CIRCA 1740

The chairs' scrolling decoration imitates English examples of the period, carved in gesso on a gilt surface. The chairs were produced in Canton for export under European supervision and often bear Chinese characters. Similar sets remain at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire and Wilton House, Wiltshire. This model is also in the Richard Milhender Collection and is illustrated in C.L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Woodbridge, 1991, p.230, pl.83.

A set of six chairs of this model was sold from the Collection of Lily and Edmond J. Safra, Sotheby's, New York, 3 November 2005, lot 179, and another pair was sold anonymously at Christie's, New York, 21 January 1999, lot 554.