CIRCA 1820-30

This reading chair is derived from a Gillows design of 1794 (L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, pl. 246), however this later version is perhaps more closely related to the designs for 'Library Reading Chairs' published in Ackermann's Repository of Arts, September 1810. The design features the distinctive eared arms and balloon-shaped seat, which the caption states was 'in a great sale at the warehouse of the inventors Messrs, Morgan and Saunders, Catherine-street, Strand' (P. Agius. Ackermann's Regency Furniture and Interiors, Marlborough, 1984, p.54).