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Lot Essay
The pair of mahogany drawing-room chairs, with serpentine legs lapped by Roman acanthus and lion-heads terminating in bacchic lion paws, are conceived in the George II 'Roman' style promoted by William Kent (d.1748), Master Mason and Deputy Surveyor of King George II's Board of Works. Notably, a set of virtually identical chairs formed part of the original furnishings of the New Treasury Chambers, which were begun under Kent's direction in 1733 (R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, fig. 82, p. 137).
In the 1730s, furniture decorated with the lion mask represented the height of fashionable design, and the head, legs and hair of the lion formed the most significant ornament of chairs and other furniture. This is illustrated by a comparable walnut settee formerly in the collection of William, 1st Viscount Leverhulme at Thornton Manor and sold by Sotheby's, 26 June 2001, lot 122 (£35,000). Eight side chairs which accompanied this settee are now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery (L. Wood, The Upholstered Furniture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, London, 2008, vol. I, p. 300).
In the 1730s, furniture decorated with the lion mask represented the height of fashionable design, and the head, legs and hair of the lion formed the most significant ornament of chairs and other furniture. This is illustrated by a comparable walnut settee formerly in the collection of William, 1st Viscount Leverhulme at Thornton Manor and sold by Sotheby's, 26 June 2001, lot 122 (£35,000). Eight side chairs which accompanied this settee are now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery (L. Wood, The Upholstered Furniture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, London, 2008, vol. I, p. 300).