Lot 194: A FINE PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY 'CHINESE' ARMCHAIRS IN THE MANNER OF ROBERT MANWARING CIRCA 1770

Some rails replaced, replacements.

circa 1770

Kentshire Galleries, New York

The design for the backs of these chairs is based on plate 10 showing 'Chinese Chairs' in The cabinet and Chair-Maker's Real Friend and Companion, or, the Whole System of Chair-making Made plain and easy, by Robert Manwaring, London, 1765. Manwaring is recorded as working in the Haymarket, London 1760-1765; see Beard and Gilbert, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds: W. S. Maney, 1986, p. 573. A related suite of furniture of at least eight armchairs from Treworgey Manor, near Liskeard, Cornwall, is known, four chairs in the collection of the Leeds City Art Galleries at Temple Newsam House, which have been extensively published, including a full history of the suite in Christopher Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, vol. I, p. 84, no. 69. A chair from Temple Newsam was exhibited at 'The British Antique Dealers' Association Golden Jubilee Exhibition', Victoria and Albert Museum, London, May 1968, no. 44, pl. 105 in the catalogue; another pair was sold in these rooms, April 16, 1998, lot 804 ($90,000).

An armchair with a related backrest from Bramshill is illustrated, Macquoid and Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, vol. I, p. 285, fig. 126, and sold, Parke-Bernet Galleries, The Walter P. Chrysler Jr Collection of English Furniture, May 6-7, 1960, part II, lot 371.