This sofa, with brass inlay, ormolu enrichments and richly tasselled passementerie in the French manner, is designed in the Regency 'antique' manner with columnar legs and Grecian stele-shaped arms. It relates to a sofa pattern invented by George Bullock (d. 1818), cabinet-maker and upholsterer, shortly after he opened his Grecian Rooms in Piccadilly in 1810. (Supplied to M. R. Boulton at Tew Park, a pair of sofas in 1817, and subsequently sold anonymously in these Rooms, 8 July 1993, lot 107). The basic pattern for this Grecian scroll-backed sofa featured in Richard Brown's Rudiments of Drawing Cabinet and Upholstery Furniture, 1820. A closely related pair of brass-inlaid sofas was supplied to John Fleming Leicester, Baron de Tabley (d. 1829) for Tabley House, Cheshire.
This sofa is in Bullock's more grandiose and ormolu-mounted style. The closest comparison is with a sofa supplied to Don Pedro de Sonza e Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmella (1781-1850), and subsequently sold in these Rooms, 25 June 1987, lot 174. Three pelmets from that commission are lot 35 in this sale.