A PAIR OF LIBRARY ARMCHAIRS 

A pair of Regency library armchairs of large scale with caned seat, back and sides, the channelled hand rests above ring turned supports and ring turned front legs all with brass castors. The buttoned deep seat and arm supports upholstered in tobacco coloured suede.

During the refurbishment of Stourhead, Wiltshire at the beginning of the 19th century, chairs such as these where the framework is filled by caning, were referred to by Thomas Chippendale the younger (1749 - 1822) as hunting chairs. Also referred as such by Thomas Sheraton in his Cabinet Dictionary of 1803, in which it is noted that they "formed a temporary resting place for one that is fatigued as hunters generally are." Other examples are sometimes furnished with a reading slide or foot rest, see: Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, Ralph Edwards. Country Life, 1964, p.169, pl.3.

Provenance:
Rushbrooke Hall, Bury St. Edmunds

CONDITION REPORT ON REQUEST.