Description
A closely comparable set of six side chairs remain at Canons Ashby, Northhampton, remakably still with their original needlework covers.
This suite was supplied to Edward Dryden in 1714/1715 by Thomas Phill, fl 1700-1727, at a cost of £7 10s, without covering and materials. This important suite is remarkable not only for the superb covers but as being the earliest examples of the curving or cabriole leg on English chairs, a style which dominated the middle of the 18th century until the linearity of the George III period became popular. Our chairs can be dated to this precise period, 1715 on stylistic grounds and construction techniques.
Phill, whose business was on the Strand at The sign of the Three Golden Chairs, was Royal Upholsterer to Queen Anne and George I, supplying beds, chairs, carpets etc to Windsor Castle and St James Palace as well as the House of Lords, House of Commons and the Parliament building.
