IN THE MANNER OF MATTHIAS DARLY, FIVE SIDE CHAIRS CIRCA 1740, THE OPEN ARMCHAIRS AND ONE SIDE CHAIR MODERN

This design derives from Continental prototypes of the early 18th Century and conforms to a pattern which was first seen in printed form in England in William de la Cour's First Book of Ornament of 1741. Although chairs of this basic model appear in portraits by Francis Hayman from as early as the 1740s, it was in the 1750s that they achieved widespread popularity through the publication of Matthias Darly's Second Book of Chairs, 1751 (pl. 41), which contains designs for eight such chairs with elaborate interlaced splats. With the rise of Neo-classicism in the 1760s the type passed out of fashion, but designs for chairs can still be found in Robert Manwaring's The Cabinet and Chair Maker's Real Friend and Companion, 1765 (pl. 6), and The Chair Maker's Guide, 1766.

A settee of similar design is illustrated in Desmond FitzGerald, 'Gravelot and his influence on English furniture', Apollo, vol. XV, August 1969, p. 143, fig. 11.