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Lot Essay
The settees' arched crest-rails of Pan's reed-clusters are entwined by Roman acanthus and crowned by Grecian palm-flowered medallions. They terminate in bacchic leopard heads that emerge from the Roman foliage that is clasped to the rails and arm-rests; while palm-flowered ribbon guilloches embellish their seat-rails and evoke the elegant Erechtheion, as popularised by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett's Antiquities of Athens, 1762. Apart from the leopards heads, the various elements feature on a 'confidant' settee pattern, with upholstery featuring ram-headed medallions, invented in 1780 by the architect Robert Adam (d. 1792) to accompany an armchair pattern that he had supplied the previous year to Sir Abraham Hume of Hill Street, London.
A related sofa with lion-headed ends to the reeded crest-rail, which is entwined by acanthus-husks, was sold by the 3rd Earl of Brownlow, in these Rooms, 3 May 1923, lot 102 and bought by Frank Partridge and Sons, Ltd. (E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, figs. 122-124).
A related sofa with lion-headed ends to the reeded crest-rail, which is entwined by acanthus-husks, was sold by the 3rd Earl of Brownlow, in these Rooms, 3 May 1923, lot 102 and bought by Frank Partridge and Sons, Ltd. (E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, figs. 122-124).