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Lot Essay
Furniture of this style, with Roman acanthus foliage-wrapped legs and scrolled Ionic feet, was introduced in the early 1760s under the direction of the court architect Sir William Chambers (d.1796) for Queen Charlotte's Buckingham House (now Palace).
The present stool has traditionally been thought part of the red damask suite supplied by the court upholsterer William Vile for the Queen's House 'Warm' Drawing Room and illustrated in Johann Zoffany's 1764 portrait of George, Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick (C. Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-century Decoration, London, 1993, pp. 252 and 253).
The various inventory stamps demonstrate that it was certainly in the Royal collection in the early 20th century when it, and chairs from the same suite, were sent from Kensington Palace to the Palace of Holyroodhouse (in 1911) for the first visit of King George V and Queen Mary. However, none of these items appears in the 1927 inventory, though at this date the Throne Room was being remodelled. The FF number refers to a Holyrood inventory but the manuscript does not survive.
The present stool has traditionally been thought part of the red damask suite supplied by the court upholsterer William Vile for the Queen's House 'Warm' Drawing Room and illustrated in Johann Zoffany's 1764 portrait of George, Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick (C. Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-century Decoration, London, 1993, pp. 252 and 253).
The various inventory stamps demonstrate that it was certainly in the Royal collection in the early 20th century when it, and chairs from the same suite, were sent from Kensington Palace to the Palace of Holyroodhouse (in 1911) for the first visit of King George V and Queen Mary. However, none of these items appears in the 1927 inventory, though at this date the Throne Room was being remodelled. The FF number refers to a Holyrood inventory but the manuscript does not survive.