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Property from a Private Connecticut Collection A GEORGE II MAHOGANY OPEN ARMCHAIR ATTRIBUTED TO THE ST MARTIN'S LANE SYNDICATE, CIRCA 1750height 37 ? in.; width 30 in.; depth 28 in.95.25 cm; 76.25 cm; 71.25 cm The distinctive carving of the front legs of this magnificent chair is identical to that on a pair of library armchairs supplied in the mid-18th century to John, 2nd Earl Poulett (d.1764) at Hinton House, Hinton St George, Somerset (sold Christie's New York, 16 October 1998, lot 333). This pair formed part of a larger suite very similar to a set of chairs supplied by William Vile (d.1767) and John Cobb (d.1778) to Anthony Chute at the Vyne, Hampshire in 1753 (illustrated Coleridge, fig.27). Vile and Cobb, who later became Royal Cabinetmakers to King George III, formed a syndicate with William Hallett (d.1781) in 1753 and were based in St Martin's Lane, the nexus of the mid-18th century London furniture trade where among others Thomas Chippendale and Mathias Locke were also based. Vile had been Hallett's apprentice and both were born in Somerset only a few miles away from Hinton St George, so it is likely they would have participated in the refurbishment of Hinton House through their local connections.The offered lot is also likely to have formed part of a larger suite, as an identical armchair, probably in an American collection in the early 20th century, is illustrated in Cescinsky and Hunter, p.123, and a side chair of identical design is currently on the London art market. A further pair with identical arms and legs but upholstered high backs is in the Alfred Du Pont Collection at Nemours Mansion, Wilmington, Delaware.This armchair enjoys the distinction of having been in the possession of three iconic 20th century collectors, staring with Percival D. Griffiths, whose collection of 18th-century English furniture formed under the guidance of the furniture historian R.W. Symonds is regarded as one of the finest ever assembled. Symonds described this work as a superlative example of the 'middle mahogany period' and particularly praised its fine carving. The chair was later owned by Joseph Widener, scion of a wealthy Philadelphia family whose important holdings of Old Master paintings formed the nucleus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Later it passed to Walter J. Chrysler Jr, heir to the eponymous automobile manufacturing fortune and lifelong collector of fine and decorative arts who donated much of his collection to the Norfolk Museum in Virginia, later re-named the Chrysler Museum.