In the early 18th Century, this elegant form of serpentined parlour chair with bended vase splat was associated with imports of the East India Companies trading with China and retailed as 'Indian' or 'India-backed', or more simply as 'bended' or 'sweep backed'. In George I's reign, a related chair pattern, likewise incorporating an open-fretted cartouche, featured as the St. Paul's Churchyard sign of Thomas Cleare, who traded at the 'Indian Chair' and retailed 'all sorts of chairs of the newest and best fashion, wholesale or retail, at reasonable rates' (A. Bowett, 'Myths of English Furniture History: Anglo-Dutch', Antique Collecting, October 1999, p. 33, fig. 9).
The earliest English record of 'India'-backed chairs appears in the Royal Household accounts for 1718, although a chair with a bended-back and straight splat was at Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire, in an inventory of 1717. The more usual English form of splat, however, is vase-shaped and this form appears to have developed later than the straight-backed splat, and is seen in watercolour sketches by Dr. William Stukeley showing the newly-decorated parlour of his Grantham house, dated 1728 (A. Bowett, 'Myths of English Furniture History: The Queen Anne Chair', Antique Collecting, June 2000, pp. 10-14, figs. 1, 4 & 6).