ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS CHIPPENDALE SENIOR AND JUNIOR, CIRCA 1775-80

This armchair can be attributed to Chippendale’s workshop based on both constructional and stylistic features that are consistent throughout his documented work. The cuts to the corner of the chair’s seat frame are Chippendale’s signature ‘cramp cuts’ as is the exposed back strut on the reverse of the chair. The late 1770s and 1780s were a transitional period at the workshop when Thomas Chippendale Junior was slowly taking charge. Ornamental features of this chair are seen in both their documented work such as the set of armchairs supplied to the salon at Burton Constable c.1778 (C. Gilbert, Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978 p.112 figs.192-4) which shares the distinctive back strut, arm supports and back legs. A further armchair also ordered for the salon at Mersham also shares these features and has a scallop shell cresting (Ibid, p. 115, fig. 201). The transition to Thomas Chippendale Junior’s work can be seen in an armchair supplied to Stourhead from around 1780 illustrated in J. Goodison, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale Junior, London, 2107, p.304, fig.90.