ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS CHIPPENDALE, CIRCA 1775

Many features of this chair are shared with several suites of furniture executed by the Chippendale firm in the 1770s. The palm-flowered ornament with its elegant Roman-medallioned back in the Louis Seize 'cabriolet' fashion most closely corresponds to a suite supplied in circa 1778 for William Constable of Burton Constable, Yorkshire (a chair from the suite reproduced here). The 'Etruscan' pearl-string that wreaths the back also features on a medallion chair pattern drawn for Constable in the late 1770s by Thomas Chippendale Junior (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, pl. 192-195 and 202). Moreover, the distinctive reeded front legs are shared with the set of japanned hall chairs supplied by Chippendale to Nostell Priory in circa 1775 (C. Gilbert, Op. cit, pl. 157). Additionally, the typical leaf-cup bracket beneath the arm support appears on numerous documented Chippendale productions including commissions for the Tapestry Room at Newby Hall in (circa 1775), the salon at Nostell Priory (circa 1778), and various designs for rooms at Harewood House between 1770 and 1773 (C. Gilbert, ibid, pl. 178-201). This chair also has the constructional features that have been identified as characteristic of his workshop, including V-shaped clamp-cuts, batten-holes and exposed back-strut.

A related single armchair was sold anonymously at Christie's King Street, 14 June 2001, lot 28 (£17,625).