A Pair of George II Carved Giltwood Armchairs, Circa 1760

From a suite possibly commissioned by Charles Moore, 1st Earl of Charleville (1712-1764), Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland, and by descent to his great nephew Charles Bury, 1st Earl of Charleville 2nd creation (1764-1835) at Charleville Castle, Tullamore; then by descent to

Lady Emily Howard-Bury (d. 1931), Charleville Forest, Tullamore, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Charleville and by descent to her son

Charles Howard-Bury (1881-1963);

Possibly part of a set of four removed from Charleville Castle by Charles Howard-Bury to Belvedere House, Mullingar, County Westmeath and by descent to Rex Beaumont, Esq. at Belvedere House, subsequently sold Christie's London, 23 November 1967, lot 105

Mark Girouard, 'Charleville Forest', Country Life, 27 September 1962, fig.5, 6

Desmond Guinness and William Ryan, Irish Houses & Castles, New York 1971, p.294

With their vigorous carving and bold sinuous profile, this pair epitomises the consummate English rococo of the mid-18th century. The model is inspired by designs for 'French Chairs' that appear in plates XVIII-XX of the first edition (1754) of Thomas Chippendale's Gentlemen & Cabinetmaker's Director [Fig. 1], described as 'French Elbow Chairs, of various patterns...some of those Chairs are designed to be open below at the seat, which greatly lightens them, and has no ill effect...The carving may be lessened by an ingenious workman without detriment'. The ornaments and line on the crest rails also relate to those on a design for a 'Back Stool' by Chippendale's rivals Ince & Mayhew in plate LV of their Universal System of Household Furniture, published in 1762 [Fig.2]. The influence of the French Louis XV style on these chairs is evident in the cabriole legs and serpentine rails and armrest supports, but the robust high-relief carving, scrolling feet and overall proportions are unmistakably English. It has been observed that the distinctive outward scrolling armrests are similar to those on the Coronation thrones of King George III and Queen Charlotte, carved and gilded in the Strand workshop of Katherine Naish and upholstered by the royal cabinetmakers Vile & Cobb in 1761; now at Chatsworth House (see Hugh Roberts, 'Royal Thrones, 1760-1840,' Furniture History 1989, p.78, fig.1, 2).

The chairs may have been commissioned by Charles Moore, 1st Earl of Charleville, an Irish peer and wealthy owner of large estates in County Limerick and Charleville Forest in County Offaly, who died without issue in February 1794, the estates passing to his nephew John Bury in 1764, who would himself pass away only six months later, leaving his newborn son Charles William as heir. Charles would become an Irish MP and later peer and was made Earl of Charleville 2nd creation in 1806. He used his large fortune to commission the architect Francis Johnston (d.1829) to erect a new house on the Charleville estate between 1800 and 1812 in the form of a medieval castle [Fig.3], described by Mark Girouard as 'perhaps the most splendid example of a Gothic interior in Ireland'. Following the death of the 5th Earl without issue in 1875, Charleville Castle and its contents passed to his sister Lady Julia, who had married Captain Kenneth Howard-Bury (1846–1885), and their son Charles would inherit the estate in 1931.

Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury was a colourful character from the waning generations of the Anglo-Irish elite. Following his education at Eton and Sandhurst he joined the army and was sent to India, where he developed a taste for exploration, learnt Hindi and Urdu and went on tiger and crocodile hunting expeditions [Fig.4]. After distinguished service in Flanders during World War I he returned to India and went on the first British expedition to Mount Everest, where he described wolves' footprints in the snow that were mistranslated as belonging to an 'Abominable Snowman', thus giving rise to the expression for the first time. On his return to Ireland he resided at Belvedere House, a lakeside Palladian villa designed by Robert Cassels in 1740 [Fig.5], that he had inherited from his cousin Charles Brinsley Marlay in 1912. Whilst serving in the army during World War II, Howard-Bury met the RAF pilot Rex Beaumont (1914-1988) [Fig.6], who became his companion and settled in Ireland after the war. A former Shakespearean actor informally known as 'Sexy Rexy', Beaumont and Howard-Bury became prominent local figures and entertained lavishly, their guests reputedly including Princess Grace of Monaco, the Crown Prince of Sweden, Charlie Chaplin and Elizabeth Arden.

The couple concentrated on restoring the 18th-century gardens at Belvedere and refurbishing the house, which they furnished with some of the contents of Charleville Castle. Interior photographs of the Front Hall in 1961 show two chairs from Charleville Suite, the backs embroidered with an earl's coronet above conjoined C's [Fig.7]. The same pair was used on a photo shoot at Charleville Castle the following year for a Country Life article [Fig.8]. Interior photographs of Belvedere from 1965 in the Irish National Radio archives also show a second pair of armchairs from the suite in house. These four chairs along with other furniture from Belvedere were sold by Rex Beaumont at Christie's London, 23 November 1967, lot 105. One of the pairs, possibly the present lot, has re-appeared on the market several times, first at Christie's London, 20 November 1986; then Sotheby's New York, 12-13 April 1996, lot 460, and most recently Christie's London, 6 July 2000, lot 44. Two further pairs of armchairs of the same model possibly from this suite, with later green and white painted decoration, were formerly in the collection of the Hon. C. Douglas Dillon, New York, sold Sotheby's New York, 7 April 2004, lots 204 and 205.

The Charleville model is almost identical in design to a celebrated suite of at least twelve armchairs reputedly supplied to the Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive of Plassey (1725-1774), known as Clive of India, for his seat at Walcot, Lydbury, North Shropshire. This group differs in having a less pronounced central acanthus shell in the front seat rail, and the frames stripped of original gilding, then stained and polished, and some covered in contemporary, possibly French needlework. One chair from the set is illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, New York 1968, pl.185. They were sold in pairs and have appeared in several auctions of prominent 20th century collections, including those of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, Anderson Art Galleries, New York, 31 January-1 February 1936, lot 405; Mrs. George L. Mesker at 'La Fontana,' Palm Beach, Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 27-29 October 1943, lot 767 and 768; Mrs. Elmer T. Cunningham, Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 14 March 1959, lot 114; and Walter P. Chrysler, Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 6-7 May 1960, lot 372 [Fig.9]. The latter pair was subsequently regilt and acquired by Mrs Reuben Trane, who donated it to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1964. One chair from this pair was deaccessioned and sold Christie's New York, 21 October 2014, lot 10, and is now with the London trade; the other chair remains in the museum collection. Another giltwood pair from the suite, possibly another of the sold pairs mentioned previously that was also subsequently re-gilt, was sold Christie's New York, 14-15 April 2011, lot 558 ($308,500).

No evidence has emerged to substantiate the Clive of India provenance for this suite, but a documented suite of giltwood seat furniture of a similar model was supplied to Baron Clive in the 1760s for his London townhouse in Berkeley Square, part of which remains with Clive's descendants at Powis Castle, Wales. This group has been attributed to the London cabinet-maker Charles Arbuckle of St. Alban's Street, Pall Mall, who could be a potential candidate for authorship of the Clive and Charleville suites (see Oliver Fairclough, 'In the Richest and Most Elegant Manner. A Suite of Furniture for Clive of India,' Furniture History 2000).

Robert Strahan & Co. were an important firm of Dublin cabinetmakers, upholsterers, auctioneers, undertakers and antique dealers first recorded in 1776 and trading at various locations in Dublin until 1969; like many large furniture concerns they also offered storage services. The addresses on the label found on one of the seat rails appear to correspond to the period around the first quarter of the 20th century, which is consistent with the history of Charleville Castle. The house was no longer inhabited after 1912, when Howard-Bury inherited Belvedere and his mother was primarily living abroad. The following decade witnessed the struggle for Irish independence, when many houses of the landed gentry were targeted and burned down, so it would be logical for valuable contents to have been removed to a depository for safekeeping.