A Fine George I burr walnut settee

English, circa 1720

A particularly handsome George I settee, veneered in richly figured burr walnut. The double-chair back incorporates two elegant vase-shaped splats beneath finely carved cresting rails, each centred by a shell and enriched with scrolling acanthus leaves. The uprights terminate in carved roundels, while the shaped arms have graceful scrolled ends.

The bow-fronted drop-in seat is covered in eighteenth-century floral needlework and raised on cabriole legs carved with shells and acanthus ornament, terminating in distinctive claw-and-ball feet.

A closely related two-seat settee attributed to Giles Grendey, sharing the same acanthus ornament, shell-carved top rail, vase-shaped splats and claw-and-ball feet, is preserved in the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Although the carved border of the present top rail differs slightly, this variation is repeated on a chair belonging to the Lady Lever suite.

The consistency of these distinctive features raises the intriguing possibility that the present settee once formed part of that larger group. As furniture historian Lucy Wood observed, the Lady Lever pieces are “evidently part of a larger suite”.

Another settee of this design was formerly in the celebrated Percival D. Griffiths Collection and is illustrated in both Jussel’s study of the collection and Percy Macquoid’s Dictionary of English Furniture.

Combining sculptural form, accomplished carving, exceptional burr walnut and period needlework, this rare settee is a distinguished example of early eighteenth-century English cabinetmaking.