A Mahogany Reading Chair After a design by Thomas Sheraton

A Mahogany Reading Chair
After a design by Thomas Sheraton

Of most striking design, the mahogany chair with its original leather upholstery having castor-shod tapering and turned front legs with sabre legs to the rear, the bowfront seat cushioned and having an inclined back, the padded arms of horseshoe design and incorporating a concealed swinging drawer for writing equipment, the hinged reading book rest inset with gilt-tooled leather.
Circa 1805

This type of chair is illustrated in Thomas Sheraton’s “The cabinet-maker and upholsterer's drawing-book” of 1803. Sheraton comments on the design saying the chair was intended “to make the exercise (of reading) easy, and for the convenience of taking down a note or quotation from any subject.”

This particular design was made as early as the first quarter of the 18th century and was custom-made for handful of clients throughout the 18th- and 19th-centuries by firms such as Gillows and Marsh & Tatham. An early example is in the Victoria & Albert Museum (W.47:1-1948), while a model of similar age to the Butchoff example is in the Royal Collection (RCIN 45104). A similar chair can be seen in the library at Tatton Park, in Cheshire, most likely supplied by Gillows.

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Condition report

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