.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This grand model of chair, known in the 18th century as a 'French chair', would have been conceived originally for a drawing room. Probably supplied as one of a set, the chairs were intended to stand against the wall when not in use.
The padded arms terminate in carved lions heads and rest on imbricated libation paterae. Similar lions head arm terminals appear on some of the grandest models of mid-18th century chairs including: a gilt mahogany armchair at Arundel Castle, Sussex (P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1924, vol. I, p. 233, fig. 80); and a mahogany armchair at Holkham Hall, Norfolk (A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig. 67). A pair of lion mask mahogany armchairs was sold from the collection of Theodore and Ruth Baum, Sotheby's, New York, 22 October 2004, lot 474.
The padded arms terminate in carved lions heads and rest on imbricated libation paterae. Similar lions head arm terminals appear on some of the grandest models of mid-18th century chairs including: a gilt mahogany armchair at Arundel Castle, Sussex (P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1924, vol. I, p. 233, fig. 80); and a mahogany armchair at Holkham Hall, Norfolk (A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig. 67). A pair of lion mask mahogany armchairs was sold from the collection of Theodore and Ruth Baum, Sotheby's, New York, 22 October 2004, lot 474.