There were three different but very similar types of 'French elbow chair' supplied to the 5th Duke of Bolton in the early 1760s and traceable in contemporary inventories. No distinction was made between the three different types. All three types of chair were of the same quite small size with serpentine crest-rails and cabriole legs. These are the most ornate type, which were not represented in the Hackwood house sale, however two pairs were later sold by the Executors of the 2nd Viscount Camrose, in these Rooms, 15 April 1999, lots 74-75.
The two lots being offered here have serpentine aprons. This is a very distinctive feature and corresponds to a much more ornate set of chairs supplied by Thomas Chippendale for Dumfries House in 1759 (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 86, pl. 139). A number of chairs of this type have been sold. These include one sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 20 January 1996, lot 543. One particular model, with scrolled seatrails, corresponds to a set formerly at Tabley House, Cheshire, built in the 1760s for Sir Peter Leicester, Bt., (d. 1770). Others of this Bolton Tabley model were sold in these Rooms, 24 February 1994, lot 189; Phillips London, 24 February 1994, lot 71; and a side chair was sold by David Style, Esq., Wateringbury Place, Kent, Christie's house sale, 1-2 June 1978, lot 549.