The chairs with scroll arms and cabriole legs carved at the knees with female masks and acanthus. Closely related mask motifs appear on furniture associated with Moore’s workshop.

James Moore was Royal Cabinetmaker to George I and supplied furniture for a number of royal and aristocratic interiors, including Hampton Court, Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and Blenheim Palace.

Wanstead House was transformed by Sir Richard Child into one of the most ambitious country houses of the early Georgian period. In 1715 he commissioned the Scottish architect Colen Campbell to design a great Palladian mansion, completed in 1722 and illustrated in Vitruvius Britannicus. The grounds were laid out by George London with formal gardens and tree-lined avenues.

The house quickly became known for the scale and richness of its interiors. It was depicted by William Hogarth and was also associated with William Kent, who is thought to have contributed to its decoration and possibly its furnishings. Later eighteenth-century accounts described the principal apartments as both “elegant and convenient”, richly furnished and hung with paintings by leading masters.

The present armchairs were commissioned during this period and reflect the Palladian taste promoted by Kent and his circle. Their bold carved ornament and architectural character are consistent with the work of James Moore, who was among the leading cabinetmakers working in this idiom in the early eighteenth century.

The Child family’s wealth was closely connected with the East India Company through Sir Richard’s grandfather, Sir Josiah Child. The needlework upholstery, worked with geometric designs in crimson, navy and ivory, reflects the contemporary taste in English interiors for textiles influenced by Ottoman and Persian designs.

Wanstead House was demolished in 1822 following the dispersal of its contents. Few surviving pieces of furniture can now be securely associated with the house, making the documented provenance of these chairs particularly significant.