At the end of the eighteenth century, seating furniture of this model was greatly popular in Russia and variations of it, all distinguished by the brass-mounted starburst splat, were commissioned for several rooms at Pavlovsk Palace, Saint Petersburg, including the Billiard Room, the Small Study, the Library and the Ballroom. An armchair and side chair are depicted in a watercolor of the Small Lantern Room at Pavlovsk, illustrated in A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture: The Golden Age 1780-1840, London 1988, p. 111.
It has been suggested that the artist responsible for the design of this model was Andrei Voronikhin (1759-1814), one of the leading figures of his trade at the time. In the 1770s, Voronikhin trained in Moscow in numerous arts including miniature painting, perspective and architecture. His first major commission was the alteration of the interiors of Stroganoff Palace in St. Petersburg. Important commissions followed from other Russian aristocratic families, ultimately leading to a commission from the Imperial Court to design several rooms at Pavlovsk. The rooms included designs for several sets of chairs and Voronikhin worked closely with the St. Petersburg workshops, in particular that of Heinrich Gambs (1765-1831), to produce them. The furniture commissioned by the Court and executed by Gambs to Voronikhin's designs incorporates techniques of both brass-mounting and brass inlay. A suite of seating furniture comprising four side chairs and a pair of armchairs of this design was sold from the collection of Mrs. Marella Agnelli, Sotheby's, New York, 23 October 2004, lot 71 ($187,200).