This splat design is loosely based on the designs of Robert Manwaring and it appears to have been particularly popular in Scotland. A set of chairs of this back design was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 2 October 1992, lot 106. The set incorporated five George III laburnum chairs, which is a wood almost exclusive to Scottish chair-making. This possibility is supported by a set of fruitwood dining-chairs, of the same design and with a Scottish provenance, that was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 17 June 1993, lot 63. When illustrated in Cescinsky, op.cit., the set comprised six side chairs and two corner chairs.
Mrs. Abington is painted leaning over the back of a chair of this type in Sir Joshua Reynolds' painting of her as Miss Prue in Love for Love. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1771 and is now in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon