A George III white-japanned bergère Circa 1775

with green and red neo-Classical details.  The inside edge of the seat rails each numbered 3.

Trevor, London

F. Lewis Hinckley, Hepplewhite, Sheraton and Regency Furniture, 1987, p. 49, ill. 39

Overall good restored condition; the painted surface with wear, chips and losses throughout, the decoration refreshed in places; chips and losses especially to the legs and aprons; please note that the upholstery to the inside right panel beneath the right armrest and continuing up the right stile is loose; nice wear and rubbing to the hand holes; some old glue showing at joins of legs and rail; scuffs and wear to feet.
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.

Thomas Chippendale supplied green- and white-japanned furniture to David Garrick for the best dressing room of his villa at Hampton, circa 1775, including a dressing table decorated with flowerheads and pendent tapering husks, similar to the present bergère; see C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1978, vol. II, p. 232, figs. 423-424.  Chippendale supplied a white-japanned bedstead and cornices with red, green and gilt details to Edward Lascelles for the Alcove Bedroom at Harewood House, circa 1770, op. cit., p. 31, fig. 49.

See also an armchair with related decoration from the Etruscan Room at Osterley Park, one of a set of 'Eight Elbow Chairs japanned with Etruscan ornaments highly varnished. . . ', Maurice Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, 1972, pp. 76-77, figs. J-1 and J-1a.  Robert Adam referred to this as 'A mode of Decoration ... which differs from anything hitherto practiced in Europe; for although the style of the ornament and the colouring . . . are both evidently imitated from the vases and urns of the Etruscans, yet we have not been able to discover, either in our researches into antiquity or in the works of modern artists, any idea of applying this taste to the decoration of the apartments'; R & J Adam, The Works in Architecture, 2 vols., 1773-9, Tomlin, op. cit., p. 75); see also, Eileen Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam His Interiors, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001, pp. 178-179, figs. 362-3 for color illustration of the design and the chair from the Etruscan Room at Osterley.