Lot Essay
These handsome 'back stools', with squared paw feet and acanthus 'fetlock' above flattened and serpentined H-shaped stretchers, closely resemble that depicted in a portrait of John Conry (1704-69) of Shankhill and Bettifield, Co. Roscommon. Interestingly, Irish chairmakers continued to have stretchers long after advances in design meant English chairs were made without them. A related pair of chairs, with slightly different proportions, is illustrated in Glin & Peill, Irish Furniture, 2007, fig. 133.