This settee derives from the tripartite-back settee with bergère sides in the Louis XVI 'antique' manner, illustrated in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, London, 1791-4, fig. 46, but its bold Grecian ornament, such as the festive lion-masks bearing folded drapery, relate to the 'baluster' curtain cornices engraved by George Smith, Upholsterer to George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, and published in his Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808, pl. 8.

A baluster crested chair with lion-headed arms featured in Thomas Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 1814, where it is described as being 'black and the ornamental parts in gold' and having a 'cushion made to fit exactly to the seat which is either caned or covered with strong linen' (P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture and Interiors, London, 1984).

The diplomat and architect Lord Gerald Wellesley, later 7th Duke of Wellington (1885 - 1972), following his marriage to Dorothy Ashton in 1914, formed a collection of then-called 'Empire' furniture in his Titchfield Street house. He was, along with the likes of Edward James, responsible for a revival in popularity of the Regency during the years between the two wars (see: Collard, op.cit., pp. 267 - 273)