20TH CENTURY

The original eighteenth century model was decorated in black and gilt japanning. They formed part of the collection of Frank Green at the Treasurer's House in York when photographed in P. Macquoid, The Age of Satinwood, New York, 1908, fig. 178. Thereafter, they were almost certainly acquired by Nancy Lancaster, who as Mrs. Ronald Tree, lived in one of England's great country houses, Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire. One chair appears in a 1948 gouache of a bedroom at Ditchley by the society artist Alexandre Serebriakoff (sold The Estate of Marietta Tree; Christie's New York, 17 October 1992, lot 23). The model was copied by the decorator Frances Elkins and used in various commissions.