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Lot Essay
Thomas Weeks established his museum of mechanical curiosities at 3 and 4 Tichborne Street in about 1797. Ingenious clocks, self-playing organs, toys, animated spiders and birds of paradise are recorded as forming part of Weeks's collection, which was sold off by auction in 1834 following his death. His premises also included an adjoining shop, where it is presumed that pieces signed by Weeks, were offered for sale (C. Gilbert, 'Some Weeks Cabinets Reconsidered', The Connoisseur, May 1971, pp. 13-18).
A metamorphic armchair of this model was published in Ackerman's Repository of Arts in July 1811 and was described as 'This ingenious piece of furniture is manufactured at Messrs Morgan and Saunder's, Catherine-St. Strand' (S. Jones and P. Agius, Ackerman's Regency Furniture and Interiors, 1984, fig. 29). An example by Morgan and Saunders is at Trinity College, Oxford (R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed, 1954, vol. II, p. 291, fig. 15).
A metamorphic armchair of this model was published in Ackerman's Repository of Arts in July 1811 and was described as 'This ingenious piece of furniture is manufactured at Messrs Morgan and Saunder's, Catherine-St. Strand' (S. Jones and P. Agius, Ackerman's Regency Furniture and Interiors, 1984, fig. 29). An example by Morgan and Saunders is at Trinity College, Oxford (R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed, 1954, vol. II, p. 291, fig. 15).