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Lot Essay
This elegant form of sofa, designed in the George III French antique manner, relates to a 'cabriole' [cabriolet] sofa pattern featured in the 1787 Gillows Estimate Sketch Book, and relates to a type of japanned sofa popularised by Messrs A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's, Guide, 1788 (L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs, Royston, 1995, fig. 289).
The sofa, displaying the garlanded and lark-crested arms of Richard Hall Clarke (d. 1821), was commissioned around 1790 from the Aldersgate firm of George Seddon (d. 1801) for Bridwell, Uffculme, his elegant Devon villa which was drawn and engraved by T. Bonnor in 1793. The sofa and its ten en suite armchairs were invoiced in 1792 by Messrs. Seddon, Sons and Shackleton and supplied for Mary Clarke's Withdrawing Room, whose ceiling was decorated with 'armorial' wheat ears, as borne by the 'lark' crest embroidered on the sofa's back.
The sofa, to be covered with the owner's own needlework was invoiced at £12, while the set ten white and gold elbow chairs en suite was invoiced at £46 (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, pp. 796 and 797; J. Cornforth, 'Bridwell, Devon', Country Life, 19 March 1981, pp. 710-714, figs. 11 and 12).
The sofa, displaying the garlanded and lark-crested arms of Richard Hall Clarke (d. 1821), was commissioned around 1790 from the Aldersgate firm of George Seddon (d. 1801) for Bridwell, Uffculme, his elegant Devon villa which was drawn and engraved by T. Bonnor in 1793. The sofa and its ten en suite armchairs were invoiced in 1792 by Messrs. Seddon, Sons and Shackleton and supplied for Mary Clarke's Withdrawing Room, whose ceiling was decorated with 'armorial' wheat ears, as borne by the 'lark' crest embroidered on the sofa's back.
The sofa, to be covered with the owner's own needlework was invoiced at £12, while the set ten white and gold elbow chairs en suite was invoiced at £46 (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, pp. 796 and 797; J. Cornforth, 'Bridwell, Devon', Country Life, 19 March 1981, pp. 710-714, figs. 11 and 12).