This library-chair, whose arched legs are conjoined with the arms by a palm-flowered pattera, relates to a Roman 'curule' pattern executed for the connoisseur Thomas Hope and illustrated in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London, 1807 (pl.20). This chair, with caned seat for a leather cushion, corresponds to a set of chairs at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire, which are thought to have been acquired around 1900 by the first Lord Cawley P.C. (d.1937) (J. Cornforth, 'Berrinton Hall, Herefordshire', Country Life, 9 January 1992, p. 42, fig. 3).

A related set of six chairs was sold by Lady Marion Simpson-Baikie, in these Rooms, 23 July 1981, lot 96.