LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

The 'bergere' chairs, conceived in the Louis Seize 'cabriolet' fashion, have Pompeian-pillared arms in the 'antique' fashion adopted by William Ince (d. 1804) in 1792 for chairs manufactured by the Soho firm of Mayhew and Ince for the Westminster Fire Office's Covent Garden Court Room (offered Christie's, London, 19 May 2005, lot 50). A pair of bergeres of this pattern formed part of the collection of French and English furniture that was assembled at West Dean Park, Sussex by W.D. James (d. 1913) following his purchase of the estate in 1891 (sold from the Edward James Collection, West Dean Park, Christie's house sale, 2, 3, and 6 June 1986, lot 292). Another pair was in the possession of Stair & Co., New York in the early 1980s (sold anonymously, Christie's London, 29 November 2001, lot 37).