Lot Essay
The pattern for these gilt-enriched and antique-bronzed chairs corresponds to that of a cane-seated chair acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1939 from Messrs. Pratt of Brompton Road, which was advertised in Connoisseur in December 1939 and illustrated in R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, fig. 187. Another chair from the same set was acquired by the Holburne Museum, Bath from the collection of Sir Hector Duff in 1954.
A pattern for a 'parlour chair' with Etruscan-scrolled feet and arabesque sphynx arm-supports emerging from Roman acanthus featured in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, pl. 55, published in 1808 by King George IV. It was accompanied by other patterns of antique form, one with its arm supported by the wings of its griffin-monopodia, and another with carved back-uprights terminating in voluted scrolls.
However, the closest pattern, engraved in 1805, was for a parlour chair with satyr or goat monopiae, (ibid., pl. 40). The 'taste and elegance' of such chairs when executed in 'burnished gold, with parts of bronze' was also noted by Smith. Their French style, in the manner popularised by C. Percier and P. Fontaine's Receuil de décorations Intérieures, 1802, may also reflect the influence of the 1803 Treaty of Amiens, which also provided cabinet-makers such as Thomas Chippendale Junior (d. 1822) with the opportunity to visit Paris. Smith's patterns in the antique manner were much influenced by the furnishings of the connoisseur Thomas Hope's Duchess mansion/museum, and his table featuring Egyptian sphynx monopodiae with cut-away costumes may have influenced the design of this chair pattern (T. Hope, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, p. 7). An armchair with all-over padded back, from what appears to be part of the same suite, comprising six armchairs and a settee was illustrated M. Harris, The English Chair, 1937, pl. XCII (check also E.T. Joy, English Furniture, p. 74). A corresponding armchair, but with carved back-uprights was sold Sotheby's, 20 November 1981, lot 122; and a similar bergere at Sotheby's, 22 February 1991, lot 299. This or a similar bergere was also sold at Sotheby's, 19 November 1993, lot 129; and possibly again, with a pair of later date, at Christie's New York, 16 April 1994, lot 148.
A pattern for a 'parlour chair' with Etruscan-scrolled feet and arabesque sphynx arm-supports emerging from Roman acanthus featured in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, pl. 55, published in 1808 by King George IV. It was accompanied by other patterns of antique form, one with its arm supported by the wings of its griffin-monopodia, and another with carved back-uprights terminating in voluted scrolls.
However, the closest pattern, engraved in 1805, was for a parlour chair with satyr or goat monopiae, (ibid., pl. 40). The 'taste and elegance' of such chairs when executed in 'burnished gold, with parts of bronze' was also noted by Smith. Their French style, in the manner popularised by C. Percier and P. Fontaine's Receuil de décorations Intérieures, 1802, may also reflect the influence of the 1803 Treaty of Amiens, which also provided cabinet-makers such as Thomas Chippendale Junior (d. 1822) with the opportunity to visit Paris. Smith's patterns in the antique manner were much influenced by the furnishings of the connoisseur Thomas Hope's Duchess mansion/museum, and his table featuring Egyptian sphynx monopodiae with cut-away costumes may have influenced the design of this chair pattern (T. Hope, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, p. 7). An armchair with all-over padded back, from what appears to be part of the same suite, comprising six armchairs and a settee was illustrated M. Harris, The English Chair, 1937, pl. XCII (check also E.T. Joy, English Furniture, p. 74). A corresponding armchair, but with carved back-uprights was sold Sotheby's, 20 November 1981, lot 122; and a similar bergere at Sotheby's, 22 February 1991, lot 299. This or a similar bergere was also sold at Sotheby's, 19 November 1993, lot 129; and possibly again, with a pair of later date, at Christie's New York, 16 April 1994, lot 148.