.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The design of this armchair is closely related to a set of eight satinwood armchairs with ebony banding and caned seats supplied by Thomas Chippendale Junior (1749-1822) to Sir Richard Colt Hoare for the Cabinet Room at Stourhead, Wiltshire in 1802 (J. Goodison, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale Junior, London, 2017, pp. 318-319, fig. 114; R. Edwards, P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. edn., 1954, vol. I, p. 310, fig. 273). The pattern was evidently popular, since Chippendale supplied another similar pair in rosewood, and a further set of twelve in satinwood, with an additional cross-frame in the chair back made for the Picture Room. Another version of this model is also found in mahogany and parcel-gilt (illustrated Goodison, op. cit., p. 322, fig. 119).
The present chair, undoubtedly originally part of a larger set, was made for Charles Hoare (1767-1851), half-brother to Sir Richard Colt Hoare for Luscombe Castle, Devon. Luscombe Castle was designed by John Nash in 1799 in collaboration with Humphrey Repton, and completed in 1804. ‘Although work started almost immediately, it took nearly five years and cost £8,675 to build Luscombe, while a further £1,282 was spent buying all the trees and shrubs required to realise Repton’s vision for the grounds’ (P. Hunter, Through the Years: Tales from the Hoare’s Bank Archive, February 2011). Between 1796 and 1808, payments to Chippendale Junior are recorded in Charles Hoare's bank ledgers totalling £1,424. Some of the earlier payments were probably for the furnishing of the house Charles Hoare leased in Dawlish before Luscombe was built. Interestingly, the date of this chair corresponds with five payments in Charles Hoare’s bank ledgers to Chippendale Junior between February 1804 and December 1809, which came to £722 16s.
The present chair, undoubtedly originally part of a larger set, was made for Charles Hoare (1767-1851), half-brother to Sir Richard Colt Hoare for Luscombe Castle, Devon. Luscombe Castle was designed by John Nash in 1799 in collaboration with Humphrey Repton, and completed in 1804. ‘Although work started almost immediately, it took nearly five years and cost £8,675 to build Luscombe, while a further £1,282 was spent buying all the trees and shrubs required to realise Repton’s vision for the grounds’ (P. Hunter, Through the Years: Tales from the Hoare’s Bank Archive, February 2011). Between 1796 and 1808, payments to Chippendale Junior are recorded in Charles Hoare's bank ledgers totalling £1,424. Some of the earlier payments were probably for the furnishing of the house Charles Hoare leased in Dawlish before Luscombe was built. Interestingly, the date of this chair corresponds with five payments in Charles Hoare’s bank ledgers to Chippendale Junior between February 1804 and December 1809, which came to £722 16s.