POSSIBLY BY THOMAS CHIPPENDALE, CIRCA 1770

The chairs display a 'poetic' flowered and laurel-wreathed libation-patera and antique-fluted seat-rail. They conform suitably to what Christopher Gilbert has identified as the 'uniform character' of Thomas Chippendale's chair designs of the 1770s. Although he never repeated twice an exact decorative permutation, the basic arrangement of elements is common among most provenanced suites of this date. These examples relate most closely to the extensive suite supplied by Chippendale to Sir Penistone Lamb for the Saloon at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire in circa 1773 (see C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 263 and vol. II, p. 11, fig. 21 and p. 109, fig. 186; reproduced here). Chairs from the suite have been sold at Christie's London salesroom, most recently on 27 November 2002, lot 106. Another related model is the set of eight armchairs and two sofas in the Royal Collection which were at Windsor Castle in Victorian times and are likely to have been ordered by HRH Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester, who is known to have patronised Chippendale in 1764-6 (C. Gilbert, op.cit., vol. II, fig. 186). The tapering reeded form of the legs further compares to a set of armchairs supplied by Chippendale (Junior or Senior) for the White Drawing Room at Harewood House in 1779 (ibid, vol. II, fig. 199). A closely related chair is illustrated in D. Nickerson, English Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1963, p. 96.

Further support to a possible Chippendale attribution are the constructional features characteristic of his workshop, including the exposed back-struts, cramp-cuts and batten-holes (see: Gilbert, vol. I, p. 41).