Lot Essay
The scrolled back and compass-ended Grecian sofa with caster-fitted columnar feet evolved from a 'Chaise Longue' pattern in Thomas Sheraton's The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 1793. One of these beech and caned sofas was commissioned by Edmund Pollexfen Bastard (d. 1835), following his succession in 1806 to the Kitley estates in Devon. This may have been the couch that was reupholstered in 1857 by the Ludgate Hill cabinet-maker and upholsterer, Robert Rough, and invoiced in Bed Room (K) as 'An extra [large] bedroom couch stufed [sic] with all horse hair ... A square pillow for ditto filled with feathers in fustian case. Covering couch with squab, bolster, & square pillow with damask, gimp, cord, & bolster rosette' (Kitley MSS).