Bonhams’ Important Design sale in Bond Street on October 25 included this George III mahogany hall settee in the manner of William and John Linnell. Estimated at £8000- 12,000, it sold at £140,000 (plus premium), writes Roland Arkell.
The 4ft 1in (1.25m) piece came from Spains Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Finchingfield, Essex, bought in 1760 by the Bocking clothier Samuel Ruggles. The house remains the seat of his descendants, the Ruggles Brise family.
A similar group of hall furniture was originally supplied by Linnell to either Edwin Lascelles (d.1791) for Harewood House in Yorkshire or to David Lascelles (d.1784) for Goldsborough Hall, Yorkshire.