A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY RECLINING ARMCHAIR
Lot 431 THE PROPERTY OF A FAMILY TRUST (LOTS 430 AND 431)

A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY RECLINING ARMCHAIR

BY ROBERT DAWS, CIRCA 1825

Closed10 September 2009

Price Realised

GBP 1,500

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A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY RECLINING ARMCHAIR
BY ROBERT DAWS, CIRCA 1825
The rectangular reeded back and open arms with scrolled lotus terminals above a padded seat upholstered in brass nailed red leather and a ratcheted buttoned pullout footrest, on turned tapering legs with brass caps and castors, stamped six times 'R.DAWS N B G R PATENT' with a crown, the back seat rail inscribed 'H 03' and with a paper label describing the use of the chair, the castors stamped 'COPE'S PATENT'
43½ in. (111 cm.) high; 28 in. (71 cm.) wide; 36 in. (92 cm.) deep

Hugh Borley, Ashcombe House, Tollard Royal, Salisbury, Wiltshire, and by descent.

Specialist note

Robert Daws (or Dawes), cabinet-maker and upholder of 17 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, patented his 'Improved Recumbent Chair' in 1827, and the design was illustrated in J.C.Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Cottage Farm and Villa Architecture and Furniture, 1833, fig. 1913. A closely related chair is illustrated in C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, pl. 281, fig 176.

Ashcombe House, near Salisbury, stands on the site of several earlier houses dating back to 1686; the house was sold by the 13th Duke of Hamilton to Mr R.W. Borley after World War I and subsequently passed to his son Hugh Borley. Cecil Beaton first visited Ashcombe in 1930, and rented the property the same year until 1945. He subsequently wrote Ashcombe: The Story of a Fifteen-Year Lease, published in 1949, and was reputedly heartbroken to have to leave when the lease expired.