Beschreibung:

A PAIR OF GEORGE III CARVED MAHOGANY HALL CHAIRS POSSIBLY BY THOMAS CHIPPENDALE THE YOUNGER, CIRCA 1790 With painted armorials 'G.H.' to the central medallion each 101.5cm high, 45.5cm wide, 44cm deep Provenance: Property from Clipsham House, Rutland These hall chairs display the painted crest and initials of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 3rd Baronet, who commissioned Thomas Chippendale to furnish the family seat, Normanton Park, Rutland, as well as Browne's House, Fulham, and No. 20 Grosvenor Square, London. The Heathcote family employed the firm of Chippendale, both Senior and Junior, for over half a century from 1768 to 1821. A bill to Sir Gilbert amounting to £169.6s.5d. was for services provided between November 1777 and May 1778. Two more Heathcote accounts cover periods from December 1780 to December 1781 for £203.11s.4d, and from January 1782 to February 1783 for £49.12s.7d. A few entries in the accounts up to 1804 relating to the family's country seat Normanton Park, are concerned with repairs and the cleaning of soft furnishings. Considering the above provenance and its close proximity to Normanton Park, Rutland, it is quite possible this pair of hall chairs originally formed part of the set of eight commissioned for Sir Gilbert Heathcote, either for Normanton Park, or for one of the aforementioned London properties. See Judith Goodison: The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale Junior, Philip Wilson Publishers, 2017, pl 113, pp317, for the illustrated example with an identical painted crest and brass cappings around the feet.