Lot Essay
The chair-splat with its acanthus-wrapped ribbon loops relates to that of a ceremonial Master's Chair in the Freemason's Hall, London and a pattern illustrated in Thomas Chippendale's, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 3rd ed., 1762, pl. XI (E.T. Joy, Masonic Ceremonial Chairs', The Connoisseur, CLIX, p. 161, fig. 3 and 4). A set of parlour chairs, with this splat pattern and shell-centred crest-rail, was sold by G. Baron Ash, Esq, in these Rooms, 28 October 1954, lot 92. The latter originally had folding seat frames and had an added inscription 'T.H., 1826', which may refer to Thomas Higgs (d.1839), cabinet-maker of Whitechapel.