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Artist or Maker: MID-18TH CENTURY, DATED 1756

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Provenance: Supplied to John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont (1711-1770) for Enmore Castle, Somerset and by descent at Enmore until Enmore was sold to
Nicholas Broadmead of Milverton and by descent at Enmore until sold Enmore Castle house sale, 31 March 1899, lots 266 and 267 ('266 Four strong painted arm chairs, with armorial bearings 267 ditto') when bought by
Mrs Notley, Combe Sydenham Hall, Somerset, and by descent.

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Literature: FOR THE SET:
J. Cornforth, 'Fresh as paint', Country Life, 18 April 1991, p. 98, fig. 1.
N. Goyne Evans, American Windsor Chairs, New York, 1996, p. 49, fig. 1.20.
M. Harding-Hill, Windsor Chairs, An Illustrated Celebration, Woodbridge, 2003, p. 47.

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Notes: THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

THE ARMORIALS
The arms on the detail above are those of John, 2nd Earl of Egmont (1711-1770) impaling those of his second wife, Catherine Compton, Baroness Arden of Lohort Castle (1731-1784) whom he married in 1756, while the arms on the other chair are those of the 2nd Earl impaling those of his first wife, Lady Catherine Cecil (1719-1752), daughter of the 5th Earl of Salisbury.

ENMORE CASTLE
John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont bought the Enmore estate from the descendants of the Malet family who had owned it since the 12th century. Between 1751 and 1755 he started work on the castle which was further embellished in the baronial style, by his son, the 3rd Earl shortly before 1779. The 3rd Earl sold the castle in 1834 to Nicholas Broadmead and the chairs remained in the castle until the Enmore sale in 1899.

One of the chairs from the same set was sold anonymously, Brightwells, Leominster, 28-29 May 2003 (see Antiques Trade Gazette, 28 June 2003, p. 1) and another is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. W.34-1976).

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