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Lot Essay
The model for this pair of parcel-gilt and green painted armchairs corresponds to a set of French-inspired mahogany armchairs supplied by Thomas Chippendale the Younger (d. 1822) to Sir Richard Colt Hoare for the Library at Stourhead, Wiltshire. From 1795 to 1820, Chippendale was commissioned to supply furniture and furnishings for Stourhead, and on 24 May 1805, the accounts record a set of ‘8 Mahogany Chairs with circular Backs broad sweep pannelld tops with Scrole Elbows, carved Egyptian heads & fluted therm feet, the rails moulded & carved, cane seats & brass socket castors for Library’ that totalled £76, which are closely comparable (J. Goodison, ‘Thomas Chippendale the Younger at Stourhead’, Furniture History, vol. 41, 2005, p. 86, no. 29; p. 201). The chairs were accompanied by ‘8 thick Quilted Cushions for ditto covered with fine Athenian red Cloth tyed down with Yellow & black tuft. 1 of the cushions covered with Yellow leather’ at £21 (ibid.).
Other furniture in the Stourhead Library also featured carved heads, a splendid Library table with philosophers’ and Egyptian heads, and a mahogany table, likewise with Egyptian heads. The Stourhead Library armchairs were later illustrated in a watercolour drawing of the Library by J.C. Buckler (July 1811) (ibid., p. 67, fig. 6).
Chippendale is believed to have visited Paris in the early 19th century where he made sketches of French furniture (ibid., p. 60). The present armchairs, and the armchairs at Stourhead, ‘show French influence in the manner in which the broad yoke-shaped top rail extends round in one piece to form the arm rests; in the way in which one piece of mahogany is used for the front legs rising to support the arm rests; and in the circular shaped seats. Chippendale was probably the first cabinet-maker in England to use Egyptian motifs on his furniture, a motif in use in France from the late 1790s’ (ibid.).
Three pairs of these armchairs including the present example sold Christie's, London, 18 November 1993, lots 50-52 (each £10,350 including premium) (this pair, one chair from lot 50, another from lot 51). A further pair of white-painted mahogany armchairs of this design sold Christie’s, London, 17 November 1994, lot 59 (£10,350 including premium).
Other furniture in the Stourhead Library also featured carved heads, a splendid Library table with philosophers’ and Egyptian heads, and a mahogany table, likewise with Egyptian heads. The Stourhead Library armchairs were later illustrated in a watercolour drawing of the Library by J.C. Buckler (July 1811) (ibid., p. 67, fig. 6).
Chippendale is believed to have visited Paris in the early 19th century where he made sketches of French furniture (ibid., p. 60). The present armchairs, and the armchairs at Stourhead, ‘show French influence in the manner in which the broad yoke-shaped top rail extends round in one piece to form the arm rests; in the way in which one piece of mahogany is used for the front legs rising to support the arm rests; and in the circular shaped seats. Chippendale was probably the first cabinet-maker in England to use Egyptian motifs on his furniture, a motif in use in France from the late 1790s’ (ibid.).
Three pairs of these armchairs including the present example sold Christie's, London, 18 November 1993, lots 50-52 (each £10,350 including premium) (this pair, one chair from lot 50, another from lot 51). A further pair of white-painted mahogany armchairs of this design sold Christie’s, London, 17 November 1994, lot 59 (£10,350 including premium).