A pair of George III mahogany chair-back settees, possibly Irish circa 1765

each with a molded crestrail with re-entrant corners above straight uprights, the center with a molded pagoda-form ornament above a pierced splat with Chinese palings below a Chinese pagoda-form canopy above arches, and flanked by pagoda forms above arches, the arms filled with gothic form arches, the upholstered seats with plain seat-rails, the square legs with pierced curved brackets.

Probably Mrs. Solomon R. Guggenheim, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, February 1-3, 1951 (one settee)

The Mary C. Belin Trust, sold Christie’s, New York, October 12, 1996, lot 37 (the pair)

The design of these settees incorporates both Chinese and Gothic elements which was not unusual in the mid-eighteenth century. The pattern books of such designers and cabinet-makers as Thomas Chippendale, Robert Mainwaring and William Ince and John Mayhew include many designs which happily confuse the two styles which were also incorporated into the rococo idiom. Besides the present settees and others recorded, a number of side chairs have also been noted, indicating their original use as components of drawing room suites.   

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1953, vol. III, p. 84, fig. 32, another settee from the collection of Sir Sidney Greville

Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, 1968, pl. 195, one of a pair of settees of this model, formerly in The Collection of Mrs. Hannah Gubbay, and now in The Collection of The National Trust, Clandon House, Surrey