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A pair of George II walnut open armchairs with shaped solid back splat and out scrolling arms, with drop-in seats of similar period, the legs headed by the Astley family crest of feathers and a ducal coronet, standing on carved paw feet.
These heraldic 'parlour' or banqueting chairs, designed in the George II 'antique' manner, have serpentined legs terminating in bacchic lion paws. They display ermine banded and acanthus wrapped cartouches with ostrich plumes and ducal coronets in celebration of the Astley family's chivalric achievements. The pair of chairs is part of a set that is thought to have been ordered by Sir Philip Astley, 2nd Baronet (d.1739) or his son Sir Jacob Astley, 3rd Baronet (d.1760), and which was inherited by descent with the Barons Hastings of Melton Constable, Norfolk. Sir Jacob, the 3rd Baronet, had married an heiress of the ancient Barony of Hastings, which had fallen into abeyance. In 1817, his great grandson, Jacob Astley succeeded in resurrecting the peerage in 1841 when he became the 16th Baron Hastings.
Provenance:
Supplied to either Sir Philip Astley, 2nd Bt. (d. 1739) or Sir Jacob Astley, 3rd Bt. (1760) for Melton Constable, Norfolk.
Thence by descent at Melton Constable with the Barons Hastings, until sold with the house in 1948. A Deceased Estate; Christie's, London, 23 April 1998, lot 30.