Another chair from the suite; Goodison and Kern, Hotspur - Eighty Years of Antiques Dealing, 2004, p. 133, item 6.
A GEORGE II GILTWOOD ARMCHAIR ATTRIBUTED TO ALEXANDER PETER, The chair: Scottish, circa 1745
The needlework: English, circa 1745
Height of seat: 17 ½ in; 44.5 cm
Width: 33 ½ in; 85 cm
Depth: 27 ½ in; 70 cm
Further images
Note: The chair has been re-gilded. The needlework is of the correct type and age and has been recently fitted. It is possible that this needlework is indeed original, as it is an accurate fit and the seat and back are one piece, as on the other known examples of the suite, but without firm confirmation it remains associated.
This unusual chair is part of a suite of at least eight. Some are now in private collections, and a pair of chairs with needlework covers are in the Leverhulme Collection at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, England. Another pair of chairs from the same set were sold at Christie’s on 24 June 1976.
Very little is known about the history of this important set of chairs. The pair sold in 1976 were from the collection of the Earl of Arran, a family of high standing in Scottish history. Their family seat was originally at Hamilton Palace, Lanarkshire, now demolished. It is conceivable that the suite once formed part of the collection at Hamilton Palace, but entries in the 1882 Hamilton Palace sale catalogue are too vague to determine the provenance conclusively.
Provenance
Perhaps the Earls of Arran, Hamilton Palace, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Private collection, New York, USA.
Literature
Art Treasures exhibition catalogue, London, 1932, pp. 20 - 21, item 103.
Christie’s, ‘Fine English Furniture’, sale catalogue, London, 24 June 1976, lot 28.
Francis Bamford, A Dictionary of Edinburgh Wrights and Furniture Makers, 1660 - 1840, 1983, pp. 10 - 13 & 94 - 100.
Geoffrey Beard and Judith Goodison, English Furniture 1500 - 1840, 1987, p. 98.
Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair handbook, 1998, p. 125; a chair with Hotspur Ltd., London.
Nicholas Goodison and Robin Kern, Hotspur - Eighty Years of Antiques Dealing, 2004, p. 133, item 6.
Julian Treuherz, The Lady Lever Art Gallery, 2004, p. 47.
Lucy Wood, Upholstered Furniture in The Lady Lever Art Gallery, 2008, vol. I, pp. 407 - 13.
