A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY ARMCHAIRS

CIRCA 1760

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY ARMCHAIRS
Circa 1760
Each with yoke crestrail with flowerhead ears issuing acanthus vines, the fluted stiles centered by a pierced and interlocking splat headed by acanthus-carved cabochons above a gadrooned shoe, the outturned arms on leaf-sheathed uprights, the drop-in seats above acanthus-bracketed cabriole legs with pad feet, one seat upholstered in later floral needlework worked by Hellen Ingram Merrill, initialed and dated 1932, and the other upholstered in red and white-striped silk (2)

Provenance

Charles E. Merrill, 'The Orchard', Southampton, New York.
Thence by descent.

Lot Essay

With their interlaced scrolling pierced splats, this pair of armchairs corresponds to chairs supplied by William and John Linnell for William Drake at Shardeloes, Buckinghamshire, in 1765 (see William and John Linnell, New York, 1980, vol. II, pp. 26-27, figs. 46-47) that are in turn based on a Linnell design of 1760-65 (op.cit., p. 25, fig. 45 and reproduced here). Other chairs of this design include an armchair illustrated in H. Cescinsky, English Furniture from Gothic to Sheraton, New York, 1968, p. 261; a pair of armchairs sold by Eleanor, Lady Abercromby, Christie's London, 13 February 1975, lot 48; a set of six side chairs sold anonymously, Christie's London, 6 July 1989, lot 32; the Upton House suite of dining chairs supplied by Linnell to Robert Child that sold Christie's London, 16 June 2001, lot 20 (£245,750); and a set of seven dining chairs sold from the Estate of James Lane Jefferson, sold in these Rooms, 18 October 2001, lot 32 ($18,800).

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