Bequeathed to the Museum by Mme Yvonne de la Cruz-Frölich, Sunningdale (See Registered Files 62/3098 on Nominal File MA/1/L8), who had first offered pieces to the Museum in 1962. On her death a group of furniture was bequeathed (Museum numbers W.2 to W.5-1974). In the correspondence on the original file, Peter Thornton noted in a memor dated 1/12/68 that the chairs 'Belonged to Patti the singer. c. 1845' This was presumably told to him by Mme Yvonne de la Cruz-Frölich. As her husband was a singer, it is possible that the history is correct, but as Adeline Patti was only born in 1843, it suggests a much later date. In 1878 she acquired a country house in Wales, Craig-y-Nos ('The Rock of Nights') in the Brecon area and it is possible that the chairs were acquired for that house, which she lived in until her death in 1919, although they may have been made for another of her houses. The design of the chairs is similar to many produced by the large furniture manufacturers in London in the middle of the 19th century. W. Smee & Son Litd, of Finsbury Pavement, published somewhat similar designs in their Designs for Furniture in 1850 (see Edward Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, published in Woodbridge by the Antique Collectors Club in 1977; similar designs are shown on pp. 195, 221-223). Although such designs appeared in the 1850s, the style remained current until much later in the century. Further research may be able to establish whether W. Smee & Son used stock numbers such as are found on the underside of these chairs. Other large-scale manufacturers of furniture produced similar designs and it is not yet possible to say who might have made the set.