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Lot Essay
This sofa is embellished in the Regency/George IV 'antique' manner with inlaid foliate panels of 'Buhl' work, rosettes, acanthus, lotus, quatrefoils and reeds gadrooning the tapering block feet; combining elements of the Grecian, Egyptian and Gothic tastes that were made popular through the designs of artist/architects such as Thomas Hope, George Bullock, George Oakley and George Smith.
The 'stele-shaped' arm supports and panelled seatrails are related to the design by George Bullock for a sofa commissioned on the instruction of the Prince Regent to be supplied to the exiled Emperor Napoleon for New Longwood House on the island of St. Helena, circa 1815, later published in Richard Brown's Rudiments of Drawing Cabinet and Upholstery Furniture, 1922 (pl. XII). However, in case of the present sofa the arm supports are capped by Gothic quatrefoils rather than pointed cusps inset with flowering anthemion, as in Bullock's design for Napoleon.
Such brass-inlaid decoration often found in Bullock's oeuvre is also typical of fine rosewood furniture designed by George Oakley. This sofa may have been designed by the 'artist' John Taylor during his service at Oakley's 'Elegant Furniture Warehouse' in Bond Street, who later established his own premises at 16 Bedford Court, Covent Garden. Taylor's design for a 'Dress Sofa' featuring acanthus carving, panelled seatrails, toprail and straight (rather than Grecian curved) back on large tapering reeded legs was published in Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 1821 (P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture and Interiors, Marlborough, 1984, p. 132, pl. 116) and can be related to this sofa.
The 'stele-shaped' arm supports and panelled seatrails are related to the design by George Bullock for a sofa commissioned on the instruction of the Prince Regent to be supplied to the exiled Emperor Napoleon for New Longwood House on the island of St. Helena, circa 1815, later published in Richard Brown's Rudiments of Drawing Cabinet and Upholstery Furniture, 1922 (pl. XII). However, in case of the present sofa the arm supports are capped by Gothic quatrefoils rather than pointed cusps inset with flowering anthemion, as in Bullock's design for Napoleon.
Such brass-inlaid decoration often found in Bullock's oeuvre is also typical of fine rosewood furniture designed by George Oakley. This sofa may have been designed by the 'artist' John Taylor during his service at Oakley's 'Elegant Furniture Warehouse' in Bond Street, who later established his own premises at 16 Bedford Court, Covent Garden. Taylor's design for a 'Dress Sofa' featuring acanthus carving, panelled seatrails, toprail and straight (rather than Grecian curved) back on large tapering reeded legs was published in Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 1821 (P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture and Interiors, Marlborough, 1984, p. 132, pl. 116) and can be related to this sofa.