George II Mahogany Library Armchair (c. 1740 England)

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mahogany

29.00inch wide    38.00inch high    33.00inch deep (73.66 cm wide  96.52 cm high  83.82 cm deep)

With foliate carved swept arms on four cabriole legs, with foliate carved knees terminating in a scroll foot.

From about 1740, the influence of the French rocaille style became increasingly apparent in the design of English chairs, and, at a time of rapidly growing demand for mahogany furniture, it led to the creation of a lighter and more fanciful fashion, in which graceful lines, subtle curves and delicate carving in low relief replaced the baroque solidity.

The cabriole legs and scroll feet of this chair are the embodiment of French taste in the George II period. The distinctive acanthus carving on the arms relates with a number of published examples, not least the Gainsborough chair formerly in the collection of Percival Griffiths published by Herbert Cescinsky (English Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, 1909).