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Lot Essay
The Ionic-scrolled tablet on the toprail of these elegant 'Grecian' style chairs relate to a set of similar chairs made by Gillow of London and Lancaster for Broughton Hall, Yorkshire. The library chairs, which appear in the 1811-1813 accounts of Gillows, were most likely derived from the designs of Broughton Hall's architect, William Atkinson, whose Ionic capitals adorn much of the building's columns and pilasters (C. Hussey, English Country Houses, Late Georgian, London, 1958, p. 100 fig. 181).
Another set of dining chairs with scrolled tablet toprails, sold by the late Colonel Norman Colville, M.C., in these Rooms, 16 September 2004, lot 40, in turn relate to hall and dining-chairs supplied in 1810 for Papworth Hall, Cambridgeshire by the celebrated St. Paul's Church Yard 'Upholder' George Oakley (d. 1841) (A. E. Reveirs-Hopkins, 'Sheraton Period Furniture for the Small Collector', Old Furniture Magazine, vol. 3, 1928, pp. 220-228, figs. 7-9).
The Ionic-scrolled design, reflecting the robust 'Grecian' neoclassical style, fashionable during the reign of George IV, was published as a pattern for chairs by the architect Richard Brown in his 1822 publication, Rudiments of Drawing Cabinet and Upholstery Furniture (E. Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1977, p. 213). Brown, who praised such furniture as being "bold in the outline, rich and chaste in the ornaments, and durable from the rejection of little parts", noted that the fashion had been introduced by early 19th century publications such as Percier & Fontaine's Receuil de décorations interieures, 1801; the connoisseur collector Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807; and designs published by George Smith in Household Furniture, 1808.
Another set of dining chairs with scrolled tablet toprails, sold by the late Colonel Norman Colville, M.C., in these Rooms, 16 September 2004, lot 40, in turn relate to hall and dining-chairs supplied in 1810 for Papworth Hall, Cambridgeshire by the celebrated St. Paul's Church Yard 'Upholder' George Oakley (d. 1841) (A. E. Reveirs-Hopkins, 'Sheraton Period Furniture for the Small Collector', Old Furniture Magazine, vol. 3, 1928, pp. 220-228, figs. 7-9).
The Ionic-scrolled design, reflecting the robust 'Grecian' neoclassical style, fashionable during the reign of George IV, was published as a pattern for chairs by the architect Richard Brown in his 1822 publication, Rudiments of Drawing Cabinet and Upholstery Furniture (E. Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1977, p. 213). Brown, who praised such furniture as being "bold in the outline, rich and chaste in the ornaments, and durable from the rejection of little parts", noted that the fashion had been introduced by early 19th century publications such as Percier & Fontaine's Receuil de décorations interieures, 1801; the connoisseur collector Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807; and designs published by George Smith in Household Furniture, 1808.