Lot Essay
The chairback, of Grecian pelta-shield form with palm-flower splats radiating from a sunflower medallion, derives from a 'bar-back' sofa pattern published in Messrs. A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s The Cabinet-Maker and Uphosterer's Guide, 1788, (pl. 26), and on a 'Camel back stay rail' chair featured in the late 1780s archives of Gillows of London and Lancaster (L. Boynton (ed.), Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, fig. 260). A chair with closely-related back is illustrated in J. Kirk, American Furniture and the British Tradition to 1830, New York, 1982, no. 1053.