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Lot Essay
This chair may have been produced by George Oakley's prolific cabinet-making firm 'famous for goods of the latest fashion'. Oakley was greatly influenced by the aesthetic of Thomas Hope and the publication of the guide to his Duchess Street mansion entitled Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807. The distinctive scoop-form of this chair is derived from Hope's drawing, pl. XXVI. The anthemion mount appears on a sideboard attributed to the firm previously at the Bedford Hotel in Brighton and sold from the collection of Mrs. Sydell Ballon and the Estate of Frederick Ballon, Christie's, New York, 9 April 2003, lot 27.
A related pair of 'Shell chairs richly inlaid with ebony in antique ornaments' were invoiced in 1806 by Messrs. Morel and Hughes for the library at Weston Park, Staffordshire (P. Rogers, 'A Regency Interior: The Remodelling of Weston Park', Furniture History, 1987, fig. 3), while their pattern was described as 'Roman' in The London Chair-Makers' and Carvers' Book of Prices Supplement, 1808 (pl.1).
A related pair of 'Shell chairs richly inlaid with ebony in antique ornaments' were invoiced in 1806 by Messrs. Morel and Hughes for the library at Weston Park, Staffordshire (P. Rogers, 'A Regency Interior: The Remodelling of Weston Park', Furniture History, 1987, fig. 3), while their pattern was described as 'Roman' in The London Chair-Makers' and Carvers' Book of Prices Supplement, 1808 (pl.1).