The square back and padded arms with cartouche terminals and acanthus leaf carved supports, above a square seat with waved seatrail carved with acanthus leaves and centred by a shell on cabriole front legs carved with shell and rocaille motifs on scroll feet and splayed back legs on brass castors, covered in Claremont green silk damask
39¹⁄₂. in. (100 cm.) high; 27¹⁄₂. in. (70 cm.) wide; 29 in. (74 cm.) deep

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 3 July 1997, lot 88.

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.
-

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

This richly carved chair has its serpentined frame embellished with Roman acanthus foliage and scalloped C-scrolls in the French rococo fashion. First popularised as the 'Modern' style in Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754, its form derives from the Louis XV 'fauteuil' of the 1730s as featured in the engraved Oeuvres of Juste-Aurele Meissonnier (M. Jarry, Le Siège Français, Fribourg, 1973, D.27). Sculpted with cartouches of shells recalling the triumph of the Roman goddess Venus, the chair corresponds to Chippendale's 'French chairs', and in particular to plate XXII in the third edition of his Director (1763), the accompanying text stating 'both the Backs and the Seats must be covered with Tapestry, or other sort of needlework'.

A related chair of this model, with similar carved details, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, (W.67-1926) from the collection of G.B. Croft Lyons. An almost identical chair was sold from Mackinnon, Christie's, London, 10 November 2021, lot 42 (£27,500, including premium).