These chairs and the matching armchairchair (W.4-1974) are very typical of the mass-produced furniture which was purchased by middle-class consumers in the second half of the 19th century. It is small in scale and would have been bought for a drawing-room or personal sitting-room where women’s taste dominated, perhaps with a matching sofa or chaise-longue. The donor of the pieces said that it had been owned by the singer Adelina Patti (1843-1919) and that seems quite possible. Large-scale furnishing firms such as W. Smee & Son Ltd of Finsbury Pavement, London, manufactured such suites by the thousand. These pieces are not stamped or labelled with a name but are stamped with stock numbers that may, in due course, lead to an identification of the maker.