A set of three George III chestnut ‘cockpen’ armchairs

A set of three George III chestnut 'cockpen' armchairs, circa 1800, in the 'Chinese Chippendale' taste, each moulded rectangular back and arms with trellis supports, each caned drop in seat above square section moulded legs surmounted by pierced corner brackets
Provenance: By repute Courteenhall House, Northamptonshire.
This type of Cockpen chair, influenced by Chinese design, relates to a 'garden seat' pattern illustrated in the architect Charles Over's Ornamental Architecture in the Gothic , Chinese and Modern Taste, 1758 (pl. 9). In the 18th Century, this pattern may have been that referred to as 'diamond back' in an invoice for 15 'Mahogany chairs diamond backs' sent in 1761 to William, 5th Earl of Dumfries by the Edinburgh wright Alexander Peter (S. Pryke 'Cockpen Quest' Country Life 29 April 1993, pp.80-81)