A fine set of eight George III carved mahogany dining chairs in the manner of Robert Manwaring:, the backs with trellis work centred with quatrefoils in blind fret geometric surrounds, serpentine top rails with incised lattice and reeded pagoda crestings and cabochon rocaille ornament, the upholstered stuff over seats with blind fret seat rails and square chamfered legs, headed with pierced fret spandrels.*Provenance Kingsnympton Park, Devon.* Notes The present chairs closely relate to a design by Robert Manwaring illustrated in 'The Cabinet and Chair-Makers Real Friend and Companion,' 1765, pl. 13 and can also be compared with a design for a similar lattice-back chair illustrated by Thomas Chippendale in 'The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director', 1754, pl. XXII.* Notes Manwaring described himself as a cabinet-maker trading from the Haymarket, although no marked or documented furniture by him has yet come to light. Instead, he is best remembered for a series of publications in the 1760's of Rococo, Chinese and Gothic designs, from which the present chair is derived.'The Cabinet and Chair-Maker's Real Friend and Companion' gives advice on types of wood, painted finishes and even loose cushions, and indeed, Manwaring states that he has executed some of the designs for chairs, although these are not known to exist.Related examples include a set of chairs recorded in the Goldschmitt collection, illustrated in Ralph Edwards and Percy Macquoid 'The Dictionary of English Furniture' rev. ed., 3 vols, 1954, vol I, p. 286, fig. 192; a single chair illustrated in Francis Spar (ed.) 'Le Style Anglais' 1750 - 1850, 1959, p. 96, and an armchair now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Francis Lenygon 'Furniture in England from 1660 - 1760', 1914, p. 64, fig 92.* Notes A similar set of fourteen chairs was sold from the collection of Captain C W D Worthington, Kingston Russell House, Dorset, Christies, 24th September 1984.