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Provenance: Richard Courtney Ltd., London
Sir John Gooch, Bart., Benacre Hall, Suffolk, sold by Sotheby's on the premises, May 9, 10, 11, 2000, lot 95
Partridge Fine Arts PLC, London

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Exhibited: The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair, London, June 10 - 22 June 1992, Richard Courtney Ltd., Stand 33, Handbook, ill. p. 111

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Notes: Although lacking the central pendant cartouche to the seat rail, this chair is almost identical to the George I veneered walnut armchair in the Baum collection (lot 414). This important armchair belongs to a small group of associated seat furniture almost certainly by the same, as yet unknown, cabinetmaker. All have the distinctive curved and shaped backs, usually veneered in particularly finely figured or burr walnut, the shaped crestings centered by a shell within a cartouche. These distinctive features being closely associated with the work of Giles Grendey (See: footnote to lot 307, pair of side chairs)., although no labeled examples are at present recorded with the interesting arms found on the present chair which have eagle-head terminals and a plain seat rail, although some have a distinctive pendant cartouche. They are almost certainly by the same maker as a suite of twelve arm chairs in carved giltwood which were supplied to Sir Robert Walpole, later Ist Earl of Orford (1676-1745) for the Marble parlour at Houghton, Norfolk. Appearing in the 1745 inventory, they are sanded and gilded with square upholstered backs, the carving and detail of the eagle heads and the inwardly curved supports with their slightly molded surfaces curving outwards at the base and edged with conforming scrolled moldings being almost identical to the present walnut chair. The cartouche at the center of the seat rail, although slightly wider, is remarkably similar, as is the profile of the cabriole legs, although the shells on the Houghton pair are more freely drawn, the rays being almost plume-like. The Marble Parlour at Houghton was designed as an eating room and was completed in the late 1730's. Designed by William Kent, one wall was dominated by a carved marble screen centered by a chimneypiece, surmounted with an overmantel relief of a Roman sacrifice carved by John Michael Rysbrack, and flanked by two great buffets. Curiously, the chairs do not continue the theme of Bacchus, their eagle heads and claws being more associated with the god Jupiter. Unfortunately, although the various inventories in the Houghton archives record the position of the suite through to this day, there are no entries in the surviving accounts which identify their maker. Another chair formerly at Houghton which was possibly supplied for Queen Caroline's use at the Coronation in 1727 also has arms with eagle head terminals but hairy paw feet. This has been attributed to Richard Roberts (fl.1714-1729), but does not seem to be by the same hand.

See:
Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1953, vol. 3, p. 82, fig.26, a settee of this design in the collection of Chetham's Hospital, Manchester
Percy Macquoid, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1908. carved giltwood chair from the Marble Parlour, Houghton
Christie's, London, Works of Art from Houghton, December 8 1994, lot 129, Queen Caroline's Coronation chair, lot 130, pair of chairs from the Marble Parlour
Andrew Moore, editor, Houghton Hall, London, 1996, pp. 139-140, 'The Marble Parlour'.

See:
R.W. Symonds, Masterpieces of English Furniture and Clocks, Batsford, 1940, p. 1, fig. 1, for a side chair of the same model from the collection of Guy N. Charrington, Esq., formerly in the collection of Percival Griffiths
This is also illustrated in:
Country Life, November 5, 1953, 'A Chair From China', R. W. Symonds, p. 1499, fig. 13, for an identical side chair from the collection of G. N. Charrington
Christie's, London, June 25, 1981, lot 25, a pair of side chairs of this model, stamped RW
R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1953, vol. III, pl. V, for a settee of this model from the collection of Percival Griffiths