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Lot Essay
These dining-chairs are a most sophisticated and ornate version of one of a type of dining-chair that came to dominate Gillows production in the 1820s and 1830s. The evidence of the building of the dining-room at Hackwood suggests that these chairs were made in 1813 or shortly afterwards which is extremely early for such a highly ornamented design. In particular, the pierecd toprail, almost colonial in inspiration, remained a very rare feature even later in the century when dining-chairs had become very ornate indeed.
Elements of the design can be found on a number of chairs from known Gillow commissions. The shape of the back and incised decoration appears on a set supplied to Belton House, Lincolnshire, in the mid-1820s and sold from there in Christie's house sale, 30 April - 2 May 1984, lot 55, and subsequently resold more than once. Those chairs in their turn were derived from a pattern originally for the dining-room at Linton for Earl Cornwallis, dated 1825 (E102, City of Westminster Archive Centre). The Estimate Sketch Book for 1822-1830, p. 3285, includes a chair design for S.H. Stewart Esq. which incorporates the rare feature of the acroteria-headed front leg but with an ornately carved back (344 101).
Elements of the design can be found on a number of chairs from known Gillow commissions. The shape of the back and incised decoration appears on a set supplied to Belton House, Lincolnshire, in the mid-1820s and sold from there in Christie's house sale, 30 April - 2 May 1984, lot 55, and subsequently resold more than once. Those chairs in their turn were derived from a pattern originally for the dining-room at Linton for Earl Cornwallis, dated 1825 (E102, City of Westminster Archive Centre). The Estimate Sketch Book for 1822-1830, p. 3285, includes a chair design for S.H. Stewart Esq. which incorporates the rare feature of the acroteria-headed front leg but with an ornately carved back (344 101).