A PAIR OF QUEEN ANNE GESSO SIDE CHAIRS ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES MOORE THE ELDER

An extremely rare and highly important pair of early 18th century gilt gesso chairs attributed to the royal cabinet-maker James Moore the Elder, each having rectangular upright back and seat upholstered in claret and gold cut and uncut velvet, above moulded seat rails finely decorated with leaf carving; on hipped cabriole ring turned legs with acanthus carved cleft knees, joined by C-scroll brackets centred by a grotesque mask, and terminating in leaf carved pad feet.
Note: The backs have been reinstated to their original rectangular shape. The gesso was at one stage silvered.

Literature: Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, revised edition, 1954, vol. III, p. 280, fig. 19.
Parke-Bernet Galleries, ‘English Furniture, The Walter P. Chrysler Jr. Collection’, New York, Part I, 29-30 April 1960, p. 151, lot 262.
F. Lewis Hinckley, A Directory of Queen Anne, Early Georgian and Chippendale Furniture, 1971, p. 50, fig. 21. Illustrated:
‘Country Life’, 13 July 1935; part of the suite in situ at Browsholme Hall, Lancashire. ‘Browsholme Hall Guidebook’, 1950s, back cover; two chairs and a stool of the suite.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, ‘CINOA Third International Art Treasures Exhibition catalogue’, 1962, no. 82, p. 12.
Edward T. Joy, The Country Life Book of Chairs, 1968, p. 41, illus. 33.

Exhibitions: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, ‘CINOA Third International Art Treasures exhibition,’ 1962.

Provenance

Probably supplied to Edward Parker (d. 1728), for Browsholme Hall, Lancashire, or possibly acquired by John Parker (d. 1754) or Thomas Lister Parker (d. 1858).
By descent until the 1950s; Temple Williams Ltd., London, 1962.
Mallett and Son Ltd., London.
Private collection, London.
Private collection, Northern Ireland.

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