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Lot Essay
These armchairs are after the original models that formed the magnificent suite of seat-furniture designed in 1764 by Robert Adam (d.1792), architect to King George III and commissioned by Sir Lawrence Dundas (1712-1781) for the Banqueting Hall at Moor Park, Hertfordshire.
Conceived to harmonise with the Arcadian deities painted around the walls of the villa's great room of entertainment, the beribboned ram's-masks recall ancient festivities honouring the wine-god Bacchus. This suite reflects the robust 'antique' style that was to earn Robert Adam the title of 'Bob the Roman'. Adam's reputation for introducing the 'true taste for the antique' was further consolidated with the appearance of his sumptuous publication, 'The Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalato' of 1764, which revealed the fruits of his Italian studies, before the establishment of his London practice in the late 1750s.
Conceived to harmonise with the Arcadian deities painted around the walls of the villa's great room of entertainment, the beribboned ram's-masks recall ancient festivities honouring the wine-god Bacchus. This suite reflects the robust 'antique' style that was to earn Robert Adam the title of 'Bob the Roman'. Adam's reputation for introducing the 'true taste for the antique' was further consolidated with the appearance of his sumptuous publication, 'The Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalato' of 1764, which revealed the fruits of his Italian studies, before the establishment of his London practice in the late 1750s.