This Regency beech open armchair relates closely to French chairs of the late eighteenth century, with its square back and seat, downswept arms and curved supports. In construction though, it is entirely English, and the channelled decoration and sabre legs are elements typical of the Regency period. The use of Jupiter eagle-heads on the arms is seen on the set of seat furniture supplied for the Chinese Drawing Room at Carlton House by Francis Hervé in 1790 (illustrated in F. Collard, Regency Furniture, Suffolk 1985, p.37). A set of four sabre-leg armchairs with owl-masks (symbolising wisdom) carved on the armrests are in the library at Melford Hall, Suffolk, and were probably supplied by Morant & Co. as part of a larger set. (Gervase Jackson-Stops, 'Thomas Hopper at Melford and Erddig', National Trust Studies, 1980, p.72, fig.4).