Although significantly larger in width and depth, the overall look of this chair recalls William Wheeler''s well known Gossip chairs, whose design it anticipates by well over 100 years.My friend David Jones tells me he knows of similar chairs made by William Hamilton (Cockpen and ladder/fiddleback chair maker and for a time partner of William Trotter) who supplied chairs of this type, but not this pattern, to Sir John Clerk at the magnificent Penicuik House in Midlothian.I have a few chairs by Hamilton, and the ''feel'' and overall sturdy construction, along with the compass-shaped seat, (currently rather obsured by the plump upholstery and later sprung seat) may put him in the frame as a possible maker. There is refinement too, the timbers are well chosen, the outline well-drawn and the stretchers are astragal moulded.Condition wise the chair is solid. There have been old repairs to the cresting rail at either end, and there is a chip and some roughness to the left-hand le...