Thomas Chippendale the younger

Note: The bracket has been re-gilded five times. Gilding analysis has revealed that the gilding was originally two-tone, with some areas tinted green or blue.
This type of two-tone gilding was popular in the latter part of the 18th century, and Thomas Chippendale used it in several rooms at Harewood House, Yorkshire, England.
The design of this extraordinary bracket conforms to Robert Adam’s neoclassical style of about 1775. The finely carved swags are composed of various flowers, and are very striking and different from the usual husk chains. This type of swag decoration is typical of the Chippendale workshop, and in particular of the commission at Harewood House, where floral swags appeared in the following rooms:
1. The Circular Dressing Room (no longer in existence) contained a pair of silvered girandoles which are now in a private collection. The floral swags on these girandoles are almost identical to those on the bracket.
2. The State Bedroom, with its well-documented four poster bed. The bed is decorated with similar carved floral swags of various sizes.
3. The White Drawing Room once featured four circular girandoles. Each girandole was finished with floral garlands of the same type.
4. The Dining Room featured large oval mirrors applied with similar floral garlands.
5. The Saloon entry for the 1795 inventory of Harewood House is probably the most compelling: ‘2 Large China Potporee Jars upon blue and gold frames’. The room was furnished with oval pier glasses, again decorated with floral festoons. The ‘blue and gold frames’ would refer to the brackets on which the jars were placed. The blue and gold scheme would have been lost beneath later gilding layers.