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Lot Essay
This and the following lot are good examples of the highly fashionable 'Chinese' taste promoted
by leading mid-18th century cabinet makers such as Thomas Chippendale and William and John
Linnell. Their fretted-trellis backs derive from the type of patterns published in W. Halfpenny,
Twenty New Designs of Chinese Lattice (1750), E. Hoppus, The Gentleman and Builder's Repository
(1760) and J. Crunden and J. Morris, The Carpenter's Companion for Chinese Railings and Gates
(1765).
The octagonal form of the central tablet is featured on a Chinese chair pattern in Chippendale's
Director, 1754, pl.XXVII. Chippendale considered these chairs 'very proper for a Lady's Dressing-
Room; especially if it is hung with India paper...They have commonly cane bottoms, with loose
cushions', as these chairs would originally have had. The chairs are closely related to the well-known
set of chairs and matching window seat commissioned by the 4th Duke of Beaufort for Badminton
House, Gloucester (see P. Macquoid, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1906, p.258 pl.245).
A pair of fruitwood armchairs of closely related design was sold from the collection of Lee V.
Eastman, Christie’s New York, 18 October 2005, lot 452 ($14,400 inclusive).
by leading mid-18th century cabinet makers such as Thomas Chippendale and William and John
Linnell. Their fretted-trellis backs derive from the type of patterns published in W. Halfpenny,
Twenty New Designs of Chinese Lattice (1750), E. Hoppus, The Gentleman and Builder's Repository
(1760) and J. Crunden and J. Morris, The Carpenter's Companion for Chinese Railings and Gates
(1765).
The octagonal form of the central tablet is featured on a Chinese chair pattern in Chippendale's
Director, 1754, pl.XXVII. Chippendale considered these chairs 'very proper for a Lady's Dressing-
Room; especially if it is hung with India paper...They have commonly cane bottoms, with loose
cushions', as these chairs would originally have had. The chairs are closely related to the well-known
set of chairs and matching window seat commissioned by the 4th Duke of Beaufort for Badminton
House, Gloucester (see P. Macquoid, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1906, p.258 pl.245).
A pair of fruitwood armchairs of closely related design was sold from the collection of Lee V.
Eastman, Christie’s New York, 18 October 2005, lot 452 ($14,400 inclusive).