18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTUY

Details

A SET OF FOUR GEORGE III MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIRS
18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTUY
Each back and seat covered in dark pink silk damask with 18th century yellow, gold and blue appliqué depicting parrots amongst foliage, on cabriole legs, headed by hairy-grotesque masks, on hairy-paw feet with leather castors, restorations and spliced repairs to all back legs
Each 38 ¼ in. (97 cm.) high; 23 ¼ in. (59 cm.) wide; 25 ½ in. (65 cm.) deep

Provenance

One pair: Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 19 June 1980, lot 21.
Christopher Cowlin, Lyegrove, Avon; Christie's house sale, 26 September 1988, lot 66.
The four: Anonymous sale; Bonhams, London, 3 July 2007, lot 23.
Acquired from Edward Hurst, October 2007.

Special notice

Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square not collected from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Crozier Park Royal (details below). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. If the lot is transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection on the third business day after the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm

Brought to you by

Benedict Winter Associate Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

These carved mahogany chairs relate to a set of seat-furniture in H.M. Treasury that comprises a giltwood chair of state and twelve mahogany chairs carved on the knees with lion-masks, the latter dating from 1730-40 (W.A. Thorpe, ‘Walpole and after’, Country Life, 12 January 1951, pp. 125-126). However, the Treasury chairs are undoubtedly from more than one set with the four largest chairs measuring 3 ft. 6 in. (106.68 cm.) high, seven chairs 3 ft. 3 in. (99.06 cm.) high, and one chair 3ft. 1 ½ in. (95.25 cm.) high. No craftsman has been identified to date as having supplied this seat-furniture but they were probably commissioned by Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer (generally regarded as the de facto first prime minister of Great Britain), following the architect-designer William Kent’s (1685-1748) creation of a new Treasury House (later 10 Downing Street) between 1732-35. Carved mahogany seat-furniture with lion-masks includes a set, c. 1725-30, formerly at Copped Hall, Essex, and another from Holkham, Norfolk (R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, vol. I, Woodbridge, 1954, plate XIV, fig. 122).

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