A Pair of George III Mahogany Open Armchairs , Circa 1765

The present house at Hackwood Park was constructed in c.1680 for Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton (1603-87), possibly by William Talman. It was altered for the 5th Duke of Bolton in the mid-18th century by the architect John Vardy, and further enlargement and alterations were commissioned by Thomas Orde-Powlett, 1st Baron Bolton in the early 19th century from Samuel and Lewis Wyatt. In 1850 the Boltons transferred their seat to Bolton Hall in Yorkshire, and the house was let to a series of tenants, including Charles Hoare of Hoare's Bank, the Queen of the Belgians during World War I, and Lord Curzon until 1925. In 1936 the house and its contents were acquired by the newspaper magnate and Daily Telegraph owner William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, and after the death of the 2nd Viscount and his widow, much of the furniture was sold at auction on the premises.

A 1765 inventory of Hackwood's contents records the presence of three similar but slightly different types of 'French elbow chairs' in the house, with varying degrees of ornamentation to the carving. These were located in the 'Best Drawing Room', 'His Grace's Dressing Room', 'The Bed Chamber Adjoining', and 'The Study', without any precision as to how the different types were divided. The present lot forms part of a group of seven armchairs of the simpler, less ornate model offered as lots 79-82 in the 1998 House Sale. One chair from this group is visible in a 1913 Country Life photograph of the entrance hall at Hackwood.

The description 'French Elbow Chairs' refers not to the suite's place of manufacture but rather its source of inspiration, as London cabinetmakers had integrated aspects of the French rococo style into their work by the 1750s, and designs for 'French Chairs' were published in Thomas Chippendale's Director, including an example with a comparable cabriole leg ending in a scrolled foot and armrest with scroll terminal in Plate XIX of the 1762 edition. The simple but sharp contours and mouldings of the legs and arms of the present chairs, with their absence of foliate or shell relief carving, rely entirely on a sense of line and movement to achieve their decorative effect, fully in keeping with Hogarthian principles of serpentine Rococo beauty.

In the absence of surviving bills the author of these chairs remains unknown. However, they are likely to have entered the house in connection with the architectural work carried out in the early 1760s by John Vardy, who also provided furniture designs, notably for the important pair of pier tables and mirrors with palm fronds (sold Christie's London, 8 July 1999, lots 54-55). These are related to Vardy's work at his most famous commission, the Palm Room at Spencer House in London, completed a few years earlier. The execution of this room's celebrated suite of seat furniture has been attributed to the maker John Gordon of Swallow Street, Soho, whose clients at the time also included the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle and the Duke of Montagu at Ditton Park, and through his connections with Vardy could certainly be a candidate for the Hackwood chairs. 

Lot 79 from the 1998 Hackwood sale was sold again at Christie's London, 22 May 2013, lot 7, and two similar pairs of armchairs from Hackwood of the slightly more ornate model with acanthus carving on the legs, not included in the 1998 sale, were sold Christie's London 15 April 1999, lots 74-75, and two further pairs and a single chair were sold in the same rooms on 8 July 1999, lots 57-59. Another pair likely from the same set was exhibited by Michael Lipitch at the Grosvenor House Fair, London in 1995, later sold Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 31 March 2010, lot 415.