A Set of Fifteen Regency Mahogany Dining Chairs, comprising Thirteen Side Chairs and Two Armchairs, First Quarter 19th Century

Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds 1996

The model of these elegant chairs is identical to a set of sixteen supplied to William Shepherd Esq. of Bradbourne Manor, Kent in c.1802, sold by his descendants at Christie's London, 11 April 1991, lot 83. Seven of the chairs were stamped B. HARMER, a name found a several other surviving chairs from the late Georgian and early Regency periods and believed to be an independent chairmaker based in London (one chair illustrated in Gilbert, p.259 fig. 478). Harmer's stamp has also been found on hall chairs at Petworth and on the celebrated Dolphin Suite of seat furniture at Powderham Castle, Devon, attributed to the important Regency firm of Marsh & Tatham, a partnership between William Marsh and Thomas Tatham, brother of the architect and designer Charles Heathcote Tatham. The firm was active from the 1790s until Tatham's death in 1818 and continued under various incarnations with the other partners Richard Saunders and Edward Bailey until c.1840. Marsh & Tatham supplied furniture to the Prince of Wales at Carlton House and Brighton Pavilion as well as to other preeminent clients including the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Carlisle. It is likely Harmer worked on other commissions for Marsh & Tatham who may have been the supplier of this model of dining chairs.

Another set of twenty-three chairs of this design was sold Christie's London, 7 July 1994, lot 76, including an armchair stamped by Harmer and two chairs stamped HH. It is possible the present lot, also with two chairs stamped HH, partially emanates from this group.