PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY OPEN ARMCHAIRS, POSSIBLY WILLIAM HAMILTON OF EDINBURGH
CIRCA 1770
£8,190
Auction: Select Property from Penicuik House, Midlothian - 27th March 2024 at 10am
Description
the padded backs with shaped top rails above wide squared seats flanked by padded arms supported on acanthus carved scrolling uprights, raised on fluted, square chamferred legs joined by stretchers, upholstered in deep raspberry pink velvet upholstery (2)
Dimensions
60cm wide, 97cm high, 48cm deep
Provenance
Sir James Clerk, 3rd Baronet of Penicuik (1709 – 1782), Penicuik House, Midlothian. Thence by descent
Footnote
Note: Much has been written about the celebrated suite of characteristically Scottish ‘Cockpen’ seat furniture from Penicuik House, commissioned by Sir James Clerk. While Sir James was meticulous in documenting the construction and furnishing of his new country house, his account journals can also be tryingly vague in identifying specific pieces with specific tradesmen. Speculation on the source of the ‘Cockpen’ furniture has led to the most probable maker, William Hamilton of Edinburgh, who can be linked to chairs of this type in other house collections of the period. It is then not too great a leap to assume that other pieces of upholstered furniture supplied to Penicuik at the same time may have the same source. In Sir James' ledger there is an entry for the large amount of £33 14s 9d on the 22 October 1772 to Hamilton for payment ‘in full of Chairs for Dining room’. This amount is far in excess of what the set of fourteen dining chairs would have cost [see lot xx], so it has been proposed that additional pieces supplied by William Hamilton could also be included in this figure. This would potentially include the suite of various ‘Cockpen’ chairs and sofas and extend to the present pair of chairs that take on a more conventional Georgian form with their serpentine tops rails, scrolled arm supports and fluted legs.