This form of broad 'easy chair', with serpentined frame and bergère-upholstered arms, corresponds to the pair of Genoa velvet chairs supplied in 1730 by George Nix (d. 1751) for the state drawing room at Ham House, Surrey and described at the time as 'love seats' (P. Thornton, 'The Furnishing and Decoration of Ham House', Furniture History, 1980, p. 181 and fig. 156). The chair's wave-scrolled rails enriched with flowered tablets corresponds to the George II fashion of the 1730s, while its serpentined legs are embellished with vestal heads relating to those of a suite of chairs in the posession of the Duke of Buccleuch, illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed., 1954, pl. XV. The same legs, but with different brackets, feature on a set of six single chairs and a matching easy chair at Hall, Barnstaple, Devon, sold Sotheby's house sale, 11 November 1996, lot 53. The present chair is likely to have formed part of the furnishings introduced to Broome Park, Kent by Sir Basil Dixwell, Bt. (d.1750).