Beschreibung:

A set of six late George III mahogany hall chairs , circa 1790, the oval fan-carved backs each centred by the painted armorial crest of the Colthurst family, the bowed solid seats above turned legs The backs of these chairs bear the armorial crests of the Colthurst family which were originally granted to Sir Edmund Colthurst of Hinton, Somerset, on 24 th September 1573. Edmund Colthurst (1527- after 1611), a wealthy land-owner who inherited the former monastic estates of Hinton Priory and Bath Abbey, Somerset upon the death of his father in 1559, Matthew Colthurst. He achieved notoriety for his plans to create an artificial watercourse, knowns as New River which was intended to supply drinking water to London. However shortly after commencing work on the scheme, he succumbed to financial difficulties and delegated its completion to his partner Sir Hugh Myddelton which was achieved by 1613. Colthurst sold Hinton Priory and the majority of his estates shortly after 1611. The design of the backs here relate to hall chairs attributed to Mayhew and Ince, which were probably supplied to Richard Myddelton (d.1795) for his London House in Albermarle Street and subsequently transferred to Chirk Castle, Wrexham, Wales (see: H. Roberts, The Ince and Mayhew Connection, Part 1, Country Life, January 1981, p. 289, fig. 4). Two pairs of the 'Myddelton [hall] chairs from Chirk Castle' sold Christie's London, 10 May 2006, lots 90 and 91.