CIRCA 1740, POSSIBLY IRISH

This impressive armchair, with its distinctive swept lion head terminals and extraordinarily carved legs, relates to some of the grandest models of mid-18th century chairs, including a gilt-mahogany armchair at Arundel Castle, Sussex (P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1924, vol. I, p. 233, fig. 80) and a giltwood sofa at Holkham Hall, Norfolk on which the lions' mask arms relate very closely to the terminals of the present lot. A George II mahogany armchair with almost identical lions' mask carving was sold Bonhams, London, 26 November 2008, lot 25 (£36,000 inc. premium). Another pair, formerly in the collection of H. J. Joel at Childwick Bury, Hertfordshire, with similar lions' masks to both the legs and the arms, were sold at Christie’s, New York, 9 October 1993, lot 249 ($277,500 inc. premium).