The seats' exotic style, combining the Grecian form with Chinese bamboo and Gothic-quatrefoiled trellis, corresponds to the 'Chinese Decorations' introduced in 1801 by the architect Henry Holland (d.1806) at the Marine Pavillion, Brighton for George Prince of Wales, later King George IV. Under Holland's direction, the Mount Street 'Upholders' Messrs. Elward, Marsh and Tatham supplied the suite, which features in their 1801-2 account as '36 carved bamboo japanned chairs £100.16.0. for the Eating Room'. This chair pattern (illustrated in M. Jourdain, Regency Furniture 1795-1830, London, rev.ed., 1965, p. 47, fig. 72) later featured in King George IV's 'Yellow Drawing Room' and appears in Augustus Pugin's watercolour of the room executed around 1821. They also feature in his later watercolours of the King's Apartments (J. Morley, The Making of the Royal Pavillion Brighton, London, 1984, figs. 116, 264 and 265).
A set of eight closely related open armchairs were offered anonymously, Sotheby's London, 27 November 1992, lot 315.