A Set of Ten George III Mahogany Dining Chairs, Circa 1765

Arthur S. Vernay, Inc., New York;

Acquired from the above by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1955-1960, 740 Park Avenue;

Martha Baird Rockefeller 1960-1971, 740 Park Avenue;

The Estate of Martha Baird Rockefeller;

Acquired from the above by Peggy and David Rockefeller, 1971 and sold;

The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, Christie’s New York, 9 May 2018, lot 128.

The present chairs are conceived in the Gothic manner, a style which became popular in the middle of the eighteenth century both in terms of furniture design and architecture. Notable examples of the architectural style can be seen at Arbury, Warwickshire, where an Elizabethan house was transformed by the architect Henry Keene for Sir Roger Newdigate. Another house which was conceived in this manner and which was to be a great influence on taste of that era, was that of Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, Middlesex where the exotic interiors were decorated with suitable antiquarian works of art and furniture conceived in this manner, such as the set of tall japanned beechwood chairs with traceried backs and rush seats supplied by William Hallett in the early 1750s, an example of which is recorded in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Reflecting this taste for Gothic is a closely related set of chairs to the present lot in the collection of Myddelton family in Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, Wales which are shown illustrated in the State Dining Room in the castle guide, circa 1970.

A number of leading cabinet-makers produced designs of a similar from to the present set of chairs, which were referred to as `parlour chairs’, their use being not only as chairs in eating rooms, but also in other informal settings. Related designs for `parlour’ chairs were published in Thomas Chippendale`s `The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker`s Director’ 3rd Edition., 1763, pls. XVI and XVII, again in Robert Manwaring `The Cabinet and Chair-Maker`s Real Friend and Companion, 1765, pl.33-38 as well as his contribution to A Society of Upholsterers, `Genteel Household Furniture in the Present Taste’, circa 1765, (illustrated in Elizabeth White, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, The Printed Sources, 1990, pp.66, 72-77, and p.69-71).

The catalogue entry for the 2018 sale of the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller includes the following comment on these chairs from Mr Rockefeller;

'This set of ten chairs, together with six similar, though not identical ones, were purchased by my parents from Arthur Vernay for their dining room at 740 Park Avenue. When the furnishings from 740 Park Avenue were to be distributed to my siblings and me in 1971 after my stepmother, Martha, died, we asked Stephen Jussel to look at the items in the apartment and give us his judgment of which ones were especially good. He pointed out in particular this set of dining-room chairs, which he thought were quite outstanding. Fortunately for us, we were able to acquire them in the draw. They have served us very well in our dining room at 65th Street ever since.'

The six similar chairs referenced above are included in the current sale as lot 1061.