Regency Gothic Side Chair

A Regency Gothic side chair after a design by George Smith, on cluster column legs carved from oak with an early Rexine seat, England, 1826.

The George IV side/dining chair, with heraldic lion heads and Gothic colonnade reflects the antiquarian fashion for fusing Grecian and medieval styles. The Brewer Street cabinet-maker George Smith (1786-1827), described as ‘Principal of the Drawing Academy’ and ‘Upholsterer and Furniture Draughtsman’ to George IV, engraved a very similar pattern for a ‘Dining Room Gothic Chair’, published posthumously in 1828.