A harlequin set of fifteen Irish George II style dining chairs, late 19th century, after the Malahide Castle models

The original chairs from which the current lot draws inspiration were commissioned for one of Ireland's oldest aristocratic residences, Malahide Castle. Situated in Co. Dublin, the castle was the seat of the Talbot family from 1185 until 1976, and it was under Colonel Richard Talbot (1736-1788) that this new suite of Chippendale-influenced chairs were commissioned. These originals were photographed in the 15th century Great Hall by Country Life in the 1940s, and most recently sold in these Rooms on Friday 7th July 2000, lot 27. The distinctive double C-scrolls and pierced back splat of the Malahide chairs have proven to be a popular design that was frequently reproduced, and a set of sixteenth eighteenth-century chairs after the Malahide model was offered at the Elveden Hall sale on 21st-24th May 1984, lot 436.