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Lot Essay
These armchairs with their shield-form backs of antique 'pelta' form are of a type much favoured by the architect James Wyatt (d. 1813). The chair design bears a marked similarity to a chair that features in an undated and unidentified room elevation by Wyatt illustrated in J. Cornforth and J. Fowler, English Decoration in the 18th Century, 1974, fig. 13 and reproduced here. The chair in the design is inscribed 'in canvas/5 Guin Each' which refers to the chair price prior to covering. The chair, part of a larger suite (window seats also feature in the drawing), features the same distinctive scrolled supports to the back, serpentined seat-rail and arms united with the front legs.
A suite of at least fifteen shield-form armchairs and three settees with the same bead and patera-enriched frame (together with a pair of candlestands) was supplied by Wyatt for the Drawing Room of Broome Park, Kent, circa 1778 when the interiors were remodelled for Sir Henry Oxenden, Bt. This suite appears in a photograph of the Drawing Room in a Country Life article of 6 July 1907, p. 20. Chairs and sofas from the suite were sold from a Private Collection, Sotheby's New York, 25 January 1997, lots 217-219.
The chairs feature cramp cuts and batten-carrying holes, which are constructional attributes that appear on the work of London makers Thomas Chippendale and Mayhew and Ince. Wyatt and Chippendale worked together on the refurbishment at Burton Constable, Yorkshire until Chippendale eventually replaced the architect. Remarkably, the furniture and pier-glasses in the Great Drawing Room designed by Wyatt in 1775-76 and supplied by Chippendale in circa 1778-79 remain at the house (J. Cornforth, 'Reflections on Golden Mirrors', Country Life, 2 August 2001, pp. 44-49). Aside from the obvious constructional features, these chairs relate stylistically to other documented seat furniture supplied by Chippendale. The palmette-carved cresting and outscrolled back supports feature on a set of six chairs supplied for the Circular Dressing Room at Harewood House in circa 1772 (C. Gilbert, The Life and Times of Thomas Chippendale, New York, 1978, vol. II, p. 114, fig. 198). The chandelle-ornamented fluted legs appear on the chairs supplied for the Saloon at Harewood (ibid, p. 107, fig. 181). It is interesting to note that the table that appears in the room elevation is very close in design to the tables still at Burton Constable thus raising the question as to whether this room design (and these chairs) may have been executed for William Constable.
A suite of at least fifteen shield-form armchairs and three settees with the same bead and patera-enriched frame (together with a pair of candlestands) was supplied by Wyatt for the Drawing Room of Broome Park, Kent, circa 1778 when the interiors were remodelled for Sir Henry Oxenden, Bt. This suite appears in a photograph of the Drawing Room in a Country Life article of 6 July 1907, p. 20. Chairs and sofas from the suite were sold from a Private Collection, Sotheby's New York, 25 January 1997, lots 217-219.
The chairs feature cramp cuts and batten-carrying holes, which are constructional attributes that appear on the work of London makers Thomas Chippendale and Mayhew and Ince. Wyatt and Chippendale worked together on the refurbishment at Burton Constable, Yorkshire until Chippendale eventually replaced the architect. Remarkably, the furniture and pier-glasses in the Great Drawing Room designed by Wyatt in 1775-76 and supplied by Chippendale in circa 1778-79 remain at the house (J. Cornforth, 'Reflections on Golden Mirrors', Country Life, 2 August 2001, pp. 44-49). Aside from the obvious constructional features, these chairs relate stylistically to other documented seat furniture supplied by Chippendale. The palmette-carved cresting and outscrolled back supports feature on a set of six chairs supplied for the Circular Dressing Room at Harewood House in circa 1772 (C. Gilbert, The Life and Times of Thomas Chippendale, New York, 1978, vol. II, p. 114, fig. 198). The chandelle-ornamented fluted legs appear on the chairs supplied for the Saloon at Harewood (ibid, p. 107, fig. 181). It is interesting to note that the table that appears in the room elevation is very close in design to the tables still at Burton Constable thus raising the question as to whether this room design (and these chairs) may have been executed for William Constable.