A SET OF FOUR GEORGE III GREY AND BLUE-PAINTED HALL CHAIRS

The design for this set of hall chairs was possibly inspired by eight carved and painted hall chairs, almost certainly supplied by Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) to the Lascelles family for Harewood House in circa 1770, and to a further set of eight virtually identical chairs circa 1775 to the Harewood set in the collection of Sir Rowland Winn at Nostell Priory, Yorkshire (illustrated C. Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale, vol. II, London, 1978, p. 97, figs. 157-159). Conforming to the 'mature Neo-Classical idiom', the Chippendale chairs have similar circular seat backs above 'altar' plinths, and were originally japanned or painted (ibid., vol. I, p. 199). Related sets of hall chairs include another set of ten with the crest and initials of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, probably by Thomas Chippendale, and formerly at Normanton Hall (ibid., vol. II, p. 96, fig. 154). A comparable set of four mahogany and painted hall chairs, in the manner of Thomas Chippendale, sold Sotheby's, London, 14 July 2010 (£30,000).