EARLY 20TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OR MOORE AND GUMLEY

This stool is inspired by the celebrated suite of seat-furniture almost certainly supplied by the Royal cabinet-makers James Moore Snr (d. 1726) and John Gumley to Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough for Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. Patronised at Blenheim from 1705-20, Moore - known as her 'Oracle' - became indispensable to the Duchess following Vanbrugh's abrupt departure, and indeed became as much involved with the building work as the supervision and furnishings of the State Apartments. A chair and stool from the suite, the only difference being a shallow, moulded show-rail, is illustrated in P. Macquoid, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1906, fig. 30.