ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM VILE & JOHN COBB, CIRCA 1760

The ‘picturesque’ serpentine form of this pair of side chairs or ‘Back stool chairs’ relates to the ‘French Chair’ pattern adopted by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) for the shop sign for his ‘Cabinet and Upholstery Warehouse’ in St. Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden, which he also included in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers Director, 1754. These chairs, formerly from a larger set of seat-furniture, were commissioned by Sir George Lyttelton, 5th Bt. and 1st Baron Lyttelton of Frankley (1709-73) for the Saloon at his Palladian villa, Hagley Hall, Worcestershire, where they were photographed by Country Life in 1915. As a patron of the arts, it is evident that Lord Lyttelton would look to one of the foremost London cabinet-makers such as William Vile (1700/05-67) & John Cobb (1715-78), with a workshop neighbouring that of Chippendale but in direct competition with him, who a year or so after these chairs were made held the Royal warrant from 1761-64. Vile was a former apprentice to the pre-eminent cabinet-maker, William Hallett Snr. (c. 1707-81), who also acted in some capacity probably as Vile & Cobb’s financial backer. The attribution to Vile & Cobb is reinforced by the close similarity between these chairs and another set supplied by the partnership to John Damer for Came House, Dorset, between 1756 and 1762, which are documented as having been supplied on 13 July 1761: ‘For 10 good mahogy. Back stool chairs with carv’d feet, stuft and covered with damask and finished compleat with Burnish Nails £23’. The Came household account also lists a ‘French armchair’ and a ‘good mahogy. sopha’ that together with a writing-table en suite are illustrated in A. Oswald, ‘Came House, Dorset – II’, Country Life, 27 February 1954, p. 573, figs. 7-9. The frames of the Came House chairs and writing-table feature a similarly conceived apron with channelled ornamentation and the sinuous cabriole legs with acanthus to the knee and scrolled foot. The Vile & Cobb attribution is reinforced by a mahogany cupboard attributed to Vile, which has a comparable carved apron (illustrated in R. Edwards, ‘Attributions to William Vile’, Country Life, 7 October 1954, p. 1155, fig. 4).
Another pair of chairs from the Hagley group was sold at Christie's, London, 14 June 2001, lot 51 (£78,550 inc. premium). It is worthy of note that some of the chairs in the Hagley group have small variations: for example, in the number of circles flanking the central cartouche.
A pair of mahogany side tables from Hagley with related carving to the apron and knees, attributed to Vile & Cobb, and celebrated as masterpieces of Georgian cabinet-making, sold Christie’s, London, 14 June 2001, lot 50, £465,750 inc. premium.