SOLD - An Important Set of Twelve George III Carved Mahogany Armchairs
Designed in the French fashion so popular in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the chairs have curved upholstered backs with outswept moulded arms above serpentine upholstered seats with a seat rail carved with a central cartouche. Standing on four cabriole legs carved with 'C' scrolls and acanthus leaves and terminating in 'french' scroll toes.
English, Circa 1765
By repute, commissioned by Gilbert Innes of Stow (1751-1832) for his house 24 St. Andrews Square, Edinburgh
Thence to his sister Jane Innes of Stow (1747-1839)
William Mitchell Innes of Stow
Alexander Mitchell of Stow and Carolside, by descent to his widow:
Fanny Georgina Jane Mitchell (d. 1917), thence to her second husband:
Donald James Mackay, 11th Lord Reay and Baron Reay (1839-1921), believed to have been given with the house to Lord Reay's godson:
Captain Hubert Charles Paulet Hamilton (b. 1915)
Removed to Moyne, Co. Laois, Ireland circa 1947 when Carolside was sold.
ATTRIBUTION
This unusually large set of twelve armchairs are well proportioned and have robust carving, especially on the front seat rail. Taken together with the bowed and scrolled arms and a Scottish cabinet maker is indicated. This suggestion is supported by the name Archibald Aitken which has been written on the underside of one of the chairs along with the date 1812.
Aitken was an upholsterer and undertaker recorded as working in the Canongate area of Edinburgh circa 1773-90 (Bamford, p. 1), presumably continuing his business into the early part of the nineteenth century. However, considering the large size of the suite it is more likely to have been produced by one of the more established firms in Edinburgh and that Aitken would have re-upholstered them at a later date.
Unpublished research by Sebastian Pryke has identified a number of important commissions by the cabinet makers William Hamilton and Son who were working in Canongate in Edinburgh in the 1770's to 1790's - in exactly the same street (Tolbooth Wynd) as the upholsterer Archibald Aitken. Indeed, William Hamilton completed an important commission for William Nesbitt of Archer-field House, East Lothian, a Georgian house re-modelled by Robert Adam in the 1790's. Included amongst the Archerfield papers in the Scottish Record Office is a bill for '12 Mahogany Cabriol Chairs with Elbows round fluted feet, Stuffed with best hair in Canvas, with slips of Stripd Damask' at £28. 16 (SRO GD205/48/1 8/½0(2)).
Gilbert lnnes lived at 47 George Square in Edinburgh and later at 24 St Andrews Square. The move to 24 St Andrews Square made him the immediate neighbour of Sir Lawrence Dundas (1712-1 787) and later his son Thomas Dundas, who was to sell Dundas House in 1787. Innes was instrumental in the acquisition of Dundas House in 1825 as a headquarters for The Royal Bank of Scotland. This proximity to an important client of Thomas Chippendale's would mean that Innes would have been familiar with Chippendale furniture which is interesting when considering the similarity between these chairs and those made by Chippendale for Lady Winn's ante-chamber at Nostell Priory in 1767 (Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1988, p. 171, fig 140).
LITERATURE
Francis Bamford, Dictionary of Edinburgh Wrights and Furniture Makers,
1983
Kitty Cruft et al. Borders: Buildings of Scotland, 2006
David J Griffin & Caroline Pegum, Leinster House, 2000, pp.80-81
Sebastian Pryke 'Cockpen Quest', Country Life, April 29th 1993, pp.80-81
E.M.Satow & P.W. H. Brown, 'Donald James Mackay', Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography
Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1988, p. 171, fig 140.
 "An Important Set of Twelve George III Carved Mahogany Armchairs")
