Lot Essay
A number of chairs of a similar pattern are known. The Irish provenance of some of these sets raises the possibility that the firm producing these chairs may be Irish in origin. An identical set of six armchairs and six side chairs belonging to Lord Emly at Tervoe, Co. Limerick is illustrated in M. Harris and Sons, The English Chair, 2nd ed., 1946, p. 160, pl LXXXVIIIA. Another virtually identical set at Lexlip Castle, Co.Kildare is illustrated in situ in the dining room in J.Cornforth, The Inspiration of the Past, 1985, p.111, pl.114. Other similar examples include one illustrated in F.L.Hinckley, The More Significant Regency Furniture 1800-1830, 1991, pl.6, fig.21, another in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (illustrated in English Chairs, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1970, pl.108), and a further example illustrated in M.Harris and Sons, The English Chair, 2nd edn., 1946, p.160, pl.LXXXVIIIA. A set of six armchairs with this same patterned back was sold by Sotheby's Monaco, 6 December 1983, lot 1828.