Side chair

A set of six gilded beechwood side chairs en suite with a pair of sofas, four bergères and four open armchairs upholstered in yellow silk, the framework curved and pierced with fret patterns; canted top corners and seated chinaman cresting. Tapering legs entwined with serpents. The chairs were supplied to George IV, when Prince of Wales for the decoration of the Chinese Drawing Room at Carlton House. François Hervé was one of a band of émigré French craftsmen employed at Carlton House, working under the direction of the French marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre and the British architect Henry Holland. The chairs reflect the restrained style of French-inspired neo-classical furniture of the latter part of the eighteenth century.