A Pair of George III Carved Giltwood Armchairs attributed to John Cobb
Mackinnon Fine Furniture Collection
We are delighted to present a new series, Friday Finds, where we will delve into the library and look at publications on art & antiques that are relevant to pieces in our current collection. Today, we are focusing on the pair of George III giltwood armchairs attributed to John Cobb. We looked at these chairs in a previous post here.
The chairs feature magnificent gadrooned show frames and beautifully carved knees with elegant cabriole legs, all designed in the French tastes. John Cobb is associated with a group of seat furniture of similar design, including a set of four mahogany carved armchairs in our collection which you can see here.
A Pair of George III Carved Giltwood Armchairs attributed to John Cobb
Mackinnon Fine Furniture Collection
The giltwood chairs in this design are magnificent, and there are published examples of the same model of chair by two venerable antique dealers of the 20th century, Partridge Fine Arts and Mallett & Son Antiques.
Partridge published an exhibition catalogue in the summer of 1974 highlighting pieces from their Bond Street showrooms.
Included in the publication is a set of six of the George III gadrooned giltwood armchairs (two pictured) and an accompanying settee. This suite is given the provenance of the De Souza Collection in Lisbon.
In Mallett’s seminal publication Great English Furniture of 1991, a pair of the gadrooned giltwood armchairs are visible in a photograph of the gallery’s Bond Street showrooms amongst other fine examples of antique furniture of the period.
We look forward to sharing more examples of our ‘Friday Finds’ with a look back at archival research and discoveries that help add character, history, and meaning to the pieces in our collection.
The Source 
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