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Lot Essay
This sophisticated chair design is a very good representation of the 'French chair' pattern that was extremely fashionable in London and Dublin during the late 1750s. Probably the earliest chair design published in England that incorporates acanthus foliage emerging from a Venus scallop-shell is one of those in Gaetano Brunetti's Sixty Different Types of Ornament, published in London in 1736 (see: E. White, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1990, p. 99). The type was later developed in patterns published by Thomas Chippendale, including one in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, London, 3rd. ed., 1762, pl. XXIII (see: E. White, op.cit., p. 101).
A 'burjair' chair of a similar type, on which the ornament is reduced almost to the shells alone, was supplied in the late 1750s to Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness for Hornby Castle, Yorkshire. Holderness was an early patron of the Soho firm of Samuel Norman (d.1768) and James Whittle (d.1759). Their partnership began in 1755 and they are thought to have supplied the Hornby Castle 'burjairs', one of which was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 9 July 1992, lot 92. Further evidence that chairs of this type were being produced by the most fashionable London chair-makers in the late 1750s is provided by a suite of which the larger part remains in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. Two armchairs from the suite were sold from the collection of the late 1st Viscount Leverhulme, The Hill, Hampstead, Anderson Galleries, New York, 13 February 1926 (=5th day), lots 501-502. The Leverhulme suite of chairs are of a very similar type to the present pair and had originally come from what was probably the most distinguished series of English rococo interiors at Chesterfield House, London. The furniture at Chesterfield House was of the highest quality and the chairs of this type would have been supplied by one of the very best makers, possibly Whittle and Norman themselves
A chair from a very closely related suite with scrolled back feet is illustrated in C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, 1983, p. 40 and one of those was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 6 December 1973, lot 106. Two others were sold from the collection of the late Sir Michael Sobell, in these Rooms, 23 June 1994, lot 121.
A 'burjair' chair of a similar type, on which the ornament is reduced almost to the shells alone, was supplied in the late 1750s to Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness for Hornby Castle, Yorkshire. Holderness was an early patron of the Soho firm of Samuel Norman (d.1768) and James Whittle (d.1759). Their partnership began in 1755 and they are thought to have supplied the Hornby Castle 'burjairs', one of which was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 9 July 1992, lot 92. Further evidence that chairs of this type were being produced by the most fashionable London chair-makers in the late 1750s is provided by a suite of which the larger part remains in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. Two armchairs from the suite were sold from the collection of the late 1st Viscount Leverhulme, The Hill, Hampstead, Anderson Galleries, New York, 13 February 1926 (=5th day), lots 501-502. The Leverhulme suite of chairs are of a very similar type to the present pair and had originally come from what was probably the most distinguished series of English rococo interiors at Chesterfield House, London. The furniture at Chesterfield House was of the highest quality and the chairs of this type would have been supplied by one of the very best makers, possibly Whittle and Norman themselves
A chair from a very closely related suite with scrolled back feet is illustrated in C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, 1983, p. 40 and one of those was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 6 December 1973, lot 106. Two others were sold from the collection of the late Sir Michael Sobell, in these Rooms, 23 June 1994, lot 121.