The Adam style is characterized by symmetry, delicacy and classical ornament. Paradoxically, one of the most important sales of furniture designed by Adam is not at all representative of this look. A less familiar side of his work is shown by a suite of armchairs and sofas he designed in 1765 for the London house of Sir Lawrence Dundas (c. 1710–81), a draper who made his fortune through lucrative speculations and army contracts. It was for his art patronage, though, that he was invited in 1750 to join the Society of Dilettanti, a dining club that sponsored Classical archaeological expeditions. Dundas’s antiquarian interests, together with his French taste, were incorporated into Adam’s designs for the seating furniture. It was Rococo in form, but the motifs were based on Roman sources. A bas-relief from a sarcophagus supplied the decoration for the sofa façade, and the cabriole legs terminate in paw feet, which was a well-known characteristic of Roman furniture. Thomas Chippendale (1718–79), who executed the hybrid-rococo designs, said they were in “the antick manner.”

In 1997, at a London auction, a pair of the Dundas sofas sold for more than $2.58 million and a pair of the armchairs for more than $2.86 million. The fully documented Chippendale attribution made them a double hit for collectors. The fact that the pieces had never been on the market was a further spur to bidding.

Collectors should be aware that Adam was not the first to adapt the findings of archaeology to design. Beginning in the early 18th century, fashionable houses had been built according to the principles of Andrea Palladio (1508–80), the Italian Renaissance architect. Patrons and architects toured A pair of George III giltwood torchères in the manner of Robert Adam, c. 1775. Palladio’s villas in the region around Venice and studied his writings on ancient Roman architecture. Back home, they built simple and serious country houses, with rusticated facades and classical porticoes. The interior architecture was likewise based on the ancient temple form, with doorways and fireplaces framed by entablatures.

The master had been silent on the subject of decoration, so rooms were furnished according to a mix of Classical and Baroque influences. The most important furniture designer was William Kent (1684/5–1748), who spent 10 years in Italy. The prevalence of sturdily carved masks, terms, and shells— all hallmarks of Palladian design—were due largely to Kent’s influence. Steep prices are paid for the Palladian furniture that passes through the New York salerooms. A recent example is the pair of giltwood side tables, attributed to Kent, that sold last spring at Christie’s for $576,000.

When Adam arrived in London, Palladianism still lingered on in fashion, its heavy forms sometimes softened by Rococo ornament. Looking back, in the 1770s, he spoke with pride of sweeping away this “massive” and “ponderous” style.

Traditional Palladianism was not, however, the only challenge Adam faced. There was potent competition from James “Athenian” Stuart (1713–88), whose achievements Adam anxiously talked down. Renowned in his time, Stuart was for many years overlooked as a pioneer in the Greek Revival, though in recent years the neglect has been  redressed. He is the subject of an exhibition “James Athenian Stuart: the Rediscovery of Antiquity,” organized by the Bard Graduate Center in New York and currently on view at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. “More than anyone else, Stuart revealed the merit and dignity of Greek architecture and design,” says Bard director Susan Weber Soros.

The exhibition makes clear that Stuart was something of a foil to Adam. Poor and haphazardly educated, Stuart was Roman Catholic at a time when professing that faith incurred serious penalties. After working in London as a decorative painter, he set off on foot for Rome in the early 1740s. Stuart spent 14 years abroad, where he flourished in the fluid, expatriate society of artists and aristocrats. To support himself, he showed foreign visitors around the city. There were churches and palaces to be seen, but the really important sites were associated with Rome’s ancient past. This codified tourist circuit was also known to Stuart from his work painting souvenir fans.