Dining chair
John Kerr (fl.1790 - 1808)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1802
Materials
Turned mahogany, leather
Measurements
88 x 49 x 53 cm; 43 cm (Depth)
Place of origin
Pall Mall
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 485382.10
Summary
A dining chair, circa 1802, from a set of ten, the back formed by a curved horizontal splat above fluted curved side rails terminated by acanthus capitals, above a red leather seat on fluted tapering front legs and toupie feet. They are likely to be the chairs supplied in 1802 by the London cabinet maker John Kerr of 31 Pall Mall (active 1787-1808) for the 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) at a cost of "£33". They were described in the accounts as "24 Strong Plain Mahog. Chairs with Broad Tablets in backs".
Provenance
Part of a set of twenty-four chairs delivered to the 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) in 1802. Thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Makers and roles
John Kerr (fl.1790 - 1808), cabinetmaker
References
Rowell 2012 : Christopher Rowell, Petworth, The People and the Place, Scala, 2012