Antique Set 12 William IV Dining Chairs, Attributed to Gillows 19th Century

A rarely available long set of ten faux rosewood dining chairs. The chair back with its elegant top rail , having abutting scroll corners below carved scallop shells is a design seen in Gillows Lancaster Estimate Sketch Books for 1823. Unupholstered horsehair squab cushions...

A very fine and substantial late Regency early William IV mahogany three seater sofa attributed to Gillows of Lancaster in the Grecian manner. Standing on four large bulbous style tu...

Set of 4 William IV Rosewood Dining Chairs with Gillows Reeded Leg (plus 1 free) - Almost certainly from the Gillows workshop in Lancaster the Top Back Rail with Tulip Pediment, the ...

Sn4893 Fine quality set of twelve William IV dining chairs in mahogany, each chair having flamed mahogany top rail with fleur de lis carving and scroll carved mid rail above drop in ...

A set of eighteen red walnut dining chairs attributed to Gillows. English, circa 1830. Each chair has a waisted balloon back, with incised foliage and panelled horizontal spla...

Wonderful set of William IV dining chairs These chairs stand upon ''Gillow's'' style turned and fluted front legs and sabre back legs The freshly reupholstered seat is of a lift out ...

Presenting an antique fine quality set of 6 19th Century mahogany dining chairs in the manner of Gillows. These chairs feature a highly desirable cross back design adorned with decor...

William IV, circa 1830-40s, set of 4 dining or side chairs, English. Shaped high upholstered backs. Robustly turned front legs, splayed back legs, mahogany. Attractively upholstered ...

A very fine set of 6 Regency dining chairs attributed to Gillows of Lancaster and London, having a quality figured top rail with a reeded edge and carved top supported by shaped reeded supports over foliate scrolled splats, drop-in seats with luxury velvet fabric upholstery standing on reeded tapering legs to the front and out swept back legs. Circa 1820 English Artists Biography: The Gillow family of cabinet makers and upholsters came to prominence with Richard Gillow (1733 – 1811), the son of Robert Gillow, founder of the firm. Gillow’s reputation as one of the leading British cabinet...

Royal House Antiques We are delighted to offer this important suite of museum quality, antique Colonial Gillows of Lancaster Attributed solid Rosewood dining chairs with ornately carved back splats Please note the delivery fee listed is just a guide and covers London only for the UK and local Europe for the rest of the world, if you are outside of this area please send me your address and I will provide you with an accurate quote Where to begin, if you’re looking at this listing then the chances are you know exactly how significant this suite is, Gillows of Lancaster & London was simply put, one of the most important furniture designers in the history of England, these chairs are the only Colonial examples I have ever seen and in Rosewood no less, they weigh roughly three times more than a standard dining chair of the same style and size, they are very substantial The chairs early 19th century circa 1810-1820, the carving is exquisitely executed and the chairs look sophisticated and elegant from all angles The suite has been sympathetically restored to include a deep clean, hand condition wax and hand polish, the seat covers have been left as they are, they are fine, the timber has a wonderfully aged patina that is honestly sublime Dimensions Height:- 81cm Width:- 45cm Depth:- 50cm Seat height:- 44cm Please note all measurements are taken at the widest point. Lot Essay These chairs are closely related to those in two recognised Chippendale commissions: Sir Gilbert Heathcote (d. 1785), 3rd Baronet for Normanton Hall, Rutland and William Crichton-Dalrymple, 5th Earl of Dumfries (4th Earl of Stair, 1699-1768) for Dumfries House, Ayrshire. THE RELATED CHAIRS The chairs are of identical decoration to the set of two armchairs and ten single chairs, circa 1765, formerly at Normanton Hall (1). In 1759, Sir Gilbert Heathcote (d. 1785), 3rd Baronet, succeeded to the vast inheritance established by his grandfather, also Gilbert, 1st Baronet (1652-1733), who was reputed to be ‘the richest commoner in England’ (2). The 3rd Baronet employed both Chippendale Senior and his son, Chippendale Junior, in the furnishing of his Palladian mansion, Normanton Hall in Rutland, and his London houses, 29 Grosvenor Square, London and Browne's House at North End, Fulham. Surviving Chippendale accounts, although incomplete, show that the firm was working periodically for members of the Heathcote family from 1768 to 1821. Most of the furniture listed in these accounts was intended for Browne’s House, although after 1798 when the family relinquished this residence some of the furniture was moved to Normanton Hall. The latter was sold in 1924, and any furniture not included in the Normanton Hall sale was taken to the Earl of Ancaster’s seat at Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire. Chippendale’s earliest invoice for Sir Gilbert Heathcote records the acquisition in 1768 of ‘6 India Back and arm chairs Japand to imitate the Bamboe’, signifying how the family embraced the highly fashionable chinoiserie taste. Although the Normanton chairs cannot be conclusively identified in the extant Chippendale accounts, their form and ornamentation led Christopher Gilbert to suggest that they were possibly by Chippendale (3). The set of four mahogany chairs at Dumfries House have nearly-identical pagoda-form cresting rails and identical terminals but differ in the arrangement of the 'Chinese' paling in the backs and side panels. Although no documentary evidence for the Dumfries chairs survives, in their execution and sophisticated carving of the toprails, they are extremely close to Chippendale’s hand. Another near-set of closely related chairs is at Saltram House, Devon, where Chippendale worked between 1771-2; these dates are based on payments in John Parker's cash account book, and probably do not reflect a true picture of the entire commission as Parker often paid tradesmen by banker's draft (4). Comprising two armchairs and seven single chairs, this set, circa 1765, is made of padouk, and has been described by the National Trust as ‘Chinese Export’ (5). The set was returned to Saltram in 1951 having been accepted by H.M. Treasury in lieu of full payment of Death Duty from the Executors of Edmund Robert Parker, 4th Earl of Morley (1877-1951). Some of the chairs are currently on display in ‘The Chinese Chippendale Bedroom’. A further set of four padouk chairs of the Saltram pattern was almost certainly at Kenwood House, London; some of these are recorded in 18th century inventories drawn up by Lord Mansfield. This set was removed to Scone Palace, Perth, prior to the auction at Kenwood in 1922, and subsequently sold from ‘Scone Palace and Blairquhan: The Selected Contents of Two Great Scottish Houses’, Christie’s, London, 24 May 2007, lot 298. Another pair of padouk chairs of this model sold ‘The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller’, Christie’s, New York, 10 May 2018, lot 647 ($193,750 inc. premium). THE DESIGN Conceived in the Chinese manner expounded by William and John Halfpenny in Rural Architecture in the Chinese Taste (1752), and Sir William Chambers in his Designs of Chinese Buildings, Furniture, Dresses, Machines and Utensils (1757), the pattern for this set of ‘Pagoda’ chairs relates to nine designs for ‘Chinese Chairs’ in the 1st edition of Chippendale’s Director (1754); the cabinet-maker describes these designs thus: Plates XXIII, XXIV and XXV are nine Chairs in the present Chinese manner, which I hope will improve that taste, or manner of work; it having yet never arrived to any perfection; doubtless it might be lost without feeling its beauty: as it admits of the greatest variety, I think it the most useful of any other. The sizes are all specified on the designs. The three last (No. XXV.) I hope will be well received, as there has been none like them yet made. The Georgian period witnessed the proliferation of such railed and pagoda-crested chairs in both the ‘picturesque’ Chinese tea pavilions of landscaped parks as well as in fashionable apartments hung with ‘India’ paper. The geometric ‘Chinese’ feet of these chairs are also found on a set of pedestals...