A rare set of seven George III parcel-gilt black-japanned dining chairs circa 1760

comprising six side chairs and one armchair.  Together with an armchair of a later date.  8 pieces.

The Collection of Frank Green, Esq.
The Collection of Edward Burgess Hudson (founder of Country Life magazine), 15 Queen Anne's Gate, London
The Collection of Ronald and Marietta Peabody Tree, Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire
Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, October 8-9, 1976, lot 312
With Mallett, London

Lanto Synge, Mallett's Great English Furniture, Boston, 1991, p. 69 (illustrated)
Lanto Synge, Mallett Millennium, Woodbridge, 1999, p. 68, fig. 66 (illustrated)

Fair restored condition; because of the nature of the design, the backrests of these chairs are very delicate: four side chairs with clear old repaired breaks to backrests; the decoration has been refreshed throughout with remnants of the original japanned decoration; there are a number of large chips and losses to the painted decoration mainly to corners of seat rails at joins with the legs in some cases and to the backrests; these chairs would benefit from professional conservation and are NOT practical dining chairs, but rather side chairs. They are highly sculptural and incredibly rare. The lines are much more delicate than their 20th century counterparts. The chairs are solid and are not about to fall apart.
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.

The present chairs were once in the collection of the industrialist Frank Green, Esq., and illustrated by Percy Macquoid in A History of English Furniture, 1904-08, who described them as 'more ingenious than beautiful;' see Shax Riegler, 'The it chair,' The Magazine Antiques, January 2009, vol. CLXXV, No. 1, pp. 146-151, fig. 4.  The set of chairs then entered the collection of Edward Burgess Hudson, founder of the English magazine Country Life, where two chairs where photographed in his drawing room at 15 Queen Anne's Gate, London, in the 1920s (op. cit., fig. 2).   They were then sold in the 1930s to Ronald and Marietta Peabody Tree, whose house, Ditchely Park, Oxfordshire, was designed in the 1720s by the architect James Gibbs for George Lee, the 2nd Earl of Lichfield, and where the armchair is seen in an interior watercolor of the writing room by Alexandre Sérébriakoff.  The chairs were sold by Mrs. Tree in these rooms, October 8-9, 1976, lot 312 (illustrated on the cover of the sale catalogue).

The present chairs inspired Frances Elkins to create a 20^th century model called the ‘loop’ chair in 1934 for the living room of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Wheeler, Lake Forest, Illinois, where they were photographed in situ around a card table; see Salny, op. cit., pp. 104-105.   Stephen M. Salny's groundbreaking monograph Frances Elkins Interior Design, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005, has refocused interest in this extremely talented designer originally from Wisconsin whose work with her brother, the well-known architect, David Adler, did much to transform American interior decoration in the second quarter of the 20th century.