AN ENGLISH MAHOGANY STOOL

The cabriole legs on the stool are similar in design to the fourteen armchairs which made up the Dumfries 'Drawing Room Suite', supplied to William, 5th Earl of Dumfries (d. 1768) by Thomas Chippendale in 1759 for Dumfries House, Ayrshire (see Christie's London sale catalogue, 12 July 2007, Dumfries House, A Chippendale Commission, vol. I, pp. 104 & 116-119). Chippendale was noted for never repeating a chair pattern, instead subtly altering existing fashionable patterns so as to avoid duplication. Thus while there are subtle differences in the carved ornament of the stool and the Dumfries suite, those differences, along with the overall design and quality of carving, add to the attribution to Thomas Chippendale.