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Lot Essay
The inventory brand on these chairs indicates that they were in Cumberland Lodge in 1873. This inventory was presumably undertaken after the major repair and rebuilding operation in 1871-2 prior to its occupation by Queen Victoria's third daugher Princess Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Princess Helena lived in the house until 1923.
In 1811 the Prince Regent had instructed John Nash to alter Cumberland Lodge for his personal use, work which was abandoned in 1814. The house was still usable by the Prince's guests and there is an invoice for £2,000 for furniture from Tatham, Bailey and Sanders in 1815. It is possible, but unlikely, that these chairs were part of that commission and remained in the house throughout its 1815-73 changes of occupation (J. Roberts, Royal Landscape: The Gardens and Parks of Windsor, New Haven, 1997, pp. 343-4 and p. 576, n. 77). It is more likely that they were part of another commission, such as Windsor Castle.
These Grecian library chairs have scrolled backs with Ionic volutes flowered with palms and embellished with ebony tablets that are boulle-inlaid with golden palms. The rails are enriched with golden studs and with vine-carved tablets above the reed-ringed legs.
The unusual form of scrolled columnar legs also feature on a related inlaid mahogany 'Library Chair' after a Roman or Grecian pattern that appears in R. Ackermann, The Repository of Arts, 1810. Ackermann's pattern, like the one shown with golden-studded and palm-flowered ornament, illustrated in the previous year, is likely to have been supplied by the Strand manufacturers Morgan and Sanders. The style of both types of chair demonstrates the antique influence of Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807.
In 1811 the Prince Regent had instructed John Nash to alter Cumberland Lodge for his personal use, work which was abandoned in 1814. The house was still usable by the Prince's guests and there is an invoice for £2,000 for furniture from Tatham, Bailey and Sanders in 1815. It is possible, but unlikely, that these chairs were part of that commission and remained in the house throughout its 1815-73 changes of occupation (J. Roberts, Royal Landscape: The Gardens and Parks of Windsor, New Haven, 1997, pp. 343-4 and p. 576, n. 77). It is more likely that they were part of another commission, such as Windsor Castle.
These Grecian library chairs have scrolled backs with Ionic volutes flowered with palms and embellished with ebony tablets that are boulle-inlaid with golden palms. The rails are enriched with golden studs and with vine-carved tablets above the reed-ringed legs.
The unusual form of scrolled columnar legs also feature on a related inlaid mahogany 'Library Chair' after a Roman or Grecian pattern that appears in R. Ackermann, The Repository of Arts, 1810. Ackermann's pattern, like the one shown with golden-studded and palm-flowered ornament, illustrated in the previous year, is likely to have been supplied by the Strand manufacturers Morgan and Sanders. The style of both types of chair demonstrates the antique influence of Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807.