Lot Essay
When Edwin Lascelles, later Lord Harewood (d.1795) consulted Robert Adam (d.1794), architect to King George III's Board of Works, for the embellishment of his Yorkshire mansion, Harewood House in 1765, it was intended that the magnificent villa should be furnished in his elegant antique manner combining Grecian and Roman elements. This pair of golden chairs formed part of a suite of seat-furniture likely to have been commissioned in the late 1760s from Thomas Chippendale (d.1779) of St. Martin's Lane. (Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol.II, p.38, fig.61). They are conceived in his French 'cabriolet' manner, and are embellished with Roman acanthus, tied to Grecian-medallioned backs by a pearled-ribbon guilloche, while more foliage festoons and Grecian-palms enrich their antique-fluted rails and serpentined legs. They were designed for the red damask apartment, en-suite with a 'French Couch bedstead with Dome Top in Burnished Gold and Crimson Damask Hangings' that Chippendale upholstered in 1769. The bed, sold by Lord Harewood in these Rooms, London, 1 April 1976 (lot 44) has since been reunited at Bolling Hall, Yorkshire, with its guardian crane, emblematic of 'Vigilence', that was sold from the property of Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Harewood, and the executors and Trustees of the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Harewood, K.G., G.C.V.O., D.S.O., deceased, in these Rooms, 28 June 1951, lot 36 (Christopher Gilbert, op.cit., vol.II, p. 38, fig. 61).
In July 1767 Chippendale recorded that having looked over the whole of Harewood, he 'Should want a Many designs..and went to York to do them' (Christopher Gilbert, op.cit., vol. I, p. 196). It is also known that furniture arrived from London in April 1769 and these chairs may have been amongst the first consignment. It is worth noting that the suite supplied shortly afterwards for the green damask apartment comprised two sofas, eighteen oval-backed 'cabriole' chairs and a pair of stools, so a similar number of chairs may originally have existed in the red damask bedroom and dressing room. Also in view of the harmony of ornament introduced by Adam and Chippendale in their furnishings, it is likely that the same apartment housed the pair of similarly carved mirrors sold by the Harewood Charitable Trust in these Rooms, 10 April 1986, lot 81. These mirrors, like the chairs, also have indented oval frames recalling that often found enclosing palmettes in Grecian architecture.
A set of four armchairs from this suite was sold by The Earl of Harewood, in these Rooms, 1 July 1965, lot 55, and a further armchair of this design in stripped limewood was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 23 February 1990, lot 84.
A further set of six armchairs is illustrated in the 1996 Partridge catalogue, cat.19.
In July 1767 Chippendale recorded that having looked over the whole of Harewood, he 'Should want a Many designs..and went to York to do them' (Christopher Gilbert, op.cit., vol. I, p. 196). It is also known that furniture arrived from London in April 1769 and these chairs may have been amongst the first consignment. It is worth noting that the suite supplied shortly afterwards for the green damask apartment comprised two sofas, eighteen oval-backed 'cabriole' chairs and a pair of stools, so a similar number of chairs may originally have existed in the red damask bedroom and dressing room. Also in view of the harmony of ornament introduced by Adam and Chippendale in their furnishings, it is likely that the same apartment housed the pair of similarly carved mirrors sold by the Harewood Charitable Trust in these Rooms, 10 April 1986, lot 81. These mirrors, like the chairs, also have indented oval frames recalling that often found enclosing palmettes in Grecian architecture.
A set of four armchairs from this suite was sold by The Earl of Harewood, in these Rooms, 1 July 1965, lot 55, and a further armchair of this design in stripped limewood was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 23 February 1990, lot 84.
A further set of six armchairs is illustrated in the 1996 Partridge catalogue, cat.19.