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An extremely fine and rare pair of George III carved giltwood settees in the French manner, the arched back rests carved with leaf tips, shells etc.,the serpentine fronted seats raised on cabriole legs, upholstered in mid 19th century floral needlework with garlands of entwined roses and panels of bouquets.
Ex. Harewood House, London.
Regilt.
The needlework with restorations by The Royal School of Needlework.
The present pair of settee's form part of a larger suite of seat furniture that comprised at least twelve additional armchairs, all upholstered in the same patterned needlework. A pair of chairs from the suite are illustrated in Lanto Synge, Mallett Millenium, pp.157 pl.190. It is believed that the suite was originally commissioned for Lord Lascelles London residence 'Harewood House' in Hanover Square and date to around 1770. The suite were then moved in the early 20th century to Chesterfield House by Lord Lascelles, son of the sixth Earl of Harewood. The Country Life photographic records show two armchairs from the suite in situ in the Drawing Room at Chesterfield House in around 1922 and 1931. The interiors were recorded by H. Avery Tipping for Country Life. See John Cornforth, London Interiors from the Archives of Country Life, p.104, pub. 2000.
Helena Hayward and Pat Kirkham, William and John Linnell, Vol. 2, pp. 34 and 127, figs 61 and 250 illustrate a chair and sofa which have strong enough stylistic similarities to suggest a Linnell attribution. However both Linnell and Chippendale were adept at blending Neo-Classical with rococo elements which can be seen in the present pair of settees. Chippendale included ten designs for 'French' chairs in his third edition of the Director (1762 pl.XIX-XXIII). He stated that both the back and seat must be covered with tapestry, or other sort of needlework as can be seen here.