A SET OF FOUR GEORGE II MAHOGANY HALL CHAIRSCIRCA 1750The backs painted with armorials and mottos 'FIDE ET CONSTANTIA' in two styles, two inscribed '1750'99cm high, 42cm wide, 50cm deepFor a similar set but without painted crests, see Christie's, London, Important English Furniture, 4th July 2002, lot 27 (15,535). The inspiration for the basic form of this type of hall chaires from the Italian Renaissance sgabello seats, which were stools with a back support often carved with often carved and decorated with heraldic imagery and placed in the hallways of grand palazzos. In England, by the mid 18th century, designs for hall chairs has appeared in Chippendale's Director as well as other contemporary design books including Robert Manwaring's The Chair-Maker's Real Friend andpanion.The plain backs of these chairs were often decorated with armorials or family crests. The coats of arms of these chairs are variously derived from Henry Lee. A closely related set of chairs was supplied to the Earl of Dumfries for Dumfries House by Alexander Peter in 1758 and remain in situ today. The painted decoration, in their case the Crichton crest encircled by the Collar of the Order of the Thistle, is known to have beenpleted by John Bonnar in 1759.