Lot 74
74
A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY LIBRARY ARMCHAIRS, each with rectangular padded back and seat covered in close-nailed ivory floral damask, the curved padded arms ending in out-turned realistically carved dolphins' heads on down-curved supports carved with foliage and trellis ornament, the shaped front rail centred by foliate shells and incised with trellis-pattern, the waved sides carved with scrolls centred by shells on cabriole legs carved with acanthus developing into upturned dolphins with bared teeth, the splayed back legs with pointed pad feet, one with later inner frame, both with minor repairs to seat-rails, feet and arms, both labelled FRANK PARTRIDGE WORKS OF ART 26, KING ST. ST. jAMES'S AND NEW YORK

Details
A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY LIBRARY ARMCHAIRS, each with rectangular padded back and seat covered in close-nailed ivory floral damask, the curved padded arms ending in out-turned realistically carved dolphins' heads on down-curved supports carved with foliage and trellis ornament, the shaped front rail centred by foliate shells and incised with trellis-pattern, the waved sides carved with scrolls centred by shells on cabriole legs carved with acanthus developing into upturned dolphins with bared teeth, the splayed back legs with pointed pad feet, one with later inner frame, both with minor repairs to seat-rails, feet and arms, both labelled FRANK PARTRIDGE WORKS OF ART 26, KING ST. ST. jAMES'S AND NEW YORK
The seats 27½in. (70cm.) wide; the backs 41in. (107cm.) high (2)
Provenance
Lady Hague, The Chantry, Elstree, sold Sotheby's London, 23 June 1961, lot 150, #3000 to Partridge

Lot Essay

The closest parallel to this pair of armchairs is a large set with very similar imbricated cabriole legs, dolphin feet and arm-support finials. One of this set is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (W.5-1959), as well as a matching stool (W.39-1946); another is in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight (illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. edn., London, 1954, vol. I, p.278, fig. 161). Four chairs, also from this same set, were sold from the collection of the late A.C.J. Wall, Esq., Christie's, London, 19 November 1970, lot 135 and again Sotheby's, London, 18 July 1975, lots 126 and 127.
The unusual dolphin feet of all the above chairs are close to those on a design for a 'French Chair' in Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director 2nd Edn., 1755, pl.XX

The imbricated decoration also appears on the frames of a set of eight chairs, supplied by John Gordon to the 2nd Duke of Atholl in 1756 and still at Blair Castle, (illustrated A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, pl.87)

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