Description
An exceptional pair of English George II-period carved walnut library armchairs.
Raised on very well-carved cabriole legs with stylised ball-and-claw feet, each chair with rectangular upholstered back and padded armrests with down-swept foliate carved supports.
Professionally upholstered to a very high standard in fine English crewelwork and close nailed.
It is possible that these sophisticated chairs are Irish in origin. The unusually deep and bold acanthus-carved knees are a further indication of this.
Nb. One chair is of a later date (19th century) – virtually indistinguishable from the other and of the same superb quality.
Both are tight in the joints and of excellent colour and condition throughout. Ready to use.
Literature:
Herbert Cescinsky, English Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, George Routledge & Sons, 1911, vol. 2, p. 86, fig. 82, for a very similar chair formerly in the collection of Percival D. Griffiths Esq. and dated 1740-1745. This fine antique chair also appears to be upholstered in crewelwork. Vis also pp. 76-95.
Percy Macquoid, A history of English Furniture, London, 1989, p. 246, fig. 541
R. W. Symonds, English Furniture from Charles II to George II (1929) p. 155, fig. 102.
