A less elaborate version of this stately walnut-tree and gilt 'easy' chair at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, is likely to have been commissioned by Sir Robert Walpole as part of his furnishings around 1716 and may have been executed by Richard Roberts (d.1729), 'Chairmaker' to King George I (see: J.Cornforth, 'Houghton Hall', Country Life, 7 May 1987, p.107).
The elegantly serpentined and voluted scrolls of its winged arms would have been designed to harmonise with the architecture of a bed. One such is the hanging 'angel-tester' bed of Queen Anne pattern at Milton, Northamptonshire. It is likely to have been commissioned by John, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (d.1728) at the time of his succession in 1719 (see: J.Lees-Milne, 'Milton', Connoisseur, August 1960, p.4)
This chair appears to be en suite with a set of four side chairs from Worsborough Hall, Yorkshire, that are illustrated in M.Harris & Sons., The English Chair, London, 1937, p.94. The latter were for a time exhibited at The Governor's Palace, Colonial Williamsburg. The Worsborough Hall provenance may be simply a 19th or early 20th Century source for those chairs. The model is one of the grandest known and it would seem probable that the original source was a house where substantial and grand refurnishing was taking place at this time.