Undoubtedly one of the finest of its type, this suite of eight mahogany armchairs retains its original needlework seat covers, each of which is unique, with its own design and colour scheme.

The undulating top rails of the chairs are decorated with crisply-formed C-scrolls and the shaped arms and cabriole front legs with acanthus and scrolled toes. Notably, the splats are stencilled and, amongst further C-scrolls, carved with pointed ornament, resembling ogival forms in Gothic architecture. In this context, the nibs of the C-scrolls - particularly when they meet - are crockets, enhancing this sublte impression of the style intended by the designer.¹ The lower half of the splats derive from the preceding generation of walnut chairs.

The suite was probably acquired by Berkeley shortly after he inherited Spetchley in 1756. In his lifetime he would make many changes to the house, inluding remodel the Dining Room in the newly-popular Adam style, and so these chairs were likely installed as part of his early work to the house.   

It is interesting that in his library Berkeley had a copy of Chippendale’s first Director (1754). Interesting though not suprising, for a fashion-conscious man keen to acquire an example of the latest ‘French’ Rococo style. Whether or not they can be ascribed to Chippendale, by whose patterns however they were certainly influenced, they were crafted by a workshop working in the latest styles, with access to the very finest draughtsmen, carvers and materials.

The present chairs were listed in the 1893 inventory of Spetchley and in the 1949 take, when they were given the highest value of any piece at house of £2,000. 

¹ Francis Spar (ed.), Le Style Anglais 1750-1850 (Paris, 1959), p. 88; c.f. also Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture (London, 1968), fig.168 & C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture: The Norman Adams Collection (Woodbridge, 1994) rev. ed., p. 51 for further gothic chairs