A Scottish George III mahogany armchair, the rectangular back, armpads and seat, upholstered in a nailed floral needlework, the moulded scrolled armrests carved with acanthus leaves, on moulded and rockwork-carved stiles, on interlaced foliate-carved square-chamfered supports, headed by pierced c-scroll and rockwork carved angle brackets

Details

A Scottish George III mahogany armchair, the rectangular back, armpads and seat, upholstered in a nailed floral needlework, the moulded scrolled armrests carved with acanthus leaves, on moulded and rockwork-carved stiles, on interlaced foliate-carved square-chamfered supports, headed by pierced c-scroll and rockwork carved angle brackets

Lot Essay

This serpentine-crested chair, with pilaster-legs richly fretted with acanthus-wrapped ribbon scrolls in the George II 'picturesque' manner, is upholstered in brilliantly coloured needlework. The latter's whimsically flowered pattern reflects an exotic Franco/Chinois style introduced in the early 18th Century by Huguenot immigrants, and relates to some bedhangings of that period incorporating eastern figures (see X. Brooke, Catalogue of Embroideries in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Bath, 1992 pp206-7)

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