A SET OF EIGHT GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING-CHAIRS

CIRCA 1770, THE ARMCHAIRS WITH VARIATIONS TO THE CARVING AND PROBABLY ASSOCIATED

Details

A SET OF EIGHT GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING-CHAIRS
Circa 1770, the armchairs with variations to the carving and probably associated
Comprising two armchairs and six side chairs, each with a channelled oval back with beaded decoration, the side chairs with three fluted paterae centered on molded uprights, the armchairs with four paterae to the beaded uprights, with serpentine-fronted black close-nailed cotton upholstered seats, the armchairs with fluted rails between paterae carved blocks, with channelled, beaded, square tapered legs and spade feet, the side chairs with later shaping blocks to the underside of the seat-rails, three side chairs bearing a label, Frank Partridge/Works of Art/26, King St. St. James's/and/New York, all of the side chairs inscribed in yellow paint to the front-rail H6143, the side chairs with later blocks to the corners (8)

Provenance

Purchased by the present owner from Frank Partridge, London.

Lot Essay

A suite of eight dining-chairs of this precise pattern and possibly the same (although the armchairs match the side chairs) is illustrated in M. Harris and Sons, A Catalogue and Index of Old Furniture and Works of Decorative Art, vol.III, n.d. (circa 1928), p.336. An identical armchair is in the collection of Temple Newsam House (see C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, vol.II, Leeds, 1978, p.94, no.83. Another virtually identical armchair with only minor carved variations from the J. Thursby Pelham collection is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, New York, 1924, vol.I, p.255, fig.150.

A most interesting suite of this basic pattern comprising chairs, sofas and window seats commissioned for Sir John Trevelyan, 4th Baronet (d.1828) for Nettlecombe Court, Somerset was almost certainly supplied under the direction of Robert Adam, who was refurbishing the house in about 1770. The chairs from the suite differ in that the legs are headed by double foliate clasps, and the seat-rail is plain rather than fluted (see R.W. Symonds, 'Suite of Chairs and Sofas of the 18th Century', The Antique Collector, June 1958, pp.100-102, figs.7-10). A set of ten dining-chairs (eight period) of the Nettlecombe model and formerly in the noted collection of Mrs. A.E. Roach, was sold Sotheby's London, 15 November 1996, lot 54 (£89,500).

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