A Chinese Export Inlaid Hardwood Hall Chair circa 1750

the back inlaid with variously stained woods with a crest out of a duke's coronet a talbot's head.  Restorations

Beautiful color, good figure to timber, good restored condition, repaired breaks and patches to top rail at junctures of stiles, age crack with minor inpainting at back of plank seat, small age cracks to sides of plank seat at juncture of backrest, old marks and scratches, small patch to right side of shoe below backsplat, age cracks to inlaid crest of backrest, minor perishing to varnish of backsplat, yellow chalked inventory number to underside of seat 18336, chips and dings to legs, usual wear to molded edges throughout.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

As with other arms depicted by Chinese craftsmen on both furniture and porcelain, those on the present chair have been incorrectly drawn, the ducal coronet being depicted with five rather than three strawberry leaves.

 

The crest is borne by a number of families, in particular Bendyshe of Cambridgeshire, Campion of Essex; Devreux, Viscounts Hereford (although a Viscount's coronet would have been used over the crest) and Southouse of Norfolk. Possibly the most likely owners of the chairs, although no documentary evidence exists, was Mark Cramer, the present crest also being that of a branch of the Cramer family. Cramer was an East India merchant who was managing owner of a ship on Canton in 1770 and 1777.

Chinese chairs, such as the present example, were almost certainly copied from samples which originated in England, an order being recorded for such chairs shortly before 1750 for the family of May of Godmersham and Rawmere whose crest of a leopards head out of a ducal coronet is not dissimilar.  

 

An identical pair of chairs from the same suite was exhibited, A Tale of Three Cities, Canton Shanghai & Hong Kong, Sotheby's, London, 1997, p. 109, no. 219, on loan from Christopher Gibbs Ltd.