A pair of George III style brass-mounted mahogany armchairs, 19th century, in the manner of John Linnell

With the Earls of Jersey;

Sotheby's London, Treasures, 3 July 2013, lot 31;

Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Possibly recorded in the Inventory of the Household and Decorative Furniture Glass China, Linen, Wines Books Pictures Carriages Horses & Other Effects in and upon the House Offices and Stabling No 38 Berkeley Square the property of the late Right Hon.ble the Dowager Countess of Jersey valued for Probate Feby 4th & following days 1867:

"Furniture in Front Library HL 3 Mahogany Chairs ( Arm) Lyre backs A- ditto- frame chair"

"Furniture in Middle Library HL - 5 mahogany frame Arm Chairs, Lyre backs"

(London City Archive ref. GB 0074 ACC/3076).

Possibly recorded in the Catalogue and Valuation of Furniture, Osterley Park, Middlesex of 1915:

"The Dining Room 8 Mahogany arm chairs with lyre backs in red Morocco, £144 the set"

(Jersey Archive).

These chairs closely follow a documented model from the late 18th century, a sophisticated combination of a lyre-form back and of brass elements that have a French feel, possibly even indicating the hand of an émigré craftsman like François Hervé. Other examples from the original suite is at the Victoria & Albert Museum¹ and the collection of the Earls of Rosebery at Dalmeny House, Midlothian, while one example appeared on the market at Sotheby's London, 1st December 1978, lot 65. A pierced and carved back in the form of a lyre can be seen on some of the most famous suites of English chairs in the Neoclassical style, notably the various examples made by John Linnell for Osterley, Middlesex,² the magnficent Adam residence of the Child family that would latter move into the possession of the Earls of Jersey. Designs by Linnell also survive for lyre-back chairs like this one, notably E.80-1929 in the V&A.

Chairs of the exact model of the present suite were not recorded in the 1782 inventory of Osterley drawn up after the death of Robert Child, so the present suite were likely copied from a period model located elsewhere but possibly chosen because it harmonised with the existing Georgian furniture in the collections of the Earls of Jersey. There is a chance that the reference to the lyre-back chairs in the 1867 probate valuation of the Dowager Countess of Jersey's property is to these nineteenth-century reproductions, since no date is specified - it is unclear whether the chairs would have been executed by this date.³ Similarly, it is possible that they are referred to in a later 1915 inventory, since those too are undated.⁴

¹ See 45-1869. This chair is also illustrated in M. Tomlin, Victoria and Albert Museum: Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1982, cat. Q/14, p.146.

² The examples by Linnell at Osterley are the suite numbered NT 771748.1 to NT 771748.12 and the suite numbered NT 771761.1 to NT 771761.10. The suite numbered NT 771755.1 to NT 771755.8 is also catalogued as possibly by Linnell.

³ Inventory of the Household and Decorative Furniture Glass China, Linen, Wines Books Pictures Carriages Horses & Other Effects in and upon the House Offices and Stabling No 38 Berkeley Square the property of the late Right Hon.ble the Dowager Countess of Jersey valued for Probate Feby 4th & following days 1867: "Furniture in Front Library HL 3 Mahogany Chairs ( Arm) Lyre backs A- ditto- frame chair", "Furniture in Middle Library HL - 5 mahogany frame Arm Chairs, Lyre backs" (London City Archive ref. GB 0074 ACC/3076).

⁴ Catalogue and Valuation of Furniture, Osterley Park, Middlesex of 1915: "The Dining Room 8 Mahogany arm chairs with lyre backs in red Morocco, £144 the set" (Jersey Archive).