A rare pair of 'Queen Anne' white and polychrome japanned side chairs in the manner of John Ball

A rare pair of 'Queen Anne' white and polychrome japanned side chairs in the manner of John Ball, with parcel gilt decoration and painted with scrolling leaves and flowers, each with a pierced leaf and scroll carved cresting, the serpentine caned back with a central splat decorated with red diaper panels and bands of intertwined husks, above a caned seat, on stylised shell and leaf capped cabriole legs and square pad feet united by moulded stretchers, with a flaming urn finial, early 18th century. (2)

Provenance: Purchased by the vendor's parents from Mallett's, c.1972.

The above chairs are illustrated in Lanto Synge, Mallett's Great English Furniture, p.65.

See Christie's,Thomas Hope & The Neoclassical Vision & The Collector of Collections, 24th April 2008, lot 182 for an identical pair of chairs probably from the same suite.

A similar design of chair appears on the 'Cane Chair' manufacturer John Ball's trade card. John Ball traded at 'The Crown & Three Chairs' in the Minories, near Little Tower Hill. The pattern of the above lot with serpentine frames and ribboned splat is influenced by the fashion for Indian and Chinese designs brought back by the East India Company. The japanned decoration is carried out in the manner prescribed by Stalker and Parker, 'A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing', Oxford 1688.