The settee's raised cresting is flanked by Grecian acroteria, while its paneled back is centered by a painted medallion displaying the coronet-ensigned crest 'Out of a ducal coronet or an ash tree proper' for George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham (d. 1830). It has hermed and pateraed Roman legs, which are inspired by a Roman altar seat illustrated in the architect Charles Heathcote Tatham's Etchings of Ancient Ornamental Architecture drawn from the Originals in Rome and Other Parts of Italy during the years 1794, 1795 and 1796, London, 1799 (pl. 46). Simultaneously, the palm-enriched trusses and patteraed volutes of its arms reflect the later antique style popularized by P. and M.A. Nicholson's Practical Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1826. Its antique architecture relates to that of a pair of armorial hall seats that date from around 1820 and bear the label of the Aldersgate Street firm of Thomas and George Seddon (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, fig. 822).

Surviving 'tradesmen' bills indicate that the Earl, who was a trustee of the British Museum, paid £80.4.0. for furniture supplied in 1812 by the celebrated Piccadilly cabinet-maker Robert Hughes. However, in view of this hall seat's antique design, it is tempting to link it with one of the payments to the Mount Street firm of Thomas Tatham (d. 1818), the brother of Charles Heathcote Tatham, and his partner Edward Bailey, who were employed between 1817 and 1824. In particular the firm, which was also patronized by George, Prince Regent, later George IV, received £77.4.0. in 1817, and another £26.6.6. in 1820.