CIRCA 1780

Strong parallels can be drawn between the design of these chairs and the neoclassical seat furniture thought to have been designed by James Wyatt (1746-1813) for Broome Park, Kent. Wyatt was commissioned in 1778 by Sir Henry Oxenden. Wyatt's strict neoclassical interventions at Broome work better than they might, being completely at odds with the earlier house in which they were placed, however, the crowning success of the 'modernisation' was Wyatt's insertion of the great neoclassical drawing room, which filled the space between the wings projecting to the south. Although Oxenden's descendants had departed the house when Country Life visited in 1907 (and the next illustrious owner, Lord Kitchener, was still some four years from the door), the house retained much of its 18th-century contents, including the splendid suite of neoclassical seat furniture to the drawing room (see H. Avray Tipping, ‘Broome Park, Kent', Country Life, 6 July 1907, p. 23). The similarities between the design of those chairs and these are manifold; in addition to the strict neoclassical detailing, chief amongst these is the generous relatively upright shield-shape back and the unusual use of a squared baluster leg. Wyatt also illustrates a design for a very similar chair in an interior window elevation, apparently to demonstrate the appearance of various furniture forms in situ (J. Fowler and J. Cornforth, English Decoration in the 18th Century, London, 1974, p. 27 & 29, fig. 13).
 
A closely related sofa, possibly from the same suite, is illustrated in D. Nickerson, English Furniture of the 18th Century; Pleasures and Treasures, New York, 1963, p. 113, pl. 119, apparently from the collection of Mrs Dunnington, who had acquired it at Mallett. A near identical pair of chairs was sold, Sotheby's, New York, 5 April 2005, lot 410 (£33,000).