A PAIR OF EARLY GEORGE III MAHOGANY OPEN ARMCHAIRS

細節

A PAIR OF EARLY GEORGE III MAHOGANY OPEN ARMCHAIRS
Each with a waved toprail ending in a stylised scrolled acanthus leaf, above a pierced Gothic fretwork back with acanthus-spray finials, the out-splayed arms with conforming fretwork, above a padded drop-in seat covered in green-striped horsehair, on square legs with H-shaped stretcher, both stamped 'IM' and incised 'XVII', the other 'X', one seat frame stamped 'XII' the other replaced, one chair reduced in height by ¾in. (1.5cm.) (2)

來源

Anonymous sale, in these Rooms, 4 July 1996, lot 337 (£52,100).

拍品專文

The chairs' ribbon-fret backs with foliated arches and lozenged-trellis, as well as the voluted and acanthus-wrapped uprights, feature in patterns for 'Gothic Chairs' illustrated in the Society of Upholsters' Genteel Household Furniture, London, 2nd ed., circa 1765, pl.14 attributed to Robert Manwaring. Other examples are illustrated in Manwaring's Cabinet and Chair-Maker's Real Friend and Companion, 1765 (pls. 13 and 15). In the latter publication, the cabinet-maker Thomas Manwaring of Haymarket, London claimed that his designs were 'Originals, and not pirated or copied' and that 'There are very few designs advanced, but what he has either executed himself, or seen completely finished by others'. Concerning his patterns for this form of 'Gothick Chairs', he noted 'Some of them I have executed in mahogany'.
There are a pair of identical chairs, also stamped 'IM' in a private collection.