A PAIR OF GEORGE II CARVED MAHOGANY OPEN ARMCHAIRS, CIRCA 1755

Probably acquired by Robert Berkeley (1713-1804)

‘Spetchley Park - I. Worcestershire, The Seat of Mr. R. V. Berkeley', Country Life, 8 July 1916, p. 46, one from the set of eight illustrated in the Drawing Room;

Inventory, 1949, 'An important set of eight Chippendale armchairs, with upright pierced splats to the backs, daintily carved with ‘C’ scrolls, shapes arms, carved with acanthus on carved cabriole legs with scroll toes. The upholstered seats are covered with panels of petit-point needlework of the period' in the Drawing Room

City of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham, Commemorative Exhibition of the Art Treasures of the Midlands, 1934, no. 51 (possibly the two armchairs lent by R.G. Berkeley, Esq.).

This pair of broad and boldly carved open armchairs, together with the following three pairs, form part of an important suite probably acquired by Robert Berkeley (1713-1804) shortly after he inherited Spetchley in 1756.

Robert quickly set about improving the Estate, aggrandising the Dining Room in the style of Robert Adam in 1770 and greatly adding to the Library at the house. It is perhaps quite telling that the Library includes a First Edition of Thomas Chippendale’s, The Gentleman's and Cabinet-maker's Director (1754) - offered in the following pages at lot 122 - as the design of the present chairs is undoubtedly influenced by his famous pattern book (fig. 1). Beautifully executed, the chairs are unequivocally 'French' in style and reflect the predominant taste of Chippendale’s designs from his Director period.

The chairs are listed in an inventory from 1949 - described as ‘Chippendale’ in characteristic 20^th century nomenclature - and valued at £2000. This was an enormous sum at the time, making the suite the most expensive item in the collection at Spetchley. The chairs were obviously held in high regard throughout the 20^th century, featuring prominently in Avray Tipping’s evocative article for Country Life (op. cit. fig.5 and p.48). Tipping writes 'Much is also there by inheritance. Such as the very fine set of chairs covered in original needlework, now in the drawing-room. They are of the mid-Chippendale Period, when "Old Uncle" first held sway at Spetchley'.