Lot Essay
This distinctive chair pattern relates closely to designs published by Messrs. Mayhew and Ince in The Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762. Although interlaced strapwork was popularised by contemporaries including Thomas Chippendale and Robert Manwaring, the quatrefoils employed here are directly comparable with designs for Parlour chairs illustrated in Plate X (ibid). The unusual stretchers of angled faceted and squared form relate to those on chairs and stools from the Weller-Poley suite, of the same date, sold Christie's 3 July 1997, lots 20 - 22, and also attributed in the accompanying text by Anthony Coleridge to Mayhew and Ince.