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Lot Essay
Patterns for related Grecian chairs, with reeded and patera-capped legs or upholstered 'klismos' backs, featured in Rudolph Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 1810 (P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture and Interiors, London, 1984, pls. 15 and 11).
The four figure number written on labels is characteristic of the Dublin firm of George and Samuel Gillington, who are recorded at various addresses and in various partnerships from 1815 to 1838. The number 6357 seems to have been their number for this pattern of chair, although it is usually stamped rather than written.
Their warehouses were mostly in Abbey Street and this inevitably led to confusion with the other well-known firm of Mack and Gibton, who also traded from there. George Gillington's trade card begged it 'to be observed that his house is in the NARROW PART of Abbey Str.' (D. Fitzgerald, 'Dublin Directories and Trade Labels', Furniture History, 1985, p. 266 and C. Gilbert and G. Beard, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, p. 341).
The attribution to Gillingtons is strengthened by the existence of a stamped set of fourteen chairs, of the same pattern but with plain front legs, that were supplied to Euseby Cleaver, Archbishop of Dublin, 1809-20 and offered in these Rooms, 7 July 1994, lot 40.
A pair of chairs of this exact pattern, with the same stamped number and castors was sold Christie's New York, 12 October 1996, lot 219. One of the latter also had its seat rail inscribed 'WB'. Another pair, also of the same pattern and possibly the present chairs, was sold Sotheby's London, 18 November 1994, lot 172.
The four figure number written on labels is characteristic of the Dublin firm of George and Samuel Gillington, who are recorded at various addresses and in various partnerships from 1815 to 1838. The number 6357 seems to have been their number for this pattern of chair, although it is usually stamped rather than written.
Their warehouses were mostly in Abbey Street and this inevitably led to confusion with the other well-known firm of Mack and Gibton, who also traded from there. George Gillington's trade card begged it 'to be observed that his house is in the NARROW PART of Abbey Str.' (D. Fitzgerald, 'Dublin Directories and Trade Labels', Furniture History, 1985, p. 266 and C. Gilbert and G. Beard, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, p. 341).
The attribution to Gillingtons is strengthened by the existence of a stamped set of fourteen chairs, of the same pattern but with plain front legs, that were supplied to Euseby Cleaver, Archbishop of Dublin, 1809-20 and offered in these Rooms, 7 July 1994, lot 40.
A pair of chairs of this exact pattern, with the same stamped number and castors was sold Christie's New York, 12 October 1996, lot 219. One of the latter also had its seat rail inscribed 'WB'. Another pair, also of the same pattern and possibly the present chairs, was sold Sotheby's London, 18 November 1994, lot 172.