BY GILLOW, OF LANCASTER AND LONDON, CIRCA 1862

This pair of cameo-enriched chairs, and an accompanying china-cabinet, were conceived around 1860 by Gillow of London and Lancaster in their Louis Seize 'Pompeian' manner, to serve as exemplars of their artistic furniture manufactures displayed in the Renaissance-style halls of the 1862 London International Exhibition. Gillow, under Leonard Redmayne's directorship, had been amongst the English furniture manufacturers praised at the Paris 1855 International Exhibition for their employment of foreign designers; and a strong French influence is reflected in the design of these rich-inlaid and superbly crafted drawing-room chairs. The chairs and cabinet formed part of the art collection assembled at his London house in Lancaster Gate by the 19th century philanthropist John Derby Allcroft (d. 1888). In 1892 his son Herbert John Allcroft removed the chairs to the Drawing Room of Stokesay Court, Shropshire, where they were photographed in situ shortly afterwards (see Sotheby's House sale 28 September 1994, page 93).
In the Record of the International Exhibition the author comments Messrs. Gillow & Company exhibit a very fine Cabinet for the reception of china...... and several chairs, one of which is in the style of the cabinet.