Object Description
A charming pair of late 18th century white painted chairs in the neoclassical manner.
Circa 1790’s
Why we like them
Their delicate and balanced design, with the intricately interlaced ‘trellis’-filled backs, emblematic of the late neoclassical era in interior design, make these wonderfully decorative chairs very attractive and suitable for classic and eclectic interiors. Beautifully covered in a serene pale blue linen with hand-made tufts and finished with a vintage Greek key pattern jacquard border.
Design
The distinctive trellis motif was used by Georges Jacob for chairs he supplied to Marie Antoinette’s dairy at Rambouillet in 1787 but was enduringly fashionable during the Directoire and his successors supplied various superb related examples to Fontainebleau. In England this design was known as the ‘Garforth pattern’ and was introduced by the celebrated Gillows firm around 1795. The design was also adopted by the influential architect and designer Sir John Soane (d. 1837). He commissioned the set of twenty ‘mahogany trellis chairs’ for the Governor’s Room at The Bank of England. A pair of armchairs of the Bank design are now at the Soane Museum at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London.