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Lot Essay
The chair's ribboned back, is fretted with a lozenged compartment, as featured in one of Thomas Chippendale's 'Gothick' patterns in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754, pl. XXI. The splat also features on a related eagle-clawed chair illustrated in J. Kirk, American Furniture and the British Tradition to 1830, New York, 1982, fig. 875.
A set of chairs with a very similar splat design was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 2 October 1992, lot 106. It incorporated five George III laburnum chairs. This is a wood almost exclusive to Scottish chair-making which suggests that the 'owl's eye' splat, which is loosely based on the designs of Robert Manwaring, is one that was particularly popular in Scotland.
A set of fruitwood chairs, also with the same splat design, was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 17 June 1993, lot 63 and another pair of walnut chairs was was sold from the Collection of Diane and Thomas Berger, in these Rooms, 12 February 1998, lot 48.
A set of chairs with a very similar splat design was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 2 October 1992, lot 106. It incorporated five George III laburnum chairs. This is a wood almost exclusive to Scottish chair-making which suggests that the 'owl's eye' splat, which is loosely based on the designs of Robert Manwaring, is one that was particularly popular in Scotland.
A set of fruitwood chairs, also with the same splat design, was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 17 June 1993, lot 63 and another pair of walnut chairs was was sold from the Collection of Diane and Thomas Berger, in these Rooms, 12 February 1998, lot 48.