A GEORGE III MAHOGANY SOFA

Details

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY SOFA
The serpentine padded back, outscrolled arms and squab cushion covered in gross and petit point floral needlework, the back centred by a cartouche depicting a young couple dancing with two other figures, the outside of the sides and the reverse covered in red foliate silk damask, on square channelled legs joined by H-shaped stretchers, on later brass and leather casters, restorations, restored break to central back leg, later blocks, the back seat-rail replaced, the stretchers partially replaced, the needlework slightly earlier in date than the sofa
68 in. (173 cm.) wide

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's New York, 13 October 1990, lot 236.

Literature

D. Hall, 'Diane the Huntress', The World of Interiors, October, 1992, p. 161.

Lot Essay

The vignette of rustics celebrating the harvest derives from one of Claudine Bouzonnet's 'Pastorales' engravings entitled 'Le Soir' published in Paris in 1667 after a design by Jacques Stella (d.1657). These figures, worked in coloured worsted wools and silks, within ribboned frames, appear on a mid-18th Century sofa in the Lady Lever Art Gallery (M. Swain, 'Pictorial Chair Covers' Furniture History, 1975, figs. 179 and 180). A related serpentine-crested sofa was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 18 April 1996, lot 74.

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