COMPOSITE SET OF FOURTEEN SCOTTISH GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS
18TH CENTURY
having pierced ladderback slats, above stuffover seats covered in gold plush upholstery with close nail trim, raised on square chamfered legs united by stretchers, to include twelve side chairs and a pair of armchairs; three chairs with curved seats (14) 
armchair 62cm wide, 94cm high, 48cm deep
Provenance: Sir James Clerk, 3rd Baronet of Penicuik (1709 – 1782), Penicuik House, Midlothian. Thence by decent.Purchased in 1772 from William Hamilton & Sons, Edinburgh for the dining room at Penicuik House
Note: This long set of chairs, with their distinctive pierced ladderbacks are a typically Scottish form and are attributed to the Edinburgh maker William Hamilton. Sir James' journal records the purchase of a set of dining room chairs, presumed to be the present set, in October 1772. Three of the chairs have bowed seats indicating they were replacements or possibly assimilated from other parts of the house into the larger set. The firm of Hamilton & Sons operated from the Tolbooth Wynd in the Canongate where William Hamilton worked until his retirement in 1790.  A similar set of chairs, also attributed with William Hamilton was supplied to the Duke of Bucchleuch for Dalkeith Palace, but now reside at Drumlanrig Castle. Another set of the same form was in the collection of the Duke of Hamilton at Lennoxlove, while another set is in Trinity House, Leith. The firm also supplied furniture to Paxton House and Arniston House.Literature: Francis Bamford, “Plenishings at Penicuik House”, Country Life, 7 August, 1975, pgs. 332-334