Mountain Meadow: Property from the Collection of Betty and Gordon Moore, Woodside, California

Provenance:

Richard Gardner Antiques, Petworth, West Sussex

Note:

       The design of the present chair debuted in the July 1811 issue of Rudolph Ackerman’s Repository of Art [1]. Designed by Thomas Morgan and Joseph Sanders of the eponymous Morgan and Sanders firm, the metamorphic (or ‘patent’) chair was as much a triumph of Morgan and Sanders’ skills as furniture makers as it was to their skills as advertisers.

             The firm of Morgan and Sanders started in the early 19th century with an intense rivalry involving fellow patent-furniture maker Thomas Oxenham over whom could lay claim as the successor to their former boss Thomas Butler [2]. Morgan and Sanders fiercely advertised their wares in Ackermann’s monthly periodical and beyond London. Capitalizing on the national spirit following the death of Admiral Lord Nelson and the victory of the British Navy at Trafalgar in 1805, Morgan and Sanders named their premises “Trafalgar House” and pushed narratives of their furniture being used by Lord Nelson among other notable noble and political heavyweights of the era.

             While many other firms created ‘patent’ or metamorphic furniture in this era, Morgan and Saunder’s tireless promotion and adherence to popular styles of the Regency period has allowed their firm to withstand the test of time. The neoclassical form features legs similar to Greek klismos chairs and the seat backs are sourced from designs in antiquity. Similar examples to this chair and the drawings from Ackermann’s repository are located in numerous institutions and notable private collections.

1)     Ackermann, Rudolph, “Metamorphic Library Chair", from "Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions Etc.." Plate 29 (volume I, July 1811), 1811.

2)     "M". Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840. Ed. Geoffrey Beard, Christopher Gilbert (Leeds, 1986), British History Online. Web.