MID-18TH CENTURY

This serpentined and compass-seated parlour chair, with ribbon-fret back, reflects the 'new taste' at King George II's court, as illustrated in chair patterns issued in William de la Cour's First Book of Ornament (1741) and hall chair patterns in Matthias Darly's New Book of Chinese, Gothic and Modern Chairs (1751) (see E. White, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1990, pp.59 and 124). The back pattern also features on a pair of Chinese black-lacquered and gilt-flowered chairs sold from Warwick Castle in these Rooms, 21 March 1968, lot 108. A Cantonese hardwood suite comprising two armchairs and twelve chairs of this same exotic pattern, and likewise flowered with lotus-scrolls, was presented in 1819 to Lady Salisbury at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire (illustrated in the guide book, by Lord David Cecil, Hatfield House, 1992, p. 23); and another suite comprising a settee and twelve chairs was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 17 March 1967, lot 121; while a further set of fifteen chairs was sold from the collection of the late Mrs B.L. Urquhart, in these Rooms, 20 May 1971, lot 77. A set of twelve, was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 16 November 1995, lot 52.