A Regency Upholstered Carved Giltwood Sofa, Circa 1810

From a suite supplied to James Alexander, 2nd Earl Caledon (1777-1839), for Caledon Castle, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland in the early 19th century;

Acquired through Bunny Williams, 2003

Related literature: A bergère from this suite is illustrated in Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1954, Volume I, p.311, fig. 279, and an armchair is illustrated in Clifford Musgrave, Regency Furniture 1800 to 1830, London 1961, fig. 41A

The suite, from which this settee forms a part, was formally in the collection of Earls of Caledon, Country Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

In 1776 James Alexander, later 1st Earl of Caledon, purchased the Caledon estate in Counties Tyrone and Armagh for £96,400 from the 7th Earl of Cork. The family fortune was founded by James Alexander, the second son of Alderman Nathaniel Alexander of Londonderry who arrived at Fort St George, Madras, in 1752, at the age of twenty-three and became factor there. By 1767 he was being referred to as 'Coja Alexander' -- Coja meaning wealthy merchant. In 1771 he was promoted Second Member of Council and appointed Chief of the Council of Revenue at Murshidabad. He left India in 1772 with an estimated fortune of £150,000 and 'unfinished concerns in India' of some £534,468.

The 2nd Earl refurnished Caledon between 1806 and 1813 (during most of which he himself was absent in the Cape). Family papers include some 150 letters, estimates and drawings by John Nash and his assistants; letters from John Hoppner relating to a portrait of the 2nd Earl and letters from Sir Thomas Lawrence for portraits of King George III and Queen Charlotte for the house. The family maintained houses in both, Dublin, Cavendish Row, and London, Carlton House Terrace.

The high Regency style of this suite of seat furniture indicate a London maker and with a London house in Carlton House Terrace it seems possible that these chairs were made for that house.