shell-wrapped feet, were advertised by the Harrogate dealer, W. Waddingham in Apollo, August, 1964. A chair with a related back was in the collection of the dealer, D. L. Isaacs in the early 20th century (P. Macquoid, History of English Furniture: The Age of Mahogany, London, 1919, fig. 113).