The carving in the back of this chair is copied directly from a design by Thomas Chippendale, published in his pattern book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, in 1754. When the Museum acquired the chair, with three others and a matching armchair, it was believed to have been made in about 1760. However, it is now thought that the chairs were made at least a hundred years later, partly because they show very little sign of wear. They also replicate every detail of Chippendale's design, whereas an 18th-century maker would often copy a design more freely. The five chairs formerly belonged to the theatre designer and furniture historian Percy Macquoid, and were given to the Museum by his widow in 1925. Macquoid was the author of the first major history of English furniture (published 1904--08), but even he made occasional mistakes.