A PAIR OF REGENCY CANED MAHOGANY LIBRARY ARMCHAIRS, FIRST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY, ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS

Acquired from Mallett & Son (Antiques) Ltd.

A closely related model to the present pair of library armchairs, named the 'Ashburnham', features in Gillows' 1803 Estimate Sketch Book, no. 1721 (City of Westminster Library). Sketches of similar chairs appear in the firm's early 19th century room plans preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

For a comparable pair of armchairs, with similarly exaggerated lyre-form backrests, supplied to Thomas Langford-Brooke (d. 1815) for the Library, Mere Hall, Cheshire by Gillows of London and Lancaster, see those sold Christie’s London, 4 July 2002, lot 153.