Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary, 1803 (pl. 31) featured the antique patterned chair-back with pelta-shields born by Roman eagles. A pair of chairs of this same pattern, but lacking palm-flowered finials, was sold of Garrick C. Stephenson, Christies New York, 29 October 1993, lot 115. A set of four chairs of related pattern, and featuring palm-flowered pelta-shields was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 30 September 1994, lot 119 (see also front cover). Sheraton's pattern appears to be refined from a richly-carved hall-seat that featured in the Lady Lever Art Gallery (see P. Macquoid, English Furniture, Tapestry and Needlework of the XVIth - XIXth Centuries, London, 1928, vol. 111, no. 266).