Pair of Brocklesby Shell Back Hall Chairs by Gillows

Provenance:
Supplied to Charles Anderson-Pelham, later the 1st Earl of Yarborough, c.1810-20 by Gillows of London and Lancaster for either Appuldurcombe House on the Isle of Wight or Brocklesby Park in Lincolnshire which remains the family seat to this day.

By descent in the family at Brocklesby until they were acquired by us.

Description:
These fine hall chairs, with their lavishly carved shell backs, are one of the most successful of all models of hall chairs from this period and a speciality of the Gillows firm. Several variations on the model exist but the present chairs, with their turned and reeded front legs and fluted front seat rails are the most accomplished and technically proficient of all of these variants and would only have been produced for the most affluent of clients. They retain a superb original colour and patination and have real presence, the sculptural qualities of the backs giving them real visual impact and presence in any room.

In her landmark study of the Gillows firm, Dr Susan Stuart illustrates a related pair of hall chairs now in Abbott Hall Art Gallery and Museum in Kendall as plate 177 (page 203). These chairs, illustrated below, were produced for the Rev. Holland Edwards of Conway, North Wales, in 1811. Other than the sabre legs used front and back and carved paterae on the front blocks, this pair of chairs is identical to the present pair in every respect.

There is absolutely non doubt that our chairs were made by Gillows, despite the lack of a stamp. The Hon. Charles Anderson-Pelham, later created 1st Earl of Yarborough was MP for Lincolnshire but through his marriage to Henrietta Anna Maria Charlotte Simpson, niece of Sir Richard Worsley, he also inherited the extraordinary Appuldurcombe House on the Isle of Wight as an additional seat. Appuldurcombe had a most exceptional collection of furniture, most of which has yet to be identified having been dispersed by auction in the late 19th century. The majority of the furniture there was supplied by Gordon and Taitt, Thomas Chippendale and Ince and Mayhew and the house was furnished with such profligacy that it almost ruined Worsley. It is said that Anderson-Pelham, one of the founders of the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes and thus very keen to spend as much time as possible at Appuldurcombe, made few changes to the house and its furnishings but it may be that the present chairs were introduced as part of a minor updating of taste c.1815. After the sale of Appuldurcombe and its contents, what remained in the family’s possession was removed to the main family seat at Brocklesby Park. Brocklesby, meanwhile, is renowned for its collection of important regency period furniture and, as such, it is also entirely possible that the present chairs were created directly for that house instead. A search of the 1855 Appuldurcombe sale catalogue does not reveal any references to hall chairs of the present model so if the chairs were made for that house then the family must have decided to keep the entire set at that point, not including any of them in the auction.

Charles Anderson-Pelham is mentioned in the Gillows sketchbook records, having ordered one of Gillows’ popular and magnificent Imperial model dining tables (estimate book reference 3386). He is therefore a known Gillows customer and although the commissioning of the present chairs does not seem to be recorded, this is not at all unusual. The firm’s surviving records are frustratingly incomplete.

These outstanding hall chairs are highly sophisticated, drawing their inspiration from earlier Italian grotto chair models and incorporating the fashionable classical revival taste of the early 19th century.

To find a pair of chairs of this model with such important provenance is extremely difficult and we are delighted to be able to offer them for sale to our friends and clients.