The pattern for the arched backs of these 'parlour' chairs was published in Thomas Malton's Complete Treatise on Perspective, 1775 (pl. XXXIV, fig.131). The splat ornament of acanthus-framed urns relates to that featured in a 1770s sketch for chair patterns with fluted legs preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum's album of the work of John Linnel, (d.1796) of Berkeley Square (H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol.II, fig. 73). The fluted chair leg with reeded foot was also adopted at this period by Thomas Chippendale (d.1787). A pair of arch-backed armchairs with related vase-enriched splats, in the manner popularised by A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s, The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 19 November 1988, lot 73.