AFTER A DESIGN BY THOMAS HOPE, CIRCA 1810-1820

These Regency chairs are related to designs in the Greek revival taste for armchairs illustrated in Thomas Hope's (d. 1831) Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, plate XX, numbers 3 and 4. The pattern was described by Hope as 'after the manner of the ancient curule chairs' (Ed. David Watkin, Philip Hewat-Jaboor, Thomas Hope Regency Designer, New Haven and London, 2008, pp. 398-399, no. 79). A similar cross-framed armchair designed by Hope and belonging to the Edward James Foundation is on loan to the Royal Pavilion, Brighton (Thomas Hope, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, reprinted New York, 1971, p xi, fig. 6). Another example of the armchair is illustrated in Frances Collard, Regency Furniture, London, 1985, p.98, and again in Thomas Hope Regency Designer, p.399. A comparable armchair sold Bonham's, London, 29 June 2004, lot 152 (£19,120 including premium). A 'John Cox' is recorded in 1814 as a clothier and mill owner who lived and worked at Olivers in Painswick, and these chairs were possibly supplied to this wealthy mill owner in the early 19th century (Gloucestershire County Record Office, MSS D1181/2/5).