Research:
Of mahogany. Each with pierced lobed backsplat centered by a roundel painted with the arms of the Greswolde and Bridgman families supported on slatted uprights above dished seats raised on four square tapering legs joined by a box stretcher.
Provenance:
Commissioned for Malvern Hall, Solihull, c.1784 to commemorate the marriage of Henry Greswolde Lewis and Charlotte Bridgman
By family descent
These highly inventive chairs utilize a very unusual flower petal-like back splat design, which is minimal and futuristic. The center of each splat is finely painted with a complex coat of arms, which commemorates the marriage union in 1784 of Henry Greswolde Lewis (1754–1829) to Charlotte Bridgman (1761 – 1802), the eldest daughter of the Earl of Bradford. Greswolde Lewis’ arms appear on the proper right (viewer’s left) side, his wife’s on the proper left. Henry Greswolde Lewis is today known as a great – and eccentric – patron and connoisseur of the arts, who employed the architect Sir John Soane for some years and cultivated a lasting friendship with John Constable (1776 – 1837). He inherited Malvern Hall in 1773.
The style of the backs utilized on the present chairs is highly distinctive, with their splats being of extremely unusual lobed or petal-like form. This type of side or hall chair was perhaps one of the pieces of furniture that allowed the greatest freedom for the expression of particular stylistic preferences, and a vast variety of designs were executed in all manner of workshops throughout Britain in the eighteenth century.
Full research report available on request.