A George III Style Serpentine Walnut Bench Inspired by Louis XV Prototypes

This is a good example of what regional appraisers of art and antiques see in places like S FL where I am based. The owner and a prior appraiser with scant background had assumed it was French and that it was a Louis XV period bench. The assumption was based on the cabriole legs more than anything I should imagine.

             

In reality, this was a prime example of English furniture made in a very French inspired style. And it's also a later generation bench of 19th Century vintage.  It was clearly made after French Rococo prototypes in the mid to  late 19^th Century. 

   

It has an upholstered seat with obviously more recent floral blended (polyester and cotton) fabric resting on 4 cabriole legs headed by carved cabochons and terminating in scroll feet. Visually, the cabochons give it away as an English bench as such a decoration would not have customarily been seen on the head of a French cabriole leg. Also the sweep of the cabriole is too stiff to the trained eye of an appraiser who knows his or her furniture.  The bench measures 18”h., 23”w., 16”d.