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Lot Essay
A distinctly nineteenth-century invention the Metamorphic Library Chair was heralded as both a novel and practical object.
William Wilkinson (d. 1833), who stamped this piece, was an upholsterer and cabinet-maker, who traded from 1808 at 14 Ludgate Hill, London. He is particularly known for his patent furniture which was a great success. His sons, William and Charles, joined him in the business and it continued after their father's death as William & Charles Wilkinson. A nearly identical chair manufactured by Messrs. Morgan and Saunders, of Catherine Street, is illustrated in Ackermann's Repository of Arts, I, 6, pl. 3, p. 40, July 1811, A206 (reproduced in P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture & Interiors, 1984, p. 60, pl. 29).
William Wilkinson (d. 1833), who stamped this piece, was an upholsterer and cabinet-maker, who traded from 1808 at 14 Ludgate Hill, London. He is particularly known for his patent furniture which was a great success. His sons, William and Charles, joined him in the business and it continued after their father's death as William & Charles Wilkinson. A nearly identical chair manufactured by Messrs. Morgan and Saunders, of Catherine Street, is illustrated in Ackermann's Repository of Arts, I, 6, pl. 3, p. 40, July 1811, A206 (reproduced in P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture & Interiors, 1984, p. 60, pl. 29).