This square back armchair with three banisters (along with its matching pair in the Dining Room) can be attributed to the Haig & Chippendale workshop because of the characteristic setting out marks on the frame beneath the seat, their arms which have a rhythmic curve swept to a sharp point and the particularly slender tapered front legs.

The elbow shape and front legs bear close comparison with similar components on the arch topped bedroom chairs also supplied to Paxton c.1789. Similarity of these elements to seat furniture made for Richard Colt Hoare at Stourhead c1780 indicate the authorship of Thomas Chippendale Junior, although no others of exactly this design exist in his known repertoire. In general design, they relate to late eighteenth century square backed chairs from the oeuvre of Georges Jacob, fashionable after the death of Thomas Chippendale the Elder, but they compare also to the Scottish ‘brander back’ form, perhaps suggesting an instance of the patron’s preferential taste.

This chair was conserved in 2022 with funding from Museums Galleries Scotland. It had historic water damage and pronounced fading. The show wood surfaces of the chair were cleaned using 0000 grade wire wool and a small amount of white spirit, then later dry buffed with the same very fine grade wire wool. The pronounced fading of these surfaces were then toned using van dyke brown crystals water stain which was sealed with a simple shellac varnish. Later the shellac varnish was cut back and the surfaces were wax polished with Harrell’s Furniture Wax using a soft cotton cloth.

It has been displayed with a mannequin representing Ninian Home on it next to the Chippendale secretaire made for Paxton House c.1775-79 which was acquired in 2022.