EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A SET OF SIX IRISH GEORGE I WALNUT SIDE CHAIRS
EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Each with dished toprail above a solid vase-shaped splat above a padded drop-in seat, five covered in caramel leather, one in striped cream cotton, on cabriole legs with trifid feet, one with ivorine Frank Partridge label, one inscribed in red crayon '3', another inscribed '4768 6'
39½ in. (100.5 cm.) high; 20½ in. (52 cm.) wide; 19½ in. (49.5 cm.) deep (6)

Provenance

Bought from Frank Partridge, 28 King Street, St James's, London by the twelve chief Livery Companies of the City of London and presented to
Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902-1942) and Princess Marina on the occasion of their marriage in November 1934.
H.R.H. The Duchess of Kent, Christie's, London [Derby House, Stratford Place, W.1], 14 March 1947, lot 351.
Bought by the present owner from Philip Colleck, 1971.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Chairs with related 'trifid' shaped feet are often thought to be Irish. A pair of similar chairs was possibly supplied to Thomas Nugent, Donore, Co. Westmeath and illustrated in The Knight of Glin & J. Peill, Irish Furniture, New Haven & London, 2007, p. 207, no. 12.

Prince George, Duke of Kent, married Princess Marina of Greece (1906-1968) in 1934. Besides a short career as a Naval officer, and from 1929, at the Foreign Office, he was a committed collector of English Furniture. In 1935, he inherited Coppins, a house near Iver, Buckinghamshire, from his aunt Princess Victoria, where he installed his distinguished collection of furniture and paintings. His life was cut tragically short in 1942 when his plane crashed in Caithness whilst on a trip to inspect Royal Air Force establishments in Iceland.

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