A SET OF SIX CHINESE EXPORT BLACK AND GOLD LACQUER SIDE CHAIRS, MID-18TH CENTURY

Christie's New York, 24 April 1993, lot 57Christie's New York, 24 April 1993, lot 57

Chinese chairs were exported to England by the East India company as early as 1726, when '24 Chairs of rosewood inlaid with mother of pearl' were brought in at a total value of £12'. Exports of lacquer chairs were recorded the following year, and became more common from the 1730s, including a set of eight similar to the offered lot supplied to Sir Francis Greville (1719-73), 8th Baron Brooke, later 1st Earl of Warwick for Warwick Castle, Warwickshire. One chair from this suite is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (FE.116&A-1978), and two others formerly in the Simon Sainsbury collection were sold Christie's London, 18 June 2008, lot 185. A further set of twelve almost identical chairs bearing the monogram of King Christian IV and Queen Sophie Magdalene of Denmark were imported by the Danish East India Company in 1735 and are now in Fredensborg Castle (J. Clemmensen, 'Some Furniture Made in China in the English Style, Exported from Canton to Denmark 1735, 1737 and 1738', Furniture History Society Journal, 1985, p. 175, figs. 1-3),