ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS CHIPPENDALE, CIRCA 1770-80, ADAPTED FROM A SOFA A CONFIDANTE

Details

A GEORGE III GILTWOOD SOFA
ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS CHIPPENDALE, CIRCA 1770-80, ADAPTED FROM A SOFA A CONFIDANTE
The frame carved overall with bay leaf husks, the toprail centred by a tablet cresting with festooned medallion, the padded back and seat upholstered in floral cut velvet, on fluted turned tapering legs with guilloche collars and castors, the castors later, originally with a confidante to each end, the ends reshaped, reduced in length, the rails cut in the centre with consequent alterations to the back, the upper section of the cresting added, the central front leg probably moved from one end, re-gilt

36 ½ in. (93 cm.) high; 91 in. (231 cm.) wide; 33 in. (84 cm.) deep

Provenance

Christian, Lady Hesketh, Easton Neston, Northants, sold Sotheby's house sale 17 - 19 May 2005, lot 177.

Literature

John Kenworthy-Browne, 'Easton Neston, Northamptonshire: 2', The Connoisseur, September-December 1964, p.142.
Christian, Lady Hesketh, 'Easton Neston, Nicholas Hawksmoor's Baroque Creation in Northamptonshire', Architectural Digest, January 1991, p.144, shown in situ in the Tapestry Bedroom.

Brought to you by

Carys Bingham

cbingham@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2350

Lot Essay

Designed in the neo-classical fashion, the overall ornamentation of this sofa closely relates to several documented works by Thomas Chippendale. Various elements of the carving, particularly the overlapping berried laurel to the frame, as well as fluted and patera-carved tablet centering the seat rail, feature on the celebrated Gobelin tapestry sofas from Newby Hall (illustrated C. Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, pl. 368). A variant of the trumpet-form fluted and entrelac-carved leg appears on a suite supplied for the salon at Burton Constable, while the centrally-beaded arms and husk trails terminating in scrolls carved to the supports is also found on a pair of sofa from Brocket Hall, sold The Exceptional Sale, Christie's, London, 5 July 2012, lot 19.

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