CIRCA 1750

This superb armchair forms part of a small group of identical armchairs which probably originally formed part of a larger set; one (with the lower splat inverted) was sold Christie's London, 22 April 2004, lot 29 (£45,410), another pair was advertised by C. Fredericks & Son of Old Brompton Road in Apollo, June 1970. These chairs are based on the designs of the provincial 'Windsor' chair and are related to a 1750s pattern executed by Richard Hewett at Slough, (see N. Goyne Evans, 'A History and Background of English Windsor Furniture', Furniture History, 1979, pp. 24-53, pl. 84), although he is unlikely their enigmatic maker as they are executed in the finest mahogany, and were more likely made by a leading London cabinet maker. A closely related set of fine mahogany 'Windsor' chairs, conceivably by the same maker, line the marble hall at Holkham Hall, the Norfolk seat of the Earls of Leicester. A possible link between the Holkham chairs and this chair comes in the form of an example illustrated in M. Harding-Hill, Windsor Chairs, Woodbridge, 2003, p. 76, which combines the legs and shaped back of the offered chair with the two tier spindle-back (omitting the central splats) of the Holkham chairs. A further pair of related George II mahogany 'Windsor' chairs was sold, Sotheby's New York, 11 & 12 April 1997, lot 751 ($46,000 incl.).