Footnotes

Provenance
The offered lot was purchased by the current owner and vendor, Christie's, London, 5 July 2018, Thomas Chippendale: 300 Years, lot 19.

The present sofa is closely comparable in a number of characteristics to examples of seat furniture recorded as being among the late output of Thomas Chippendale. In particular it is notably similar to a great deal of Chippendale pieces supplied to Burton Constable, Yorkshire, in about 1788. The great cabinet maker defined the furniture that his workshop provided for this particular historic house as: 'done in a neat but not an expensive manner.'

Firstly, the supremely elegant serpentine form of this sofa draws parallels to the conforming shapeliness of a pair that Chippendale made in circa 1788 on behalf of William Constable (1721-1791) for the Great Drawing Room at Burton Constable. Just as undoubtedly was the case with regards to the above example, this related pair of sofas formed part of a much larger set or suite which, aside from these, was comprised of sixteen armchairs, four smaller sofas and two bergères.

The next element of significance are the reeded tapering front legs terminating in toupie feet combined with the scrolled splayed rear legs, all of which are virtually identical to the legs on the aforementioned Burton Constable seat furniture. Indeed, the flaring to the tops of the reeds on the front legs of the offered model conform to the 'flare-topped' legs on a pair of commodes produced by Chippendale in 1774 for Mansfield Street, the London property of the Constable family. Whilst the same type of supports also feature on the celebrated 'Weeping Women' commode supplied to Stourhead, Wiltshire by Chippendale and Chippendale Junior.

In addition to this, the shallow type of carving employed is redolent of the way the Burton Constable sofas are likewise carved, suggesting that perhaps the current sofa was originally painted in a similar way to the blue and white 'japanned' decorated surfaces on the former.

Unfortunately, no detailed financial paperwork remains for any furniture which was commissioned of Chippendale and intended for the Great Drawing Room at Burton Constable. Despite this, on 19 October 1778, the steward's account book documents the following: 'Mr Chippendale on Acct of Furniture for the Drawing Room £300'. Also, later, in March 1779 a Mr Bolt located in Gray's Inn is asked by Constable to pay Chippendale's firm £800 for work provided up until 30 December 1778.

Among other records, a 1774 invoice exists for further 'japanned' furniture, to a total cost of £627 3s 5d, which was most likely made by Thomas Chippendale for Mansfield Street for use in an enfilade of three apartments – a bedchamber, ante-room and drawing-room. It is reasoned by the author Christopher Gilbert in his book, "The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale", that since this amount did not include travelling expenses or packing fees these pieces were almost certainly intended for a London property, and hence the Mansfield Street postulation.

Following the Constables' vacation of Mansfield Street in 1784, twenty five crates of furniture were provided to Burton Constable by Chippendale Junior. This group comprised twelve armchairs and a pair of sofas made for the Drawing Room therein. This commission was aggrandized by the distinctive combined characteristics of parcel gilding and blue damask upholstery. However, only one sofa was cited in the bill for this work, once again proving the incomplete nature of the Constable accounts.

The ribbon tied husk carving to the centre of the toprail on the offered lot is reminiscent of that appearing on seat furniture supplied by Chippendale for Petworth House, West Sussex, on behalf of George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837). The originals remain to this day at Petworth, albeit twelve such chairs and only one sofa are left extant from a much larger suite, the latter of which are described in full in Chippendale's invoice dating to 9 January 1777 as:

-'22 Neat Carv'd – Cabriole Arm'd Chairs, Gilt in Burnish'd Gold, Stuffd, Cover'd and finishd with Gilt Nails (Exclusive of the Damask) @ £5.5s – 115.10s
-2 very Large Confidants... Carv'd to match the Chairs and Gilt in Burnish'd Gold...£52.10
-2 large Carv'd Sofas to match, Gilt in Burnish'd Gold, Stuffd, Coverd, and finish'd with Gilt Nails Squabs and Downe Bolsters Compleat (exclusive of Damask) £38
-2 long Stools for the windows...'

A further pair of sofas, together with eight en suite armchairs, all dating to c.1778, with closely comparable ribbon tied carved husk crestings to the previous and the above, can be found at Nostell Priory, Yorkshire. This set remain at Nostell for where they were originally made, and probably intended for the Saloon, upon behalf of Sir Rowland Winn. This work has been attributed to Chippendale due to the fact that it corresponds 'exactly to one of the firm's standard designs'.

An additional related pair of sofas, which were also executed as part of a substantially larger group originally, were provided to Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, who was George III's younger brother. These now reside in the Royal collection based at Clarence House and are an example of Chippendale's only known Royal commission. Although there is another sofa in the National Trust collection at Basildon Park, which is very similar to this Clarence House model.

Finally, despite Chippendale clearly not having been connected at all to the Great Wardrobe, he is recorded as boasting in 1768 to Sir Rowland Winn that he had 'a great quantity of unexpected business... mostly for the Royal family'. However it is believed that this statement was based upon the fact that several copies of the 1762 third edition of his "Director" in fact carried a personal dedication to the Duke of Gloucester.

Literature and References
C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, Vol. I, 1978, London, pp.'s 169, 173 & 276; Op. Cit, Vol. II, p. 198, fig. 361; NT 959736.9-10 and NT 959736.1-7.
J. Goodison, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale Junior, 2017, London, pp.'s 156, 180, 363, 365; fig.'s 181-2 & 185; NT 483451.7 and NT 483451.1-6.
D. Dodd and L. Wood, 'The "Weeping Women" Commode and other orphaned furniture at Stourhead by the Chippendales, Senior and Junior', Furniture History, 2011, pp.'s 58-62.
C. Gilbert, 'New Light on the Furnishing of Nostell Priory', Furniture History, 1990, pp.'s 53 & 58-60; NT 266682.