A Fine and Rare Pair of George I Walnut “Dressing Chairs”

Of delicate proportions and deep patina. English, c. 1720

Adam Bowett in “Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740” describes this form of chair as “always distinctive, with a round or oval seat, open arms and a low, cartouche-shaped back. The low back is probably significant, because it bucks the general trend towards backs at shoulder height or higher, exposing and leaving unsupported the back of the head, neck and shoulders. It could conceivably be intended to allow access to the head and shoulders of a person having his or her wig powdered and dressed.”
 
The lotus leaf carving on the stretcher seems to be exclusive to this type of chair and is found on a number of related examples illustrated in some of the most celebrated reference books on English Furniture. Previously upholstered in period needlework, the chairs are now covered in a sumptuous silk damask.

Height 38 in.; Width 25 in.; Depth 19 in.

Provenance:
Stair & Co., New York
Fleming and Meers, Washington, DC
Christie's New York, 12 March 1983, lot 174
Sotheby's New York, 25 January 1986, lot 160
Ontario Private Collection
 
Related Literature:
Dressing Stool, possibly en suite with the offered chair (R.W Symonds, Masterpieces of English Furniture and Clocks, London 1940, p.19 fig.10)
For a related chair with lead carving but different legs and arms (Geoffrey Beard & Judith Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840, Oxford 1987, p.56 fig.1)
For a related chair with identical lotus leaf carving (Lanto Synge, Mallett Millennium, London 1999, fig. 58 fig. 56)
A chair of near identical form but missing the lotus leaf (Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, Woodbridge 2009, p.188-89)