18TH CENTURY ENGLISH TASTE FOR THE PICTURESQUE
The library armchairs combine the French 'picturesque' fashion with antique elements in the contemporary 'Roman' style, embodying the English expression of the Rococo at its culmination in the 1760s. In the first half of the eighteenth century, most Englishmen accepted the cultural and fashionable primacy of France. By 1735, the St. Martin's Lane Academy was introducing Régence and early Louis XV designs to artists and craftsmen and until 1744, England was at peace with France, traditionally her arch-rival. This important and long period of peace facilitated England's initial acceptance of French, and specifically Rococo, designs. Despite the political and cultural obstacles between England and France of the mid-eighteenth century, notably the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, the enthusiasm for French fashions in England continued unabated. Most craftsmen appear to have been oblivious to the contradiction between patriotism and their work, despite the efforts of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (d. 1753) and William Kent (d. 1748) to introduce an 'English' style, based on a robust interpretation of Palladio's designs. The Rococo, on the other hand, besides its fashionable 'French-ness', held a more practical attraction for designers and craftsmen in that by its very nature, it was more labor-intensive than the sober English 'Kentian' style: designers were often able to charge more for their work. Somewhat ironically, defense for the French style is found in The Anti-Gallican, a novel of 1757, which noted 'let us endeavour at raising ourselves to an equal if not superior Pitch of Excellence, in every Science and Profession, to all Nations of the Globe'.

PAUL SAUNDERS (1722-1771) AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE DESIGN
Saunders’ early career began on 7 December 1738 when he was apprenticed for seven years to Michael Bradshaw, citizen and ‘upholder’ of London. In 1753, Saunders and his business partner, George Smith Bradshaw were established at 59 Greek Street, Soho, the former workshop of the upholsterer and cabinet-maker William Bradshaw (1700-1775), from whom they probably acquired stock and pattern books; in May of the same year, the partnership was described as ‘upholsterers of Greek Street’. Recent research shows that Saunders was probably more prolific as a cabinet-maker in the 1750s than previously thought; from February 1752-July 1757, ‘Paul Saunders & Co.’ was supplying furniture and overseeing the complete refurbishment of Exchequer House, 10 Downing Street, and the following year, Oatlands Park, Surrey, and Clinton Lodge, Hampshire for Henry Pelham Clinton, 9th Earl of Lincoln, later 2nd Duke of Newcastle (1720-1794); the total commission came to over £5000 (S. Goodman, ‘The 9th Earl of Lincoln (1720-1794) and the refurbishment of Exchequer House, 10 Downing Street’, The British Art Journal, Winter 2017/2018, vol. XVIII, no. 3, pp. 3-7). Furthermore, from June 1749 to February 1759, he was employed by Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1715-86), a commission that came to more than £2000 (10). On 6 February 1755, and with respect to the above, the firm was referred to by the Public Advisor as ‘the Workshop of Mess. Smyth, Bradshaw & Saunders, Upholders & Cabinetmakers, Soho’.

Saunders subscribed to Thomas Chippendale’s Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, and was undoubtedly inspired by the latter’s designs. The present chairs reflect the influence of a number of 'French Chair' patterns published by Thomas Chippendale in the third edition of his Director, 1762, with their serpentined and voluted arms, wrapped by Roman acanthus enrichments, relating in particular to design elements shown in Plate XIX. The marked curvature of the legs, and acanthus foliage issuing from pierced bands or cartouches, are a recurring motif on Saunders’ seat-furniture, and variants are found on the supports of two sets of dining-chairs at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, part of Saunders’ documented commission for Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (1697-1759). This motif was also used by Wright & Elwick of Wakefield, and it is interesting to note that Richard Wright (1745-1771) in the early part of his career worked for Saunders as a director of ‘The Royal Tapestry Manufactory’. Saunders almost certainly also supplied a set of eight similar chairs to the 3rd Viscount Weymouth in 1757, two of which, their knees carved with the same acanthus device, were sold Christie's, London, 'Furniture, Silver and Porcelain from Longleat', 13-14 June 2002, lot 338. A pair of armchairs identical to the Longleat pair, almost certainly from the same set, was sold from a New York Collection, Christie's, New York, 17 October 1992, lot 242. A few chairs of exceedingly similar design to the present lot are known, including one exhibited by Hotspur, Ltd. of Surrey at the Antique Dealers' Fair in 1951; a single chair sold Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1990, lot 64; and another sold Sotheby's, London, 31 October 2018, lot 331.