MALLETT & SON (ANTIQUES) LTD LONDON & NEW YORK
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INTRODUCTION
We are honoured to have been entrusted with the sale of several major private collections of decorative arts and paintings, the highlights of which we present here. Amongst these are a selection from two notable American collections, put together originally with the help of the leading specialists of the day. They are united by their focus on exceptional examples of classic forms of English furniture and of particular note is the magnificent marquetry commode, one of a series accepted to be by Mayhew and Ince, and directly comparable to the example in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The pair of mirrors supplied to Sir Lawrence Dundas in 1764 are of exceptional scale and quality and are virtuosic pieces commissioned by arguably one of the most important British patrons of the 18th Century. The mirrors have few peers in the history of English furniture, or indeed in that of any other country. Lastly, the selection of pieces from Goodnestone Park were commissioned for the house between 1760 and 1785 and have never before been seen in public. Made by the leading cabinet makers of the period including Mayhew and Ince and Christopher Fuhrlohg, we are particularly proud to be able to offer this selection that have remained with the family who commissioned them until today. Please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be glad to help in any way we are able.
George Bailey Chairman
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AN IMPORTANT PAIR OF GEORGE III GILTWOOD LIMESTONE-MARBLE TOP DEMILUNE PIER TABLES A fine pair of George III giltwood pier tables in the neoclassical taste, each with an unusual fossilized marble top with an ormolu beaded edge above a conforming frieze centred by a rectangular plaque carved with a flower-head flanked by honeysuckle, the frieze with a fish-scaled ground alternating with flower heads and fluted panels, raised on acanthus-carved circular tapering fluted legs raised on toupee feet. England, circa 1770 Height: 36¼in (92cm) Width: 44⅞in (114cm) Depth: 22½in (57cm) F3F0249
PROvENANCE
The collections of The Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House. Mallett & Son Antiques, London, 2000. LITERATuRE
Lanto Synge, Mallett Millennium, London, 1999, p. 21, fig. 11. The present pair of tables can be attributed to the workshop of Thomas Chippendale the younger, (1749–1822). They display the more solid and architectural neo-classicism of the workshop after he inherited the business from his father on the latter’s death in 1779. The legs of the present table are nearly identical to the legs on a demi-lune pier table attributed to Chippendale and supplied to Sir Richard Worsley for the drawing room at Appuldurcombe in the late 1770s.
Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke and Family, by James Watson after Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1773, National Portrait Gallery, London.
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Chippendale the younger inherited many of his father’s aristocratic clients, and it is very possible that Henry Herbert, the 10th Earl of Pembroke (d.1794), continued to commission work from the firm. The 10th Earl of Pembroke employed Sir William Chambers to re-build Pembroke House from 1756 after he had demolished the previous structure designed and built by Colin Campbell for the 9th Earl. The cost of the new building was upwards of £22,000, a princely sum. Chambers and Chippendale collaborated on the interior design, the latter designing and making furniture to fit into Chambers’s decorative scheme. Documented pieces which Chippendale supplied to Herbert for the house included three bookcases, a library table and torchères, all now at Wilton House, the Herbert’s country seat. There must have been further pieces which Chippendale supplied, possibly including the present tables as the bills given to the Earl of Pembroke between 1763 and 1773 added up to £1,500 almost 7% of the total cost of what the earl spent on building the house.
Pier table supplied for the drawing room at Appuldurcombe, Isle of Wight.
Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke and 7th Earl of Montgomery (1734–1794), a brilliant horseman and military man succeeded his father as a young man in 1750 promptly leaving Eton and travelling on the Grand Tour through France, Germany, Austria and Italy from 1751-1754. upon his return, he rebuilt Pembroke House from 1754-1756 and married Elizabeth Spencer (1737-1831) daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough. Their son, George Augustus Herbert, was born in 1759. The 10th Earl was a brilliant military man, promoted rapidly in the 1750s becoming colonel in 1758. He left for Germany that year as part of the British contingent in the 7 Years War achieving the rank of Major-General in 1761. During this time he was also Lord of the Bedchamber to George Prince of Wales who became George III. However, he was forced to resign this position in 1762 when he eloped with Elizabeth Catherine (Kitty) Hunter to the continent, which scandalized London society. Their illegitimate son Augustus Retnuh Reebkomp (the two last names being a jumble of
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Hunter and Pembroke) was born a year later in 1762. Lady Pembroke took her husband back in 1763, though they lived mostly apart for the remainder of their marriage. In 1784 his son Lord Herbert described him as ‘perhaps … the most unaccountable of all human beings’ (Pembroke Papers, 2.260), while Horace Walpole was ‘not surprised at any extravagance in his Lordship’s morals’ (Walpole, 25.497). By 1769, he was reappointed Lord of the Bedchamber to George III, a position he
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held until 1780. Lady Pembroke became a lady of the bedchamber to Queen Charlotte in 1782 after the King and Queen had been hosted by the Herberts at Wilton. Herbert was devoted to horses, dogs, and beautiful women, enjoyed travelling and shooting, had some interest in music and the arts. He died, after several months’ illness at Wilton on 26 January 1794 and was buried there on 3 February.
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A PAIR OF GEORGE II WALNUT SIDE CHAIRS A fine and rare pair of George II walnut side chairs, each with rectangular upholstered backrests and over-upholstered square seats raised on cabriole legs carved with acanthus leaves to the knees on a punched ground and flanked by eagle-head brackets and ending in claw and ball feet. England, circa 1745 Height: 39¾in (101cm) Width: 24¾in (63cm) Depth: 26¾in (68cm) F3F0253
Provenance Ronald Phillips, London.
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DAVID ROBERTS, R.A. (1796-1864) The Doge’s Palace, Venice, from the Bacino di San Marco Signed and dated 1862 lower right Oil on canvas Height: 27.25in (69.5cm) Width: 45in (114.5cm) PROvENANCE
Bought from the artist by Jean Joseph Ernest Theodore Gambart (1814-1902), along with The Dogana and Santa Maria venice, Ballantine’s no.264. Anonymous sale. Macconnal-Mason, London. Private collection, uK. Thence by descent to the present owner. LITERATuRE
David Roberts’s Record Book number 240, no title Ballantine, Joseph, The Life of David Roberts, RA, London, 1866, p.253, no. 263 EXHIBITED
French Gallery, London, Tenth Annual Winter Exhibition of British Artists, 1862, no.14
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David Roberts travelled extensively throughout his career, and the views that he made of sunlit views in Italy and the Middle East have captivated generations of connoisseurs and collectors. Roberts first visited Italy in 1851, arriving in venice in October, after having travelled via Switzerland in late September and returning through vienna. He writes in his journal, and in his letters to friends and family, that the initial impression of venice and Italy was overwhelming: ‘I am so puzzled it will take me many days to sober down.’ The subject of Doge’s Palace was to occupy a large amount of his time while on this first trip, executing three preparatory oil studies en plein air, possibly while aboard a gondala: ‘[I am] at work from 9 o’clock until 4 or 5 in the afternoon; I find a Gondola the most convenient as well as agreeable, as I can get all my traps around me & free from beggars & idlers with which the town swarms.’ Roberts is recorded as having sent the 3 oil views of Doge’s Palace straight to the Royal Academy where he later used them as studies to produce one studio work formed of the three works, which he later exhibited at the Academy in 1852, no. 34. Following this first visit to Italy in 1851, he was to return again in 1853, where he was once more drawn to the subject of The Doge’s Palace, but on this occasion Roberts opted for the more direct fronton view from the Bacino di San Marco. The finished painting from the 1853 trip is now in the Fitzwilliam (no. PD.181997), and is an oversized precursor to the present work.
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While Roberts was not to return to venice following this 1853 trip, the studies he made alongside his notes and diary entries, were to be a constant source of inspiration for the rest of his career. The present painting, having been in a private uK collection for a large part of the last century, was initially painted as a companion to Roberts’s Church of Santa Maria della Salute (now in the Sheffield Museum of Art, no. vIS.1559). The two works are recorded in Roberts’s journal, where he wrote that both were sold to the same buyer, the great art dealer Jean Joseph Ernest Theodore Gambart; who presumably later went on to sell them individually. The Sheffield Museum painting measures roughly the same size, and the alternative view acts as a striking balance to the present work. If the two paintings were ever hung beside one another, the effect that Roberts achieved would have been particularly arresting. The delicate handling of the lighting and the luminescent quality of the pigments employed are distinctively Roberts’s hand, and the virtuoso brushwork is that of an artist working at the height of his abilities. The swift and confident strokes of impasto that form the gondoliers in motion in the foreground, suggest that Roberts’s memories of venice had only heightened in his absence from the city. Through Roberts’s combination of capturing movement, and with the architectural accuracy and lighting effects depicted, he manages to successfully touch on the ethereal and distinctive venetian atmosphere that he wrote so fondly of on his first trip, ten years earlier.
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A PAIR OF CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL TWELVE-INCH GLOBES A fine pair of celestial and terrestrial twelve-inch globes. Each globe on victorian mahogany stands. By Malby & Co. England, dated 1850 and 1848 respectively Height: 36in (91.4cm) Diameter of globes: 12in (30.5cm) O3F0260
PROvENANCE
Hotspur, London. Thomas Malby, Senior, probably founded his firm, Malby & Co., in 1839 as publishers and map-and-print colourers with premises at 22 Houghton Street, Clare Market, London and later, 3 Houghton Street. The firm updated the name to Malby & Son when Thomas Junior joined the firm and became the director.
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A GEORGE II GILTWOOD OVERMANTEL MIRROR A fine and rare George II giltwood overmantel mirror with a later rectangular mirror plate within a gadrooned border within a frame with sanded-ground and bead-and-reel and egg-anddart mouldings, the cresting centred by a flowering basked flanked by a pair of bearded masks beneath scrolled acanthus leaves, the sides with pendant husks continuing to scrolled terminals each centred by flower heads. In the manner of William Kent. England, circa 1730 Height: 48⅞in (124cm) Width: 64⅝in (164cm) F3F0264
PROvENANCE
Michael Foster, London.
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This magnificent giltwood frame is inspired by the designs and work of William Kent who was considered the arbiter of taste first half of the 18th century. Kent’s name is synonymous with the Palladian movement in Britain which he helped to revive under the patronage of Lord Burlington. His influence was such that his first biographer Horace Walpole noted that ‘his oracle was so much consulted by all who affected taste that nothing was thought complete without his assistance.’ Kent was at the epicenter of style and taste so much so that he worked for the Royal family and held offices of master carpenter, master mason, deputy to the surveyor general, surveyor and inspector of paintings in the Royal palaces and principal painter in ordinary to the Crown. In these positions, he became a friend and collaborator with some of the great artists and craftsmen of the day including famous sculptors such as Michael Rysbrack as well as carvers and cabinet-makers such as Benjamin Goodison, John Boson and James Richards. This giltwood frame would have been placed above a fireplace and would have been incorporated into the decorative scheme of the room and of the chimneypiece itself which may have been carved out of marble. Many examples of this kind of this kind of pairing exist such as two overmantel frames made for Rousham House and carved by John Marsden in the Painted Parlour (op. cit, p. 221, fig. 8.46) as well as in the Great Parlour (ibid, p. 222, fig. 8.48). The cost of carving in wood was far less expensive than carving in marble and so the mixture of wood overamantel frame and marble fireplace was a cost-savings masked by the fact that the overmantel frame was gilded above the white marble chimneypieces. Nevertheless, the carving would have been of the highest quality being executed by the same sculptor as the chimneypiece itself. COMPARATIvE LITERATuRE:
Susan Weber, ed., William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain, New Haven and London, 2013.
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AN EXCEPTIONAL GEORGE III SATINWOOD MARQUETRY CABINET ON STAND An exceptional George III satinwood marquetry cabinet on stand executed in golden satinwood and inlaid with exquisite marquetry detail in a variety of exotic timbers, the pagoda top surmounted with a fan shape above ribbon-tied palm fronds and sprays of fruiting vines leaves, the frieze inlaid with alternating palm and floral sprigs, with an overhanging cresting above, the two cabinet doors, opening to reveal adjustable shelves, decorated in marquetry with intricate wickerwork baskets filled with flowers, suspended from rosettes by interlaced ribbons and cord ending in tassels, resting on a similarly inlaid stand with a single fitted drawer and a stretcher and stand for a vase echoing the top, supported on tapering legs inlaid with neo-classical urns and a vertical band of leaf ornament and husks, resting on ebony block feet. Attributed to Mayhew and Ince. England, circa 1775 Height: 86⅝in (220cm) Width: 39⅜in (100cm) Length/Depth: 22⅞in (58cm) F3F0173
This remarkable cabinet is constructed using the finest techniques and decorated with the highest quality marquetry suggesting the involvement of one of the greatest cabinetmaking firms of the late 18th century. An attribution can be made to the leading London partnership of John Mayhew and William Ince. A number of the distinctive marquetry motifs found on the present cabinet are seen on other pieces of cabinet furniture traditionally associated with the firm, including a commode attributed to Mayhew and Ince formerly in the collection of William Lever, 1st viscount Leverhulme, and now in the Lady Lever Art Galley (see Lucy Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, Liverpool, 1994, No. 26, p. 222, pl. 28). The unusual outline design concept of the present cabinet combined with the use of satinwood and floral marquetry closely relates to a commode attributed to Mayhew and Ince recorded in the collection of R. H. Benson (see Percy Macquoid, The Age of Satinwood, New York, 1908, p. 172, pl.157). Marked stylistic affinities are also seen between the decoration of the present cabinet and that on a satinwood bureau dressing table supplied by Mayhew and Ince to Warren Hastings in circa 1790 for the bedroom at Daylesford House in Gloucestershire (see ‘The Furniture of Warren Hastings,’ Burlington Magazine, August 1970, pp. 508-520, fig.23).
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The firm of John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince (d.1804) was one of the most successful and enduring partnerships of cabinet-makers in the 18th century. They are first recorded as partners in December 1758, advertising from an address at Broad Street in 1759. Earlier, Mayhew had been apprenticed to William Bradshaw, and Ince to John West, before forming a brief partnership after West’s death in 1758 with Samuel Norman and James Whittle. In 1763 they were described as ‘cabinet-makers, carvers and upholders,’ and in 1778 ‘manufacturers of plate glass’ appeared on their bill heading. From the 1780s the categories of cabinet-maker and upholsterer predominate, reflecting the change in taste from carved to veneered and inlaid furniture which was more fashionable. One of their early ventures was to publish The
Universal System of Household Furniture in 1762 which included eighty-nine numbered plates and six smaller ones dedicated to the 4th Duke of Marlborough. The relative failure of this work, which was issued in only one edition, was probably caused by the distinctly Rococo manner of the designs which was to become rapidly unfashionable in the next few years due to the rise of the Neo-classical taste and the architect Robert Adam. The partnership was not slow to embrace these new forms, as is shown by their own work and their close involvement with Adam himself in making furniture to his own designs for many of his important clients. Some of Mayhew and Ince’s important patrons included the Prince of Wales, the Dukes of Devonshire, Bedfordshire and Northumberland, and Baron Digby.
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JOHN FREDERICK HERRING, SNR (1795-1865) Two gentlemen with their hunters Signed and dated 1827 oil on canvas Height: 29in (73.5cm) Width: 36in (91.5) PROvENANCE
Lady Scott, by whom bequeathed to Mr K. Smith-Bingham John Frederick Herring was born on 12 September 1795 in Blackfriars, London, the eldest of nine children of Benjamin Herring (d. 1871) and Sarah Jemima (d. 1831), née Howard. His father was a fringe maker and upholsterer working from Newgate Street in the City of London. The Herring family were of Dutch origin and both his father and grandfather, Jan Frederick, pursued unsuccessful claims to family property in Curaçao. Herring was never apprenticed to his father and was, therefore, ineligible to work in the trade. At the age of eighteen he was producing both inn signs and paintings (his parents had one of the Hampton Court coach); he had also learned to drive a team of horses. In September 1814 he took the Royal Leeds union stage and arrived at Doncaster in time to attend the Great St Leger horse race. Lodging in the town, he came upon a coach builder’s finishing shop and helped an employee complete the painting of a horse on one of the coaches. The coach builder was impressed and asked him to paint the insignia on the Royal Forrester. On the trial run of the latter he met the proprietor, Mr Hill, and begged of him the vacant post of coachman to the Nelson. He was given the job and followed the arduous profession for six years, ending up on the box of the prestigious High Flyer plying between York and London. Herring’s first exhibit at the Royal Academy was A Dog in 1818; in the following year he had his drawing of the fractured leg of a racehorse reproduced in the Sporting Magazine. The year 1825 saw the start of the scheme that made the name Herring a household word. The Doncaster Gazette arranged for him to paint the winners of the St Leger from 1815 onwards. The pictures were then engraved and published first by Messrs Sheardown & Son, owners of the Gazette, and subsequently by S. and J. Fuller, and then by Baily Bros. In all, Herring painted thirty-four winners, thirty-one of which were made into prints. A series of twenty Derby winners followed two years later in 1827. Engravings of over 350 of his paintings were made in his lifetime. Although suspicious that other artists might steal his ideas and apprehensive of forgers, he did collaborate with a number of his contemporaries—James Pollard, A. F. Rolfe, Henry Bright, Sir Edwin Landseer, C. E. Boutibonne, G. B. Campion, John Faed, W. P. Frith—to produce paintings in which he portrayed the animals and the others the background. He exhibited twenty-two pictures at the Royal Academy, eightythree at the Society of British Artists, and forty-four at the British Institution. Herring died at his home on 23 September 1865 and was buried a Hildenborough, Kent.
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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV FAUTEUILS An elegant pair of Louis Xv fauteuils stamped OG Mathon. By Augustin Mathon. France, circa 1755 Height: 38⅝in (98cm) Width: 29⅞in (76cm) Length/Depth: 24¾in (63cm) F3F0183
PROvENANCE
Jeremy Ltd, London.
Augustin Mathon became a master cabinetmaker on 3 October 1763. He had a workshop with his father on the rue de Clery. Mathon’s furniture is characterised by Régence and Louis Xv style designs (see Pierre Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Franc¸ais Du XVIIIe Sie `cle: Dictionnaire Des E ´be ´nistes Et Des Menuisiers, Paris, 1989, p. 555).
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A GEORGE II EIGHT-PANEL POLYCHROME JAPANNED LEATHER SCREEN A fine japanned screen painted with a continuous scene of Chinese court figures within pagodas along a river at various pursuits including a dragon hunt, the outer panels each painted with a fluted column to the outside edge with garlands of flowers supporting four painted arches decorated with flowering vases. By Joseph Fletcher and John Conway. England, circa 1740 Height: 105½in (268cm) F3F0198
The screen retains its original paper label to the reverse, which is inscribed: Joseph Fletcher & John Conway / Leather-Guilders and Screen-Makers to His MAJY KING GEORGE, / At ye Kings-Arms, the second L[eat]her-Guilders-Shop, / from ye and of Ludgate Street ye South, Side of St. Pauls Church Yd. / Make Sell all sorts of Hangings for Rooms, Stair Cases, Chairs, / Settees and Screens of all sorts of the newest Fashion, beneath the Royal coat of Arms of Great Britain.
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A MAGNIFICENT MAHOGANY AND ORMOLU MOUNTED PARTNER’S DESK An elegant partner’s desk featuring a tooled leather top above an arrangement of three drawers on each side, divided by pilasters with finely cast ormolu ram’s heads, the pedestals fronted on each side with solid doors inlaid with fine marquetry stylised vases bordered by scrolling acanthus leaves and hanging harebells, each concealing an arrangement of 3 drawers on one side and cupboards with shelves on the opposite, the crossbanded border with inset ormolu paterae, the whole upon an ormolu mounted plinth base. Attributed to Gillows. England circa 1910 Height: 32⅞in (83cm) Width: 85½in (217cm) Depth: 48½in (123cm) F3E0296
PROvENANCE
Mallett, London. LITERATuRE
Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, p. 243, pl. 444. The magnificent desk made by Chippendale for the library at Harewood House is acknowledged as one of the masterpieces of 18th century English Neo-Classicism. It achieved a then world record price of £43,050 at auction when it appeared at Christies in 1965 and the existence of this extremely faithful copy from the turn of the last century is testament to the regard in which Chippendale’s design has long been held.
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The original desk was sold from Harewood to raise funds to pay the death duties of Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood. The Mallett desk had been commissioned by the Lascelles family decades prior to that sale in around 1910, almost certainly from the pre-eminent firm of Gillows of London and Lancaster, and is a nearly exact copy of the Chippendale original (see Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, p 201 - p 242-243. pl 442-444, 446-7 ).
Such fidelity to the earlier piece, and the magnificent ormolu mounts that adorn it, could only be created from the maker’s direct access to the original, and as such could never, now, be repeated. The present desk, one of two known, is believed to have been commissioned by Henry ulrick Lascelles, 5th Earl of Harewood (1846-1929), and his wife Lady Florence Bridgeman, daughter of Orlando Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford possibly as gifts to their two sons.
Library table, inlaid mahogany, by Chippendale, 1771 / (c) Leeds Museums and Art Galleries (Temple Newsam House) uK / Bridgeman Images.
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Edwin Lascelles, Lord Harewood, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, late 18th century. Reproduced by the kind permission of the Trustees of the 7th Earl of Harewood Will Trust and the Trustees of the Harewood House Trust.
Harewood House and Thomas Chippendale Shortly after the death of his father Henry Lascelles in 1753, Edwin commissioned John Carr (1723-1807) to design a new house on the Harewood estate; by 1759 the foundation stone was laid. Robert Adam (1728-1792) was working on designs for the interiors by the mid 1760s and Yorkshire-born Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) was made responsible for the furniture and furnishings. Harewood would become Chippendale’s most complete single commission and represents the apogee of his fully mature neo-classical style. The first mention of the commission was in a letter from Chippendale to Sir Roland Winn of Nostell Priory, dated 19th July 1767, in which he told his patron As soon as I had got to Mr. Lascelles and look’d over the whole of ye house O found that [I] Shou’d want a Many designs & knowing that I had time Enough I went to York to do them.
The designs that he made at this stage were small and elegantly finished sketches for the client to consider. Although no direct correspondence has been found between Chippendale and Edwin Lascelles, this letter verifies that Chippendale had visited Harewood before preparing the designs. The first delivery of furniture that arrived at Harewood from London was in April 1769. A minority of Chippendale’s pieces are in the late rococo taste of the first edition of his Director however fashion was moving swiftly on and the vast majority are in the Neo-Classical style. The library table is first referred to in the Steward’s Day Work Book 1760-74 (Leeds Archives Department, Harewood papers, M.S. No.492) where it records that between 18-25 April 1772 Chippendale’s foreman-in-charge William Reid attended to the table and it’s matching library steps (see Christopher Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Bradford and London, 1978, p 341).
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AN IMPORTANT GEORGE I GILT-GESSO SETTEE A very rare early 18th century carved gilt gesso settee of small proportions, the frame carved throughout with broadly curved arm supports carved with acanthus and with scroll hand rest, on cabriole legs carved on the front with further acanthus leaves and headed by shells on the seat rail. England, circa 1725 Height: 39in (99cm) Width: 57⅛in (145cm) Depth: 27½in (70cm) F3F0252
PROvENANCE
Norman Adams, Ltd., London. Mallett, London. LITERATuRE
Christopher Claxton Stevens and Stewart Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture: The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, 1983, pp. 26-27. Lanto Synge, Mallett’s Great English Furniture, London, 1991, pp. 83-84, fig. 87. EXHIBITED
Grosvenor House Antiques Fair, 1951.
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A LATE 18TH CENTURY ITALIAN NEOCLASSICAL GILTWOOD MIRROR
This fine Italian giltwood pier mirror with a rectangular mirror plate within a gadrooned border, the urn-form cresting issuing foliage and flanked by flowering garlands continuing down the sides, the apron centred by acanthus leaves and raised on stiff-leaf-carved feet. Italy, circa 1780 Height: 48⅞in (124cm) Width: 27⅛in (69cm) F3F0184
PROvENANCE
H. M. Luther Antiques, New York, October 1995.
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A FLEMISH WOOL TAPESTRY DEPICTING THE CROWNING OF ESTHER Of large scale, depicting King Ahasuerus in the foreground crowning Esther who kneels at his feet attended by courtly handmaidens, the mid-ground depicting the King with attendants bestowing the royal seal upon Mordecai who stands before two female Jewish captives, the background with Haman hanged on the scaffold, the border with Greek-key pattern, the corners each with a lion’s head mask. Late 16th Century/ Early 17th Century Probably Oudenaarde Height: 144⅛in (366cm) Width: 139in (353cm) T3F0273
PROvENANCE
Malcolm Franklin, Inc., Chicago. The story of Esther begins with King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) of Persia casting away his wife vashti in favour of Esther, a beautiful orphan maiden who is secretly Jewish. The story describes a power struggle between the Jewish captives living in Persia represented by Mordecai, one of the King’s chief ministers and their Persian overlords represented by Haman, the King’ vizier. Haman convinces the king to destroy the Jewish people living in Persia only to be hoisted by his own petard by Mordecai who had at one time saved the king from assassination communicating the plot through Esther and whom the king having forgotten, remembers to reward. The King asks Haman what would be a fitting reward for someone who had helped the king, and Haman thinking he was to be rewarded, suggests that the reward should be making use of the King’s seal for one day. The king bestows this gift on Mordecai who reveal’s Haman for an evil counsellor. Meanwhile, during a banquet, it is Esther who intercedes for her people by asking the King to spare the Jewish captives. The scene in the tapestry depicts a number of parts of the story including Esther’s coronation in the foreground, the King granting his seal to Mordecai in the mid-ground and the hanging of Haman in the background. This story is commemorated as the holiday of Purim in the Jewish religion. The story of Esther was used frequently in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries in art including tapestries, needlework and paintings. Esther was regarded by the Church as a prefiguration of the virgin Mary in her roles as intercessor on the Day of Judgement. The story Esther illustrates a pious and virtuous woman who exemplifies domestic and civic virtue.
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A PAIR OF GEORGE I GILT-GESSO TORCHÈRES A fine pair of George I gilt-gesso torchères, each circular dished top carved with a stylised trefoil of acanthus alternating with strapwork, raised on a cylindrical neck with a large carved knuckle, above a tapering conical stem carved with panels of pendant husks and stiff leaves, the tripartite base carved with reserves of acanthus leaves on punched rounds, the oval pad feet carved with acanthus leaves. England, circa 1725 Height: 36⅝in (93cm) Diameter: 16½in (42cm) F3F0251
PROvENANCE
Ronald Phillips, London.
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THE DUNDAS GIRANDOLES A magnificent pair of George III carved giltwood girandoles each with a cartouche-shaped moulded frame with extending scrolls and husks, the frame continuing upward to support further moulded scrolls and foliate ornament enclosing a forward spray of leafy plumes with ruffed edges and surmounted by an anthemion, the scrolls extending towards the base enclosing a cabochon within scrolls and leaves, surmounted by three foliate ornamented scrolled arms supporting gilt-metal candle holders in the formed of joined leaves. Attributed to William France and John Bradburn. England, circa 1764 Height: 78in (198cm) Width: 40in (102cm) F3F0356
LITERATuRE
Country Life, September 17, 1921, ‘London Houses 19 Arlington Street, A Residence of The Marquess of Zetland,’ pp. 350-355, fig. 7. Arthur T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert Adam and James Adam, London, 1922, vol. II, p. 345, and Part vI - Chapter XXXvII, Furniture, pp. 288 – 317. Apollo Magazine, September 1967, Anthony Coleridge, ‘Some Rococo Cabinet-Makers and Sir Lawrence Dundas,’ pp. 214 - 225, fig. 4. Geoffrey Beard & Christopher Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660 - 1840, Leeds, 1986, pp. 95-97, pp. 316-317. John Cornforth, London Interiors, London , 2000, pp. 53-55. Graham Child, World Mirrors 1650 - 1900, London, 1990, fig. 217.
19 Arlington Street 19 Arlington Street, Piccadilly was built for Lord Carteret by an unknown architect in 1739 on the site of an earlier house which he had occupied between 1714 and 1731.
PROvENANCE
Supplied in 1764 to Sir Lawrence Dundas for 19 Arlington Street, London. Thence by descent to the Marquess of Zetland, P.C. and sold at Christie's, London, 26 April 1934, lot 92. Craig & Tarlton, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina, and sold Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 27 October, 1979 lot 13. The Collection of Ogden Phipps, Old Westbury, Long Island. Mallett, London.
Carteret was a strong supporter of the Protestant succession and had an extensive career as a diplomat and politician. He succeeded to the title of the Earl of Granville on the death of his mother in 1744, resigning in the same year from the Cabinet in some disfavour, although he retained the confidence of the King. On his death in 1763, his financial affairs in disarray, the house was purchased by Sir Lawrence Dundas.
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Sir Lawrence Dundas (1712 – 1781)
France and Bradburn – the commission of the Girandoles
Lawrence Dundas was born into the impoverished younger branch of an old Scottish family. His father ran a woolen-draper’s shop in Edinburgh. He became a brilliant young entrepreneur with his fortune being founded on his various government appointments including the ‘Commissary of Forage’ under the Duke of Cumberland during the Jacobite revolution of 1745, and as a supplier to the Royal Train of artillery in Flanders during the Seven Years War. During time he was reputed to have amassed a fortune of between £600,000 to £800,000. He was referred to as ‘The Nabob of the North,’ an allusion to his wealthy contemporaries who acquired vast fortunes as governors of the East India Company. His own wealth was augmented considerably by his highly successful speculations in Government stock and the East India Company, and as a major backer of the Forth and Clyde Canal. This wealth allowed Dundas to purchase several estates worthy of his status, including Kearse in Scotland in 1759, Moor Park in Hertfordshire and Aske in Yorkshire in 1763, and his palatial London residence 19 Arlington Street, Piccadilly.
One account rendered by William France to Lawrence Dundas in June 1764 includes the following entry ‘For 2 elegant carved Girandoles with a large plate of Glass, and 3 lights in each to shew in the Glass, festoons and rops of husks falling from Different parts all gilt in burnished Gold at £28 6s [each], £56 12s.’ These have been identified by Anthony Coleridge as a pair which are identical in design but smaller than the present examples and are still in the collection of the Marquess of Zetland at Aske Hall. They appear to have been hung in the ‘long room,’ the following entries indicating the manner in which they were hung: ‘For 95 ¼ yds. Of large fine blue silk line very strong at 2s 8d….£12 14s 0d,’ and ‘For 40 large Tassels of fine Blue Bellindine Silk at 4s 10d to hang the Gerandoles, and all the Pictures in the long Room, and making ornaments over Do….£9 13s 4d.’ France and Bradburn’s joint account dated 21 December 1764 include a further pair of girandoles: ‘For 2 large, & very Elegant Carved Gerandoles gilt in burnished gold, with large plates, & 3 lights to each and festoons falling over the head of the Glass, & down the sides,’ for which the cost was £97 12s. This would appear to be the present girandoles. These are shown in a photograph of the Front Ground Floor Room at 19 Arlington Street published by Country Life in 1921.
19 Arlington Street and Robert Adam Robert Adam’s work for Sir Lawrence Dundas at Arlington Street and Moor Park is partially documented by his bill of charges totalling £203 3s for the period 1763 to 1766, which was paid by Lady Dundas in 1766. These indicate that, as with his other houses, Dundas seemed to prefer buying existing houses and adapting the interiors and furnishing them in the modern taste. unfortunately the house was demolished in the 1930s and its appearance and any possible work by Robert Adam can only be surmised by studying photographs taken prior to this. Certainly the staircase which was installed at this time can be firmly attributed to him, the decoration of the well and coffered coved ceiling around the skylight bearing close similarities to his designs for Shelburne House and Kedleston Hall. The account also includes payments for drawings relating to a number of pieces of furniture including a ‘Lanthorn for Stairs,’ ‘a China Cupboard for Lady Dundas Dressing Room,’ and several ‘Glass Frames’ including ones for the Salon. Although these particular plans appear not to have survived, a number of designs for the house are preserved in the collection of the Soane Museum, London. In addition a number of drawings relating to Moor Park are in this collection amongst which is several designs for furniture including a mirror, a table and two sofas. A rich archive of manuscripts in the Zetland Archives at the North Yorkshire Records Office, together with the surviving designs, allow identification of a large proportion of the furniture either remaining in the collection of the Marques of Zetland at Aske Hall or in various other public and private collections.
France and Bradburn William France snr. of St. Martin’s Lane (1734? – 1773) is first recorded in the employment of William vile and John Cobb in 1759, no record of his apprenticeship or career before this having been discovered. His signature appears on a number of accounts rendered by vile and Cobb pertaining to work for the Royal Wardrobe, together with the signature of his future partner John Bradburn (1750 – d. 1781). John Bradburn was established in Hemmings Row, off Long Acre, London in 1758, and appears to have had a close relationship with the firm of vile and Cobb. The partnership between France and Bradburn was first formed in 1764, their first joint names appearing on a bill-head to Sir Lawrence Dundas dated July 13, 1764. It is apparent that France and Bradburn worked in accordance with Robert Adam for the 6th Earl of Coventry at Croome Court in 1765 and for the 1st Earl of Mansfield in 1768 at Kenwood House. An account for the Kenwood commission in 1768 notes: ‘The underwritten are what I perform’d from Mr Adam’s designs.’ It would seem likely they would done the same at Arlington Street for Sir Lawrence. The partnership also carried out other important commissions including those of George III and Queen Charlotte at Buckingham House, Sir Gilbert Heathcote of Normanton Park and the Marquess of Carmarthen at 2 Grosvenor Square.
The furnishings of 19 Arlington Street A contemporary account of these furnishings is given by Lady Shelburne in his diary of March 1768, remarking that she ‘had vast pleasure in seeing a house, which I had so much admired, and improved as much as possible. The apartments for the company is up one pair of stairs, the Great Room is now hung with red damask, and with a few large and capital pictures, with very noble glasses between the piers, and Gilt Chairs.’ It is clear from the accounts that a number of the most fashionable cabinetmakers in London were commissioned by Sir Lawrence to provide furniture. These included Thomas Chippendale, the partnership of William France and John Bradburn, William vile and John Cobb, Fell and Turton, and James Lawson.
The Design unfortunately, no drawings for the present girandoles appear to have survived, although their design clearly indicates an awareness of the early influence of the neo-classical style which was to supersede the rococo in the following decade. Their design and carving illustrates the softening and less robust form of the long acanthus fronds and the introduction of neo-classical forms such as the anthemion cresting and pendant husks, the rococo remaining in the bold moulded Cscrolls, the sinuous arms and the asymmetrical form of the lower pendants.
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A PAIR OF SÈVRES BISCUIT FIGURES OF ASIA AND EUROPE A fine pair of Empire Sèvres biscuit seated figures representing the continents Asia and Europe. Each is depicted as a lady in antique garb surrounded by the accoutrements associated with the continent. Europe is shown with a cornucopia and a shield resting upon books with the profile of a rearing horse, behind her lies a canon draped with flags and a putto toying with a globe. Asia is shown with a standard depicting a camel, an exotic perfume burner, and, behind her, a playful putto has a bugle and bow and arrows. Attributed to Jean Etienne Mascret (active 1811-48). France, circa 1815 Height: 15in (38cm) O3F0203
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JEAN-BAPTISTE CLAUDOT (B.1733 - D.1805) A Harbour View Signed lower right, Jean-Baptiste Claudot Oil on canvas Height: 48in (122cm) Width: 55½in (142cm) Jean-Baptiste Claudot (b.1733 - d.1805) studied under Jean Girardet and Charles Joly whilst working under their direction on the château de Malgrande and also on the salle de la Comédie in Nancy. He went to Paris in 1766 to finish his studies and joined the studio of Joseph vernet with whom he became friends and stayed until 1769 when he left for Nancy. These three years in Paris were incredibly important for Claudot who was influenced by vernet's Italianate landscapes and marine paintings with their wonderful rendering of early evening light. Although he painted religious subjects and still-lives it was for his landscape painting that earned him renown in his lifetime and after.
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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY BREAKFRONT BOOKCASE A very fine George III inlaid mahogany breakfront bookcase, in two sections, the upper section centred by a central cabinet fitted with a pair of glazed cupboard doors with gothic-arched glazing bars flanked by a pair of single glazed doors with identical glazing bars the whole surmounted by a conforming breakfronted moulded cresting, the conforming projecting lower section centred by a pair of cupboard doors each centred by a large inset oval panel and opening to two adjustable sliding shelves, flanked by a pair of identical cupboard doors each opening to a bank of five drawers, the whole raised on a conforming moulded plinth. Together with an old label inscribed Revd. L Maurice, … Rectory. England, circa 1785 Height: 101⅝in (258cm) Width: 103⅛in (262cm) Depth: 21¼in (54cm) F3F0259
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A GEORGE III SATINWOOD AND AMARANTH CANED SETTEE A George III inlaid satinwood and amaranth settee, the rectangular back with three caned panels divided by uprights and centred by silk-upholstered rectangular inset backrests flanked by an identical pair of armrests, the rectangular caned seat with a silk-upholstered squab cushion, the panelled seat rail raised on square tapering legs each with panels of amaranth. England, circa 1800 Height: 33½in (85cm) Width: 72in (183cm) Depth: 26¾in (68cm) F3F0369
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A MOORISH CENTRE TABLE An early 19th century Italian gothic ebony and ivory centre table profusely decorated in the gothic taste with interlocking arches and scrolls in ivory with a central gothic paterae to the top, all set against an ebony ground. The table has canted corners with square cross section legs, which terminate in high tapering feet. The base bearing a crown ‘D’ stamp in several places and a residual paper label, also depicting a crown ‘D.’ Within the carcass of the piece were found three pencil inscribed paper fragments bearing maker’s names and dates. Italy, circa 1835 Height: 29⅛in (74cm) Width: 46in (117cm) Depth: 33⅞ in (86cm) F3F0357
The practice of Intarsia, a type of marquetry or inlayed panelling, has existed in Italy since the thirteenth century. Appearing first in Siena, designs were primarily linear until around the second half of the fifteenth century when representational motifs also began to appear, notably architectural perspectives and still-life groups. While predominantly composed of different types of wood, ivory and bone lend themselves amiably to the task, providing a striking contrast to the wood particularly when paired with a darker timber such as ebony.
Fine examples of ebony tables inlaid with ivory survive, there being two, dating from the late sixteenth, early seventeenth century in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome, and another in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, also in Rome, of a similar date. However, remarkable though these examples are, they bear few stylistic similarities to this piece as their decoration is of a wholly neo-classical nature, as opposed to the distinctly Moorish style seen here. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt about the nationality of the piece due to the fragments found within the carcass, which read, besides the makers names and the date of 1835: “Antonio Anzillotti Fece Questo Mobile”. The underside of the table also bears the stamp of a letter D, above which sits the coronet of an untitled Italian noble. There does exist a variety of Italian intarsia, found as early as the fifteenth century that makes use of metal, mother-of-pearl and predominantly bone arranged in geometric patterns of a distinctly Moorish nature. Known as Certosina, the work found particular popularity in Lombardy and venetia, employing the principal tendency of Islamic art towards stylizations, flat pattern and basic arabesque designs. Such principles are certainly employed on this table, yet technically and stylistically the work differs greatly from surviving examples of Certosina. While this table does exhibit Moorish influences is cannot be categorized as part of this established Islamic art inspired tradition. A further example of an Italian ebony and ivory marquetry table can be found in the Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition in London of 1851. Made by Emidio Ragnini, the work appears to of an equally high standard and is certainly contemporary to our table, yet the stylistic differences are again significant. Ragnini was very much a follower of the 19th century Florentine marqueteers, Luigi and Angiolo Falcini, but while their marquetry was generally floral, Ragnini’s did include abstract motifs, though certainly not on the scale seen here. While it may appear difficult to place this table and its makers Anzillotti, Anacreto and Giovanelli in a wider context, the very fine quality of the work places it confidently amidst the ranks of its more renowned contemporaries, though it remains something of an enigma.
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A FINE GEORGE II WALNUT LIBRARY ARMCHAIR A fine George II walnut library armchair, the rectangular upholstered backrest flanked by a pair of upholstered curved armrests raised on acanthus-carved downswept supports flanking an over-upholstered square seat raised on cabriole legs headed with a rocaille-cartouche centred by a flower head above foliate and pendant husks flanked by acanthus-carved brackets and ending in hairy-paw feet on castors. The rail with white painted monogram J.B.W. Attributed to Giles Grendey. England, circa 1745 Height: 37¾in (96cm) Width: 33⅛in (84cm) Depth: 32⅝in (83cm) F3F0255
This armchair can be attributed to the Clerkenwell based workshop of the cabinet-maker Giles Grendey (1693-1780). It has close similarities to seat furniture bearing his trade label including a suite from Gunton Park, Norfolk which features cabriole legs with the same distinctive lappets (see Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 17001840, Leeds, 1996, p. 243, fig. 437). Whilst the Gunton suite differs in its form of foot (scroll), other chairs associated with Grendey and paralleling the same form of legs featuring hairy paw feet, include an armchair from the collection of Percival D. Griffiths, illustrated in H. Cescinksy, ‘English Furniture of the Eighteenth Century’, vol. II, n d, p. 86, fig. 32.
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Giles Grendey Giles Grendey was one of the most prolific and furniture makers of the mid-18th century. Grendey’s first workshop was at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, moving to premises in St. John’s Square, Clerkenwell, in 1722 where he developed a thriving export trade including making japanned furniture for the Spanish and Portuguese Markets. One of the most famous suits of redJapanned furniture was found at Lazcano Castle in Northern Spain in the early 20th century which included well over 70 pieces of seat furniture and cabinet pieces. It was reported in various newspapers on August 7, 1731, including the Daily Post and Daily Advertiser, that Grendey was described as being ‘the greatest loser, among the stock destroyed being ‘an easy Chair of such rich and curious Workmanship, that he had refus’d 500 guineas for it, bring intended, ‘tis said to be purchas’d by a Person of Quality who design’d it as a Present to a German Prince’ and furniture to the value of £1,000, which he ‘had pack’d for Exportation against the next Morning.’ Furthermore, he was a successful timber merchant and active in the joiner’s guild and 1755, his daughter Suky was married to John Cobb, one of the Royal Cabinet Makers. Like much of Grendey’s furniture, many pieces retain his printed paper trade label, together with a number of stamped initials which can be identified with the names of his apprentices.
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A RARE QUEEN ANNE OVERMANTEL MIRROR A fine and rare early 18th century overmantel mirror, the central mirror plate with bevelled edge flanked by two further plates with cut and bevelled edges, the whole framed with a cut and decorated glass border, the whole with parcel-gilded engraved floral decoration.. England, circa 1715 Height: 29in (73.7cm) Width: 66⅞in (170cm) F3G0009
This remarkable and beautiful mirror from the earliest years of the 18th century would have been a strikingly contemporary design in its time. It is of a form that was barely known in England until the accession of William and Mary in 1689 when similar ‘chimney glasses’ became popular with the increasing influence of French designs inspired by the Court at versailles. The earliest recorded examples are those installed in the Queen’s Gallery in Kensington Palace in 1691 and slightly later at Boughton where the Second, Third and Fourth State Rooms feature similar, though fitted, tripartite mirrors all supplied by
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Thomas Pelletier ( see Tessa Murdoch, Ed. Boughton House The English Versailles, London, 1992, pp 64-65, ill. 24-26). The mirror is particularly noteworthy for it’s exceptional decoration throughout of shallow engraved floral sprays flanking flower heads which retain traces of the original gilding. The extravagant use of glass panels to frame the central plates would have been the most costly way possible to finish a mirror. The fire and candlelight would have been reflected with great success in the cutting and bevelling and the gilt decoration, which in turn relates closely to contemporary verre églomisé bordered glasses.
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A comparable overmantle example of this type of mirror from Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland, can be seen in The Dictionary of English Furniture, fig 45 page 328, and another from the same house, but vertical, and recorded as supplied by Richard Robinson and Thomas Howcroft in 1711, in Geoffrey Wills English Looking-Glasses London 1965 p. 73 fig. 21.
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A RARE PAIR OF QUEEN ANNE MIRROR SCONCES A fine pair of early 18th century mirror sconces, the original plate shaped and bevelled and cut with stylised flower motfis. The brass candle arms later. England, circa 1715 Height: 28in (71.2cm) Width: 11in (28cm) F3G0008
This fine and rare pair of early 18th century sconces take their inspiration from earlier forms where the backplate was metal and, at their most luxurious, silver. These served a practical purpose in that their highly polished surfaces reflected the light of the candle projecting from an arm in front, and protected the wall, perhaps covered in expensive imported silk, behind, as well as serving to flaunt the owner’s wealth. As with the preceding item, the emergence of mirror-backed sconces in the first decade of the 18th century reflected French fashion as illustrated in Daniel Marot’s Nouveau Livre d’Orfeuverie (1703).
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A FINE GEORGE I GILT-GESSO CENTRE TABLE A rare early 18th century carved giltwood and gesso centre table, the top with indented corners and carved with a design of scrolling acanthus foliage and fine strapwork, the concave frieze also with acanthus motif centred by a shell at each side, raised on cabriole legs with further acanthus at the knees and on the scroll feet. England, circa 1725 Height: 30¼in (77cm) Width: 20⅛in (51cm) Depth: 31⅛in (79cm) F3F0250
PROvENANCE
Mallett, London. Sir John Gooch Bt. LITERATuRE
Mallett Spring Catalogue, 1997.
This magnificent gilt-gesso table with its gilt top is a rare survivor from the early 18th century. Tables with gilt-tops appear to have been reserved for best bedchambers or state bedchambers where they would receive little use and be kept away from more public spaces in a house such as halls, dining rooms and saloons. Gilt-gesso tables in these public spaces usually had marble tops which could withstand the traffic. This gilt-gesso table is carved in the round and would have sat in the middle of a room as an object of delight where the candlelight would have flickered against the intricately carved and gilded surface. The cabriole legs and scrolled feet of this table are very similar to a table made for the Marquess of Hartington circa 1718 and now at Chatsworth with fabulous Indian heads to the tops of the legs. There were a number of cabinet-makers such as John Gumley, James Moore, John Belchier and John Pardoe who were producing similar tables together with pier glasses and pairs of torchères which formed a triad arrangement on a wall. The vignette of the three elements was typically used in palaces of the late 17th century found in France and continued to be used in English houses of the early 18th century.
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The Brook Bridge Family and Goodnestone Park Sir Brook Bridges 1st Bt first acquired the estate of Goodnestone, including a Tudor Manor House which had been vacated by the descendants of Sir Thomas Engeham in the early 18th century. In 1704 Brook Bridges evidently demolished the original Tudor property to replace it with a Palladium building. The estate featured formal Gardens recorded in a view by William Harris but these transformed into a landscape park along with the addition of a third floor around 1790 by the Sir William Brook Bridges 3rd Bt (1733-1791). He is also noted for his marriage to Fanny Fowler, a co-heiress to the FitzWalter barony. It was the grandson of Robert FitzWalter who had forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. During the Tudor era, various members of the family were eminent courtiers and politicians as well as becoming the Earls of Sussex. Fanny Fowler’s children included a daughter Elizabeth who married Edward Austen, the brother of Jane Austen the author who wrote her first novel Pride and Prejudice shortly after staying in Goodnestone in 1796. Born at Whitehall the 3rd Bt was the only son for Sir Brook Bridges 2nd Bt and Anne Palmer, daughter of Thomas Palmer 4th Baronet of Wingham. His education included Eton and Trinity College Cambridge until 1752 shortly after which he embarked on the Grand Tour. In 1763 he became a member of Parliament for Kent representing the Whig party until 1774. His appointment also included Receiver General of the land tax for Kent. He had thirteen children with his wife Fanny, including seven sons and died at Portman square, London aged 58, and was also buried at Goodnestone. His second son William inherited the title in 1781 on the death of his older brother. It was not until the 1840s that the house was subject to significant alterations when the 5th Bt added a portico and changed the approach to the house by adding a series of terraced lawns including centra flights of steps. He also divided the park from the house with a wall. Later in the 19th century a sister of the last Bt. married into the Plumptre family and their son Henry Plumptre successfully laid claim to the ancient
FitzWalter barony in 1924 after the title had been left in abeyance for 168 years. Henry was succeeded by his nephew Brook Plumptre, who became the 21st Lord FitzWalter and subsequently married Margaret Deedes, sister of the politician and journalist Bill Deedes (Lord Deedes of Aldington). Lord FitzWalter died in 2004 and his son Julian inherited the title. Goodnestone was requisitioned by the army in World War II leaving the gardens in a state of dereliction before Brook and Margaret FitzWalter returned to the house in 1955. Four years later a fire destroyed the roof and upper two storeys of the house which took eighteen months to restore. Work on returning the gardens to their former glory, under the direction of Margaret FitzWalter did not commence until 1960. However to her credit they are now widely recognised as one of the finest in England. The following pair of marquetry commodes and card tables come from the Goodnestone collection.
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POMPEO GIROLAMO BATONI (1708-1787) PortraIt of SIr Brook WIllIam BrIdges, 3rd Baronet (1733-1791) Signed and dated on letter held by sitter: Pompeo Batoni pt./ Roma. 1758 Inscribed by a later hand upper left: SIR BROOK BRIDGES./ 3rd Barone./ NAT : 1733. OB: 1791 Oil on canvas Height: 38½in (97.8cm) Width: 28 ½in (72.4 cm) PROvENANCE:
Commissioned by the by Sir Brook William Bridges, 3rd Baronet (1733-1791) and painted in Rome in 1758; Thence by family descent to the present owner Literature: Clark, Anthony M., Ed. by Edgar Peters Bowron, Pompeo Batoni, A Complete Catalogue of his Works, 1985, no. 203, illus. pl. 189 Russell, Francis, Burlington Magazine, Guardi and the English tourist, vol. CXXXvIII, no. 1114, Jan., 1996, p.8, illus no. 6 This refined and engaging portrait of Sir Brook William Bridges, 3rd Baronet (1733-1791) was painted in Rome in 1758 by the leading Roman portraitist of the second half of the 18th century, Pompeo Girolamo Batoni. The sitter was the posthumous son of Sir Brook Bridges, 2nd Bt., whom he succeeded at birth, and Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Palmer, 4th Bt., MP, of Wingham, Kent. He was educated at Eton in 1745-48, and was at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1752, and went on to undertake an extensive Grand Tour in 1757-60; he was recorded as being in Rome by 1758.
A man of letters (the sitter went on to become a Member of Parliament for Kent, 1763-74), Bridges is shown three-quarter length wearing a fur-edged, green cloak, seated on a red chair, his right hand holding papers, with a quill and ink pot placed on the table behind. The portrait's composition, with Bridges relaxed yet composed gesture towards the viewer, appears as an invitation to discourse that encourages one to engage with and admire Batoni's masterly rendering of varying textures, from the thick heavy fur-edged cloak, to the finely painted cuff of his shirt. Bowron writes of Batoni's portraits as being ‘the most remarkable artistic achievements of the period’, and when one considers the exquisite execution of Bridges hands and garments, coupled with the artist's expert employment of colour, with almost transparent glazes alongside areas of a thick rich paste, one is hard pushed not to see why Batoni was the leading portraitist in Rome in the mid-eighteenth century (Bowron, Edgar Peters, and Jane Turner (Ed.), The Dictionary of Art, 1996, vol. 3). The discernible patterns of Grand Tourist patronage reflect both the taste of the period and the aspirations of the sitter, yet unusually, Bridges was one of only two British patrons to sit both for Batoni and his contemporary rival, Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779). But while Bridges patronage appears as exceptional for the British patron in Italy, the later history of his portrait ran parallel to those of his contemporaries. Between 1750 and 1760 Batoni executed nearly sixty portraits of British sitters alone, yet by 1800 the descendants of Batoni's famous patrons began to forget the fame of the artist, with many of the works becoming virtually unknown to the general public, remaining largely unseen except by a fortunate few. Bowron notes that 'only one painting seems to have been shown publicly in London in the artist's lifetime and none in Great Britain in the late 18th century or 19th'. The present work is one of these exceptional examples that displays Batoni's skill as a portraitist, has not been seen by the general public since it was commissioned, and has unbroken provenance leading directly back to the sitter.
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A PAIR OF GEORGE III SYCAMORE AND MARQUETRY COMMODES A pair of George III sycamore, sabicu and harewood marquetry commodes, possibly supplied to Sir Brook Bridges, circa 1785, the shaped rectangular tops each centred by a holly fan medallion within a framework of engraved leafy scrolls punctuated by paterae, the pairs of doors each centred by an engraved marquetry single flower medallions within ‘pearl borders’ framed by conforming leafy scrolls and with finely engraved paterae to the corners, the interior of each commode containing three long mahogany drawers with ‘book-matched’ veneers and original lacquered brass handles, the chamfered front corners and rear stiles inlaid to simulate fluting, the side panels with marquetry matching the doors, on tapered square legs with spade feet, inlaid throughout with multiple sabicu bandings together with sycamore and ebonised stringing, the carcasses pine, the drawer linings pine and oak Probably by Christopher Fuhrlohg. England, circa 1785 Height: 33in (84cm) Width: 42in (98cm) Depth: 21¾in (55cm) F3G0012
This important pair of commodes belong to a rare group of surviving furniture, possibly supplied by the the Royal cabinet maker Christopher Fuhrlohg. They have unbroken provenance from a noble family, the Brook Bridges of Goodnestone, Kent, since circa 1785. Epitomising the neo-classical style in English furniture at its zenith, the quality of these commodes is consistent with the work of the leading London cabinet-making firms of the 18th century. Furthermore they remain in remarkably well preserved condition and retain an exceptionally fine patina.
PROvENANCE:
Probably supplied to Sir Brook Bridges 3rd Bt. circa 1785 by Christopher Fuhrlogh for either Portman Square, London, or Goodnestone Park, Kent. LITERATuRE:
The personal bank books of Sir Brook Bridges 3rd Bt. in account with Messrs. Hoare (3 vols.), Kent History and Library Centre, ref: EK/u373/A2. The present pair of commodes are conceived in the neo-classical style first promoted by Thomas Chippendale and his circle of leading London cabinet-makers during the third quarter of the 18th century. They have provenance from Goodnestone Park, the country seat of the Bridges family since 1704. The personal bank books of Sir Brook Bridges op. cit. EK/u373/A2, record various payments to the following names who identifiable as cabinet makers: Mr Ince, 29 November 1764 for £100, T. Chippendale, 13 October 1765 for £177 2s, John Cobb, 27 June 1771 for £13 7s, C. Furgloh, 28 May 1785 for £10 12s and C. Furlough, 23 November 1785 for £23 10s 6d. The first of these has been credited as Thomas Chippendale senior (1718-1779), a considerable corpus of whose documented work is published in Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, 1778. However the commodes here do not correlate in any aspects of their design to either Chippendale’s published patterns for furniture or existing
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known cabinet-work. The second two references spelt variously Furgloh and Furlough are plausibly mis-spellings of the same surname since they are both prefixed by the initial ‘C.’. Hence it is not unreasonable to speculate that these entries may indeed both refer to Christopher Fuhrlogh a Swedish cabinet-maker who trained in Amsterdam and Paris before coming to London in 1766 or 1767 as an employee of John Linnell. Surviving furniture securely linked to Fuhrlohg constitutes a small group belonging to the early phase of his career in London illustrated in Lucy Wood, The Lady Lever Catalogue of Commodes, 1992, pp. 106-122 and Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, pp. 212-213. These are principally commodes acquired by William Lever, 1st viscount Leverhulme in 1904 for Thornton Manor, now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery Collection, its pair form the collections of Mrs. v.E. Triefus and Michael Kemp and a commode supplied to the 5th Earl of Carlisle, probably for Castle Howard in 1767. The aforementioned each bear the inlaid or inscribed name ‘Christopher Fuhrlogh’ or ‘Christopher Furlohg’ together with the date. Designed in the Louis Xv/XvI transitional style, their overt continental character is no doubt a product of Fuhrlohg’s Parisian training. Any parallels with the Goodnestone Commodes are limited to their rectilinear form and the sycamore veneered reserve panels to the interior drawers and inside door panels of the Lever Commode. These feature reentrant corners filled with paterae similar to those on the doors and side panels of the Goodnestone examples. However, the Lever and Howard Commodes are dated between thirteen and eighteen years prior to Sir Brook Bridges 3rd Bt.’s payments possibly made to Fuhrlohg in 1785. Hence it is reasonable to
assume his assimilation of the English cabinet-making fashions would have significantly evolved by that date, particularly if his work was to be a commercially viable. Another cabinet in the Lady Lever Art Gallery collection (see L. Wood, op. cit., p. 115, no. 10), a square piano attributed to Christopher Furhlogh of a suggested slightly later date 1775, features scrolling leaf marquetry borders with affinities to the inlay surrounding the central medallions on the top and doors of the Goodnestone Commodes. A further small group of furniture tentatively linked to Fuhrlogh which feature certain parallels with the Goodnestone Commodes comprise a Pembroke table and a pair of commodes with provenance from Castle Forbes, sold Sotheby’s, 29 May 1964, lots 184-185, illustrated in L. Wood op. cit., pp. 144-145, figs. 143 and 144. Each of these pieces exhibits marquetry designs incorporating similar scrolling leaf patterns to those here and more strikingly the Castle Forbes Commodes are of the same profile to the Goodnestone pair. The association of the Castle Forbes furniture with Fuhrlohg is based on the close similarity of the marquetry to that on a table at Alnwick Castle, attributed to Fuhrlogh, illustrated L. Wood op cit , p. 121, figs. 116-117. Another distinctive group of commodes from the Lady Lever Collection, illustrated in Wood op cit , nos. 18 and 19, whose authorship is unknown, feature related acanthus scrolling marquetry framing oval or circular medallions. Significantly it has been suggested that their double-topped construction similar to that on the Goodnestone examples, is indicative of an immigrant maker. The remaining payment to Mr Ince recorded in Sir Brook Bridges 3rd. Bt.’s bank books op. cit., 1764, can be identified with furniture
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including a pair of yew wood commodes and a pair of yew wood and marquetry card tables from the Bridges Collection at Goodnestone Park which characteristics strongly associated with the documented oeuvre of the Soho cabinet-making partnership Ince and Mayhew. The payment to John Cobb in 1771 would appear to be too early in date to link it to the Goodnestone Commodes, regardless of the lack of stylistic analogy with Cobb’s surviving cabinet work. However any speculation as to the authorship of the Goodnestone Commodes should be tempered by caution in the absence of any bills and the fact that Sir Brook Bridges 3rd Baronet patronised at least four London cabinet-makers. Furthermore in the case of Mayhew and Ince, their work is noted for a fluctuation in the standard, design and construction, which precludes any broad assumptions as to their house style (see Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986, p. 92)
Christopher Fuhrlohg Fuhrlohg’s was of Swiss extraction, his family emigrating to Sweden prior to his birth in Stockholm circa 1740, the fourth child of the cabinet-maker Johan Hugo Furloh (1724-47). He became brother-in-law to his friend and fellow journeyman cabinet-maker George Haupt and together they left Sweden for Amsterdam prior to arriving in Paris by 1764, probably working for Simon Oeben. Both Haupt and Fuhrlohg independently moved to London between 1766 and 1768 where they are likely to have been employed in the workshop of John Linnell, Berkeley Square.
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By 1769 the latter had become closely associated with a circle of Swedish cabinet-makers based in Soho including his half brother Johann Christian Linning with whom he set-up his own workshop at 24 Tottenham Court Road, possibly in the same year. Linning returned to Sweden in 1776 whilst his partner continued to trade at the same address until 1784. Fuhrlohg’s second trade card signifies his appointment as cabinet-maker to the Prince of Wales by the preceding year. unfortunately his work for the Prince was not recorded in detail but there are references to possible commissions under the auspices of William Gaubert in 1784 and 1787 at Carlton House. These include the payment of £18 in 1783 for ‘Cleaning the ornaments of two commodes gilt in ormolu and 3 tables gilt’d & Gilding, several pieces deld. To Furlogh’. His other notable commissions included those for Lord Howard at Audley End, Essex (1786), The Duke of Portland (1783), the Dilettanti Society (1780-3). In 1785 Fuhrlohg moved to 22 Gerard St North where he is recorded in the rate books as ‘Christopher Fuhrlohg & co.’ By 1787 it is clear that he had run into financial difficulties as both his household furniture at Gerard St and his stock in trade were auctioned by Christie’s on 21 February that year and followed by a move to premises at 12 Gt Russell Street. No reference to Fuhrlohg after 1787 has come to light except for a portrait inscribed ‘Fourlow Ebenist i London’, painted by Elias Martin probably between 1788 and 1791. Only two apprenticeships to him have been identified, those of Benjamin Gooden and John Pleasance, possibly due to his preference for engaging fellow compatriots, little of whom is known.
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A PAIR OF GEORGE III KINGWOOD AND MARQUETRY CARD TABLES A pair of George III yew wood, sabicu and marquetry serpentine card tables, the moulded serpentine folding tops of arc-enarablette form each centred by an engraved sycamore inlaid ribbon-tied bouquet of engraved flowers within engraved scrolling sycamore borders framed by broad chevron bandings , the top with ebonised mouldings beneath and baize-lined playing surfaces to the interiors, the friezes similarly inlaid with ribbon-tied flowers within ebonised and sycamore stringing and conforming crossbanding, the side friezes with plain yewwood panelled veneers on square section cabriole legs. Attributed to Mayhew and Ince. England, circa 1764 Height: 30in (76.5cm) Width: 39in (99cm) Depth: 19¼in (49cm) F3G0013
This exceptionally rare pair of marquetry card tables share unbroken provenance with the Goodnestone Commodes and were made by a leading 18th century London cabinet-making firm. They are possibly unique surviving examples of their kind and incorporate the extensive use of yew-wood veneers, peculiar to the partnership of Mayhew and Ince. In common with the commodes, both their condition and patina are excellent.
PROvENANCE:
Probably supplied to Sir Brook Bridges 3rd Bt. circa 1764 by Mayhew and Ince for either Portman Square, London, or Goodnestone Park, Kent. LITERATuRE:
The personal bank books of Sir Brook Bridges 3rd Bt. in account with Messrs. Hoare (3 vols.), Kent History and Library Centre, ref: EK/u373/A2. EXHIBITED:
Kent Treasures Exhibition, Royal Museum, Canterbury, September-October 1984, no. 56. Payments recorded in the personal bank books of Sir Brook Bridges 3rd Bt. to Mr Ince for the sum of £100 in 1764 probably relate to a commission including the Goodnestone card tables and a pair of ormolu commodes entirely veneered in Yew wood and designed in an anglicised version of the Louis Xv style (exhibited in Treasures from Kent Houses, Royal Museum, Canterbury, September-October 1984, no. 57). An almost identical commode was supplied by Ince and Mayhew to the antiquarian James West for Alscot Park in 1766 when it was described in firm’s invoice as ‘A neat French Commode Bordered with brass Furniture and Ornaments Compleat £12 12.’
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The combination of yew wood veneers in conjunction with ebonised mouldings is paralleled on a group of marquetry serpentine commodes associated with the Soho cabinetmaking partnership of John Mayhew and William Ince. Principal amongst these is an example formerly from the collection of Olaf Hambro, Linton Park, likewise located in Kent, sold Christie’s 5 July 1990, lot 141, (see Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, 1968, pls. 43-45), a commode in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (see Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1954, rev. ed., vol. II, p. 17, fig. 19), another formerly from the Leverhulme collection, subsequently sold The Sir Michael Sobell Collection, Christie’s London, 23 June 1994, lot 77 (see catalogue footnote for a comprehensive list of comparative examples) and a further example illustrated in the Hotspur anniversary publication (see Nicholas Goodison and Robin Kern, Hotspur, Eighty Years of Antiques Dealing, 2003, pp. 224-225). The aforementioned commodes also feature the combination of marquetry floral sprays within finely engraved scrolling sycamore borders characteristic of Ince and Mayhew’s oeuvre. Corresponding marquetry is also present on the tops of the Goodnestone card tables. The overall form of these tables owes a debt to the Louis Xv style promoted in The Universal System (see John Mayhew and William Ince, The Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762, pls. LII and LIII).
William Ince and John Mayhew (1758-1811) The partnership of the leading London cabinet-makers Ince and Mayhew was perhaps the most enduring of the 18th century and also one the most prominent rivals to Thomas Chippendale. Conversely their business is one of the least well documented of the major London furniture-makers of their time. Mayhew, the son of a builder became apprenticed to Bradshaw (probably William Bradshaw and upholsterer of Soho Square). Ince’s apprenticeship was served with John West of Covent Garden between 1752 and 1758. After West’s death in the latter year, his premises was transferred to James Whittle Samuel, Norman and Mayhew. In December 1758 Mayhew formed another alliance with Ince at the premises of Charles Smith in Broad Street, Carnaby Market having also acquired Smith’s stock. They maintained their partnership under the terms of their original contract until 1799 when they signed a new agreement. According to London directories up to 1812, the firm was styled Mayhew and Ince, although Ince and Mayhew was occasionally used until 1794 when Mayhew, Ince and Sons sporadically appeared on bills. The ‘sons’ possibly referred to Ince’s son Charles and one of Mayhew’s four sons also named John who is recorded working at both Wigmore Street and Marshall Street. Between 1763, bills and directories advertised the firm variously as, cabinet-makers, upholsterers, manufacturers of plate glass and auctioneers. The firm’s specialism in mirror glass probably evolved from Ince’s father and brother’s glass grinding business, however upholstery became an increasingly important facet of the business during the 1780s. unfortunately financial difficulties loomed by 1799 and between 1800 and 1804 there were moves to break the
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partnership. During this time Christie’s held two separate sales over five days on the premises in order meet debts. This was followed by an acrimonious legal battle (triggered by Ince’s death in 1804) between his widow Ann and Mayhew which lingered until the latter’ sheath in 1811. The partners’ early careers by contrast had begun on a far happier footing, when they shared accommodation in their Broad Street premises and subsequently married two sisters Ann and Isabella Stephenson in St George’s Hanover Square, 1762. They remained at the same address until Isabella died in 1763 after which Mayhew moved to a neighbouring house and remarried. The expanding business led to the acquisition of additional premises at 20 Marshall Street by 1780. No records survive of the scale of the business although in 1768 advertised jobs for over 100 employees comprising cabinet-makers, joiners and chair-makers. One of their best known employees was William Moore who remained with the firm until 1782 when he set up his own business in Dublin. A measure of Mayhew and Ince’s success is the number of properties is the statistic that between them, they owned approximately fifteen properties by 1804. Their roles in the business were clearly defined, Mayhew’s being managerial whereas Ince was the designer and draughtsman. It is therefore unsurprising that he contributed the majority of plates to The Universal System of Household Furniture which was published in 1762 (dedicated to the 4th Duke of Marlborough) as an answer to Thomas Chippendale’s Director. The dearth of surviving furniture following patterns published in the Universal System is an indication of its relative lack of success which was also compounded by its late publication date when it’s largely rococo designs were being usurped by the new neo-classical fashion. The inclusion of French text in their design book was apparently aimed at attracting continental clientele. However, despite the firm’s apparent failure to successfully generate business through their
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published designs, the extent of their clients bears testament to their commercial achievements. In common with Chippendale, Robert Adam was to be a predominant architectural collaborator. Their earliest work under the auspices of Adam included commissions for The 6th Earl of Coventry at Coventry House, Piccadilly and Croome Court. Subsequent collaborations with Adam included work at Sherborne Castle, Audley End, Northumberland House and Derby House including the Derby House Commode. They also had business relationships with other celebrated architects such as William Chambers and Henry Holland. Much of the firms success appears to derive from their willingness to adapt to both the requirements of architects and clients alike unlike Chippendale who was noted for his artistic independence. Indeed they were capable of supplying a range of contrasting styles of furniture simultaneously to one client. However a common theme appears to be the firms highly proficient marquetry. This is epitomised by the use of prominent antique motifs such as urns and tripods together with detailed engraving to achieve the illusion of depth such as on the scrolling borders to the Goonestone card tables. In certain respects their marquetry has been compared to the end-cut marquetry of B.v.R.B., although sometimes used in conjunction with yew wood which is possibly a unique feature of the firm’s work. Another recognisable trait already alluded to is the strengthening of profiles with ebonised mouldings, particularly in the absence of ormolu mounts. The firm’s business relationship with Boulton and Fothergill suggests that much of their ormolu embellished ornament was supplied from Soho, Birmingham. Aside from the architectural collaborations already mentioned, Mayhew and Ince’s extensive commissions include those for Burleigh House, Blenheim Palace, Badminton House, Chatsworth and Carlton House (see Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, pp. 593-598).
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A FLEMISH PICTORAL TAPESTRY DEPICTING A SCENE FROM THE STORY OF DIDO With weaver’s mark, probably from the workshop of Michael Wauters. Late 17th Century, Antwerp Height: 112¼in (285cm) Width: 119¾in (304cm) T3F0271
PROvENANCE
David Franklin Ltd., London.
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A GEORGE II GILTWOOD PIER MIRROR A George II giltwood pier mirror, with a rectangular plate with canted corners within a foliate-carved frame surmounted with a pierced foliate-carved cartouche with lattice backing and flanked by pendant flowering foliage, the pierced apron centred by a cartouche flanked by rocailled and C-scrolls. England, circa 1760 Height: 45in (114cm) Width: 24 inches (61cm) F3F0266
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A PAIR OF GEORGE II INLAID BURR AND FIGURED WALNUT SIDE CHAIRS A fine and rare pair of George II walnut side chairs, the serpentine cresting rail centred by a vase-form splat with paper-scrolled sides flanked by a pair of S-scrolled stiles, the shaped drop-in seat with rounded corners and concave front and sides upholstered with contemporary needlework within a conforming frame centred by a satyr’s mask to the front apron and raised on cabriole legs headed with shells and continuing to hipped feet. England, circa 1730 Height: 40⅛in (102cm) Width: 22⅞in (58cm) Depth: 23⅝in (60cm) F3F0257
PROvENANCE
Dr. Lindley Scott, by 1929. Ronald Phillips, London. LITERATuRE
Adam Bowett, ed., 100 British Chairs, Woodbridge, 2015, p. 41, no. 23. R.W. Symonds, “Dr. Lindley Scott’s Collection of Furniture I”, Old Furniture, London, 1929, vol. vIII, pp. 6-10, fig. 4.
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These highly sophisticated walnut side chairs were originally part of a suite of seat furniture including a settee formerly in the collection of Percival Griffiths (see R.W. Symonds, Old English Walnut and Lacquer Furniture, 1923, pl. XXI). Each backrest has a scrolled cresting rail as well as scrolled sides and is inlaid with burr and figured walnut. Each seat rail is of concave compass form which was only introduced sometime in the mid-1720s as seen in a japanned suite of seat furniture at Erddig. The seats are then centred by a satyr mask and flanked by stylized scallop shells, motifs used on a suite of giltwood side chairs at Houghton Hall, circa 1732 which were possibly made by William Bradshaw and Benjamin Goodison for the velvet Drawing Room, Bedchamber and Dressing Room. The chairs are carved with scallop shells, lion’s masks and hairy paw feet, all overtly Palladian motifs. Interestingly, the legs and stylized ‘hoof’ feet of the present chairs relate to another suite of chairs made for Houghton located in the Wrought Bedchamber and Cabinet, circa 1725. This suite is nearly identical to a suite of chairs made for Sir John Chester for Chicheley House circa 1722 (see Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, pp. 171-175, plates 4:55, 4:60, 4:63). COMPARATIvE LITERATuRE
R.W. Symonds, Old English Furniture, London, 1923, plate XXI. Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. ed. p. 82, fig. 25.
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A REGENCY INLAID SATINWOOD SOFA TABLE A Regency satinwood sofa table, with a rectangular top flanked by a pair of flaps with rounded corners, the frieze fitted with a pair of drawers opposed by a pair of dummy drawers raised on lyre-form trestle supports on down-swept legs ending in box castors. England, circa 1810 Height: 28in (71cm) Width: 63⅜in (161cm) Depth: 24⅜in (62cm) F3F0267
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A GEORGE II CARVED AND CREAM-PAINTED OVAL PIER MIRROR A fine and rare George II cream-painted oval pier mirror in the manner of Whittle and Norman, with a later oval mirror plate surmounted by a shell-form cresting, flanked by scrolled acanthus leaves and rocaille, the sides with a pair of Ho Ho birds perched on palm-frond foliage continuing to acanthus leaves and a foliate-carved apron. In the manner of Whittle and Norman. England, circa 1750 Height: 52in (132.1cm) Width: 36in (91.5cm) F3F0213
Part of the rarity and charm of this mirror is that it was designed and carved to be painted. Many giltwood mirrors were later-gilded in the 19th and early 20th centuries to adhere to the tastes of the day. This mirror would have been part of a group of mirrors in a room which would have corresponded to the rococo plasterwork and decoration of a light and airy room. At the same time, the overall design and magnificently carved elements such as the palm fronds, over-sized scallop shell and serene ho-ho birds are closely related to the work of the cabinet-making firm Whittle and Norman. These mirrors relate to mirrors the firm provided to Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont at Petworth House as well as to a pair of mirrors commissioned by John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford and made for Woburn Abbey in 1757. These carved giltwood oval pier mirrors hung in the Sate Saloon and incorporate palm fronds and fruiting and flowering garlands. James Whittle began work for Russell in 1752, with his son Thomas, and continued with Samuel Norman until his death in 1759. Besides the mirrors for the Saloon, the firm was responsible for supplying the door cases, moldings screens of columns and much of the other interior woodwork for Woburn. Another group of mirrors, which was formerly at St. Giles’s House, Dorset, was almost certainly commissioned for the house by the 4th Earl of Shaftesbury. unfortunately the surviving Shaftesbury account books contain only brief references to London cabinetmakers, preventing any positive attributions to be made regarding possible craftsmen employed in the furnishing of the house. various cabinet-making firms have been suggested including vile and Cobb and James Whittle and Samuel Norman. The inclusion of the palm branches is typical of the naturalistic motifs derived from Continental sources and used by English furniture designers and makers in the mid-18th century, not only seen in the work of Whittle and Norman, but also prevalent in the work of John vardy for John, 1st Earl Spencer, in the Palm Room at Spencer House, London, probably executed by his brother, Thomas vardy, the carver and gilder.
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JOHN CLEVELEY THE ELDER (1712-1777) Two 32-gun Frigates receiving their Captains Oil on canvas Signed and dated J. Cleveley Pinx/1768 lower left Height: 35in (88cm) Width: 46½in (117cm) PROvENANCE:
Thought to be acquired by Junius S. Morgan Jr., Locust valley, New York. Thence by descent to John Pierpont Morgan II. Sotheby’s New York, Important Old Master Paintings, 27th January 2006, lot 202. Mallet, London. Private collection, Europe; from whom purchased by Mallett. Born at Southwark on the southern side of the River Thames in London. John Cleveley was the son of a joiner. He started his working life apprenticed to another joiner in 1726, and worked as a young man in the Royal Dockyard at Deptford - as did his twin sons, John the Younger (1747-86) and Robert (1747-1809) whose paintings are sometimes confused with their father’s. His third son, James, was ship’s carpenter on the Resolution during Cook’s last Pacific voyage between 1776 and 1780. Through his work in the dockyards, Cleveley gained an intimate knowledge of contemporary ships and their equipment, and likely was influenced by the dockyard painters who decorated the sides of ships. From the late 1740s he painted a series of ship-launches and dockyard scenes at Deptford, where he spent most of his life and where he died, maintaining his career as a craftsman throughout his life. He also established himself as a painter of ship-portraits and other maritime scenes, including a few commissions showing naval engagements. The ships portrayed in the present painting are 32-gun frigates (5th rates). They took their design from the French ship ‘The Renomme’ which had been captured in 1747, and which started a trend in cruiser design.
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A LOUIS XV BLACK LACQUER COMMODE A fine and rare ormolu-mounted lacquer commode, the serpentine vert campan marble top with moulded edge above a conforming bombé case fitted with two long drawers sans traverse fitted with foliate moulded ormolu mounts running around the edges of the drawers and sides, the upper and lower drawers fitted with a pair of foliate-moulded ormolu handles flanking a key hole with rocaille-form cartouche, the lower drawer centred to the base with a large rocaille and foliate-moulded ormolu spray, the corners with elaborate rocaille-cartouche-form chutes mounted on cabriole legs ending in rocaille-moulded ormolu sabots. The underside marked in ink 153, the marble also marked in red paint 153, the underside of the marble stenciled in ink DP, the drawers stamped 51556. France, circa 1750 Height: 34½in (87.5cm) Width: 54in (137cm) Length/Depth: 23⅞in (60.5cm) F3F0181
PROvENANCE
Consuelo vanderbilt Balsan. French and Co., New York, acquired from the above 2 November 1951. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, acquired from the above 9 November 1954 and sold Sotheby Parke-Bernet, Inc., New York, 6 May 1977, lot 176A. French & Co., New York. Mrs Nathan Cummings, New York, NY. Purchased from The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, November 1997.
LITERATuRE
F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. 1, New York, 1966, pp. 166-167, no. 98. The present commode with its Chinoiserie decorated lacquer is emblematic of the taste for ormolu-mounted lacquer furniture promoted by the marchand-merciers of mid-18th century France. Whilst the piece is not stamped, it relates to a number of similar commodes which exhibit almost identical ormolu mounts, lacquer finish and bombé form made by ébénistes such as Antoine and Mathieu Criard, Adrien Delorme and Jean Desforges. All have very similar mounts especially to the edges of the drawers. The commode is incredibly similar to a commode by Pierre Harry Mewesen, illustrated in Pierre Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français Du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 2002, p. 611. Aspects of these two commodes which are nearly identical include the form of the case, the identical mounts to the edges of the drawers, the identical large ormolu rocaille spray to the center of the bottom drawer, the gilded edges to the drawers themselves and similar sabots. A particularly rare feature of the present commode is the vert campan marble top- almost all the recorded commodes of this model have brêche d’ Alèp marble tops. Intriguingly, a lacquer commode with just such a marble top was delivered to Madame de Pompadour at the Grand Trianon by the celebrated marchand-mercier, Thomas Joachim Hébert (died 1773) in 1749. It too was decorated with lacquer depicting flowers and Chinese birds.
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Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan Consuelo vanderbilt was the daughter of William Kissam vanderbilt and Alva Smith Belmont. She grew up at Marble House, the couple’s Newport resident becoming a celebrated debutante. Her mother, determined to marry her into the English nobility, introduced her to Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough on August of 1895. Consuelo married the Duke that autumn and returned to England and residence at Blenheim Palace. Her father gifted her Sunderland House on Curzon Street in 1904 where Consuelo was first able to exercise her passion for French furniture decorating it in the Louis XvI taste. The Duchess made numerous trips to Paris during this period both to furnish her house and visit her father who had taken up residence there in 1903 following his second marriage to Anne Rutherford. She separated from the 9th Duke in 1905 and was officially divorced in 1920. The following summer she married the French aviator and her close friend, Jacques Balsan and happily settled in France where she lived in the splendid 17th century Saint-Georges-Motel near Eure in Normandy and a house in Eze overlooking the Mediterranean until the outbreak of the Second World War. Consuelo vanderbilt
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A RARE PAIR OF VICTORIAN CAST IRON CHAIRS The cartouche shaped back embellished with scrolling acanthus leaves, with an ebonised oak seat above X-form legs joined a turned stretcher. Attributed to James Yates. England, circa 1870 Height: 37⅜in (95cm) Width: 15in (38cm) Depth 13¾in (35cm)
today the best known of the 19th century English producers, there were many more all competing to create the highest quality furniture in this ‘new’ material. Foremost amongst these was the Rotherham foundry of James Yates who published several highly influential catalogues between 1843 and 1848. Yates had travelled extensively in Europe and bought back many of Schinkel’s innovations.
Possibly unique, these chairs may have been a prototype that was not put into production, or alternatively an exhibition model. The design is a richly conceived interpretation of Renaissance and Baroque styles. The quality of the current chairs can be seen in their X-form bases, whose design dates back to antiquity, and which are finely, and unnecessarily, cast in the round.
Really only Coalbrookdale were able to make the high foundry costs of cast iron furniture commercially viable by diversifying into more utilitarian designs that were adopted for large scale, often municipal, commissions. Combined with this, copyright protection was in its infancy, a law was passed in 1839 and revised in1842 which allowed a producer three years of freedom from plagiarising. A design had to registered at the Office of the Registrar of Designs (Designs Office) and they would issue a number and after 1842 a diamond ‘stamp.’ However, to register a design was a slow and very expensive process and the three years of protection were not enough for most firms to recoup their costs.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel began creating furniture in iron in the 1820’s and his sophisticated designs combined with this contradictory material, both utilitarian and exotic, were widely admired in Europe and America. Whilst Coalbrookdale are
Yates, along with most of his competitors found his complicated designs and the intricate casting financially impossible to sustain and ceased production after a relatively short time.
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A GEORGE III LIBRARY ARMCHAIR A fine George III mahogany library armchair. The upholstered backrest with a serpentine cresting, the upholstered curved armrests raised on blind-fret-carved down-swept supports headed by scrolled handholds, the over-upholstered seat raised on blind-fret-carved square legs joined by H stretchers, on castors. England, circa 1765 Height: 38in (96.5cm) Width: 27⅛in (69cm) Depth: 28in (71cm) F3F0256
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AN IMPORTANT GEORGE III ORMOLU-MOUNTED MARQUETRY COMMODE A rare George III marquetry commode with serpentine top centred by a rococo cartouche of floral marquetry on a yewwood reserve within a wide cross-banding and moulded edge above a conforming frieze centred by a brushing slide fitted with an inset leather panel, the front of which is inlaid with ivy leaves, the case centred by a pair of cupboard doors centred by a large cartouche surrounding a floral bouquet tied with a bow and flanked with husk swags and trailing foliage on a yewwood reserve within a thick cross-banding, the case with rounded canted corners with conjoined carved giltwood foliate C-scrolls, the side panels centred by floral festoons on a yewwood ground similar within a thick cross-banding, the case raised on an apron centred by an ormolu rocaille-form cartouche and raised on rounded bracket feet. Attributed to Mayhew & Ince. England, circa 1765 Height: 33⅛in (84cm) Width: 59¼in (150cm) Depth: 23¼in (59cm) F3F0248
PROvENANCE
Hotspur, London. LITERATuRE
Goodison and Kern, Hotspur: Eighty Years of Antiques Dealing, London, 2004, pp. 224-25.
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This magnificent marquetry commode can be attributed to the masterful cabinet-makers John Mayhew and William Ince of Golden Square, London, whose partnership is described in The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840 as ‘one of the most significant, probably the longest lived but, as far as identified furniture is concerned, the least well documented of any of the major London cabinetmakers of the 18th century.’ Mayhew was originally apprenticed to William Bradshaw, the upholsterer, of Soho Square, and Ince apprenticed to John West of Covent Garden from 1752 until West’s death in 1758. In November of that year West’s premises were taken over by Samuel Norman, James Whittle and John Mayhew. However, in December of 1758 a partnership solely between Mayhew and Ince was formed, the two purchasing the business and stock of Charles Smith of Carnaby Street. Initially describing themselves as ‘cabinet makers, carvers and upholders,’ this was variously amended over the term of the partnership to include such terms as ‘dealers in plate glass,’ the categories of ‘cabinet maker’ and ‘upholsterer,’ however, remaining constant. As Beard and Gilbert remark in The Dictionary of Furniture Makers 1660-1840, ‘These revisions no doubt reflect the change in taste from carved to veneered and inlaid furniture characteristic of the period 1760-1780,’ as seen in the present commode; this change is also indicated by the relative failure of their Universal System of Household Furniture, which only appeared in one edition in 1762, its rococo designs becoming somewhat old-fashioned. Beard and Gilbert further note that the partnership was in particular ‘highly proficient and adventurous’... in... ‘the use of marquetry, distinguished by a variety of techniques and pointing to a significant number of specialist marqueteurs in the firm’s employ.’ The firm is also noted for their use of ormolu mounts on their more important cabinet-work, many of which were presumably obtained from brass-founders in Soho, their relationship with Boulton and Fothergill being documented, such as their joint involvement over the commission of the Duchess of Manchester’s cabinet. The size of their extensive business by 1768 is indicated by an advertisement in the Public Advertiser, the partnership appealing for ‘upwards of 100 Men, Cabinet-makers, Chairmakers, and some very good Joyners who will be immediately employed on the best Work’ and for ‘Some Men who can do Inlaid Work in Woods &c and engrave and work in brass’. This commode is one of a group of eight commodes which are of similar serpentine form and are characterized by the use of magnificent floral and foliate marquetry on large reserves of yewwood – a veneer which Mayhew and Ince used often.
The group comprises: 1. Olaf Hambro, Esq., Linton Park, Maidstone, Kent, Christie’s House Sale, 2-3 October 1961, lot 110 and subsequently sold by the late Mrs. Charles Mills, Hilborough Hall, Norfolk, Christie’s House Sale, 21-23 October 1985, lot 73. It was most recently sold anonymously, Christie’s, London, 5 July 1990, lot 141. This commode features ormolu mounts; the angle mounts are the same profile as the giltwood ‘mounts’ on the present commode. 2. Martin Summers Esq., Sotheby’s, London, 18 March 1966, lot 151 (illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, pl. 45). Incorrectly identified in Sotheby’s catalogue and the Coleridge book as the Linton commode, it is all but identical but with the addition of foliate foot-mounts which may have originally featured on the Linton commode. 3. Formerly in the collection of Lady Russell, and rendered in a colour illustration in Percy Macquoid, The Age of Satinwood, London, 1908, pl. 11. The illustration shows a plain yew top and sides, possibly incorrectly. The angle mounts are the same profile as the giltwood ‘mounts’ on the present commode. 4. The late Margharita,, Lady Howard de Walden, C.B.E.; Sotheby’s, London, 2 December 1977, lot 93 and have angle mounts which are the same profile as the giltwood ‘mounts’ on the present commode. 5. The collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London 1924, vol. II, p. 136, fig. 15 and illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, op. cit., pl. 43) formerly in Sir George Donaldson’s collection and later sold from the collection of Mrs. Elmer T. Cunningham, Monterey, California; Park-Bernet Galleries, New York, 15 March 1959, lot 115. 6. Sir Michael Sobell collection (offered, Christie’s, London, 23 June 1994, lot 77 but withdrawn from the sale). The collection of Lillian S. Whitmarsh, Sold, Parke-Bernet Gallery, April 7-8, 1961; Formerly in the collections of Sir Anthony de Rothschild, Bt., Aston Clinton and Lord Leverhulme, The Hill, Hampstead - later sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 9 February 1926, lot 338 (the top illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, op. cit., pl. 44.). This commode is nearly identical to the one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but does not have the elaborate foliate mounts to the feet or to the angles. 7. An English private collection, Christie’s, London, 11 November 1971, lot 91. This is a smaller version than the rest without the floral marquetry and with unembellished angles.
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SIR ALFRED J MUNNINGS (1878-1959) The Artist’s Wife Florence at Lamorna Cove oil on canvas Since the 1880s Newlyn, Cornwall, had become an established artist’s colony, and between 1910 and 1914 Munnings made several visits to the area and nearby Lamorna, where after an initial stay in Newlyn he was to reside. The artist was to become a central part of the artistic community, which was initially centralised around Stanhope Forbes and his wife Elizabeth, and here he was to make life long friendships with numerous artists working in Cornwall, including amongst others Laura and Harold Knight. Munnings was enamoured with the beauty of the of the surrounding countryside, but it was the friendships and relationships made in these years that were to have a greater and more lasting impact on the artist.
‘From all this rich, Norfolk farming country – these vistas of hedgerowoaks and elms, woodlands, cornfields and low meadows – I found myself in a land of stone walls and tall, stone-faced banks covered with wild flowers and purple foxgloves….Scrubby woods grew on hillsides, trees flourished in the valleys, and only windswept, stunted specimens braved the blasts upon the uplands’ (Alfred Munnings, An Artist’s Life, 1950 p.271). While in Newlyn, Munnings met the young artist and competent horsewoman depicted in the present work, Edith Florence Carter- Wood (1888-1914). Carter-Wood was the daughter of a wealthy brewer and a student at Forbes’s painting school; in her lifetime she exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery and the Royal Academy. Munnings was to fall headlong in love with Carter-Wood, and they married in 1912, despite the reservations and objections of her father. Marital bliss was to prove rather short for the couple, and tragically Munnings first wife was to take her life in 1914, only days before the onset of the First World War.
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A GEORGE III GILTWOOD PIER MIRROR A fine George III giltwood pier mirror, with a rectangular mirror plate flanked by stylized columns with Ionic capitals flanked by a border of foliate S-scrolls entwined with husk-swags, the cresting centred by a large feathered honey-suckle flower flanked by S-scrolled foliage, the apron centred by a stylized acanthus leaf flanked by foliate-carved S-scrolls hung with pendant husk swags. In the manner of John Linnell. England, circa 1770 Height: 56¾in (144cm) Width: 31½in (80cm) F3F0263
This beautiful pier mirror with its overtly neoclassical attributes and form is similar to the work of the great 18th century cabinetmaker, carver and designer John Linnell. The form is nearly identical to a group of frames and mirrors attributed to him which were made for Henry Dillon, 11th viscount Dillon and his wife Lady Charlotte Lee, daughter of George Lee 2nd Earl of Litchfield for Ditchley Park. In 1776, Lady Charlotte inherited Ditchley from her uncle as she was the only surviving heir of the Lee family; however, she did not inherit the title. The only difference between the present mirror and the group of frames from Ditchely is the cresting: the present frame having a honeysuckle flower and the group having an owl. Looking at Linnell’s corpus of works, there are a number of designs which relates to the present frame. The overall foliate S-scrolled sides and cresting are almost identical to a drawing of a pier mirror, circa 1774, (see Helena Hayward, ‘The Drawings of John Linnell in the victoria and Albert Museum,’ The Journal of the Furniture History Society, vol. v, 1969, fig. 97) which has very similar proportions and overall composition. Other drawings which are similar include a long mirror frame, circa 1771, (ibid., fig. 96) and another mirror frame, circa 1773, illustrated, (ibid., fig. 89). There are elements of the present mirror which are strikingly similar to a pier glass and pelmets which Linnell made for William Drake at Shardeloes, circa 1768. (see Helena Hayward and Pak Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, pp. 78-79).
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CLOCKS
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A FINE GEORGE II INLAID BURR WALNUT LONGCASE CLOCK A fine walnut longcase with an 11 ½-inch arched dial signed John Ellicot / London, the dial with silvered chapter ring with Roman numerals centred by a matted disk with two winding holds, date aperture and subsidiary seconds’ dial, within rocaille-moulded spandrels, beneath a subsidiary dial in the arch inscribed strike/silent flanked by dolphin-moulded spandrels, with five-pillar, bell-striking movement with anchor escapement, the hood with an arched moulded edge beneath a peaked top and fitted with three finials, the long case with canted corners fitted with an arched door above a plinth inlaid with two stars to the corners and raised on bracket feet. By John Ellicott, London. England, circa 1740 Height: 108⅝in (276cm) Width: 22½in (57cm) Depth: 11⅜in (29cm) Dial: 11½in (29.2cm) F3F0247
PROvENANCE
The Collection of John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax, M.P., Holnest Park, Dorset. Mallett, London.
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AN IMPORTANT GEORGE III MAHOGANY REGULATOR TIMEPIECE
An important regulator timepiece with a 10-inch silvered dial signed: John Thwaites Clerkenwall / London, the hour-glass form hood surmounted by an urn finial above a rectangular tapering pedestal case with moulded edge and plinth base. By John Thwaites, Clerkenwall, London. England, circa 1807 Height: 80¼in (204cm) Width: 20½in (52cm) Depth: 11¾in (30cm) Dial: 10in (25.4cm) F3F0246
PROvENANCE
Hotspur, London.
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A QUEEN ANNE WALNUT LONG CASE CLOCK The case, of particularly elegant proportions, has a double moulded top to the hood with two frets to the front, and single frets to the sides, and brass capitals to the plain columns. The trunk, which is unusually shallow in depth, is cross-banded and veneered with walnut, the trunk door with square top and lenticle has a very rich burr veneer of warm colour.
Joseph Windmills (c.1640 – 1725) was a prolific maker of clocks and watches, first recorded working in St Martin’s Le Grande before moving to the Tower Street area, near the Tower of London. Early records indicate the growing scale and importance of Windmills’ business, through having at least ten apprentices and often using outworkers to help with demand.
The arched brass dial has finely cast ‘Indian head’ spandrels within a herringbone imprinted edge. The signature is engraved on a brass boss in the arch, supported by two cherubs; the chapter ring has inner quarter hour marks, fleur de lis half hours and diamonds at the intermediate quarters. The hands are of blue steel with ringed bosses to all three.
In September 1691, Windmills was elected Assistant to the Worshipful Company of Clockmaker’s; the oldest surviving horological institution in the world, before being made the youngest Warden in 1699, and Master in 1702.
The movement having deep plates and six crisply ringed pillars, the steel pendulum rod with a small brass bob, and brass cased weights suspended from a pair of dished pulleys. By Joseph Windmills. England circa 1710 Height: 92⅛in (234cm) Width: 20¼in (51.5cm) Depth: 9⅞in (25cm) O3E0159
The mid 1690’s onwards saw his development of two series of longcase clocks; one type was cased in walnut and decorated with panels of detailed marquetry. The other was cased in beautifully figured burr walnut, such as this one, retaining elegance in its simplicity. Manufacture and trading of the longcase clock and the earlier traditional lantern clock, resulted in the majority of Windmills’ success. An exquisite attention to detail specifically in the brass work, for example the use of cherub spandrels on the clock face as seen here, have become a distinguishable features of Windmills’ work.
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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY LONGCASE TIMEPIECE
An important timepiece, with a 10-inch silvered dial signed: Thomas Mudge / Willm Dutton /London., the movement with six-pillars and deadbeat escapement, the hood with moulded top, the long case with rectangular moulded door on a plinth base. By Thomas Mudge and William Dutton, London. England, circa 1770 Height: 72½in (184cm) Width: 15¾in (40cm) Depth: 9in (23cm) Dial: 10in (25.4cm) F3F0244
PROvENANCE
Bobinet, London.
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A WILLIAM AND MARY WALNUT AND FRUITWOOD MARQUETRY LONGCASE CLOCK A fine marquetry longcase clock with a square 11-inch dial signed: Isaac Lowndes in y Pall Mall, and with foliate spandrels centered by cherubs surrounding a silvered chapter ring with Roman numerals centred by a matted disk with two moulded winding holes and a square date aperture flanked by scrolled engraving and with a subsidiary seconds’ dial, the clock with a five pillar, anchor escapement, bell striking movement, the case with domed hood with three later giltwood finials, the whole profusely inlaid with foliate marquetry. By Isaac Lowndes, Pall Mall, London. England, circa 1690 Height: 96in (244cm) Width: 18⅞in (48cm) Depth: 10⅝in (27cm) Dial: 11in (27.9cm) F3F0245
PROvENANCE
Edward Francis North, the late 9th Earl of Guilford.
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AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY CHINESE LACQUER DRESSING MIRROR An early 19th century Chinese dressing table mirror in black lacquer with gilt decoration of vine leaf patterns and vignettes of pagodas and rocky landscape gardens, the original detachable oval mirror surmounted by a cartouche, the serpentine stepped base unusually retaining two sets of highly decorated lacquer boxes in superb condition. China circa 1810 Height: 33⅛in (84cm) Width: 161⅜in (410cm) Length/Depth: 11⅜in (29cm) F3F0368
PROvENANCE
The Edward Parker Collection, Allencoates, Lancashire. A similar example is illustrated in Carl Crossman’s The China Trade and is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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A RARE PAIR OF ANGLO-CHINESE BUREAU CABINETS An unusual pair of Anglo-Chinese solid padouk bureau cabinets with the moulded cornices each above a pair of panelled doors headed by radiused upper corners and with leaf-carved moulded borders, the interiors to the upper sections with adjustable bookshelves above pairs of drawers, the fall front writing flaps revealing pigeonholes surrounded by small drawers and with four long graduated drawers below, on shaped bracket feet, largely retaining the original paktong handles and now together with a pair of additional mirror glass panels to the doors, minor variations to the dimensions and construction of each cabinet China, circa 1770 Height: 74in (188cm) Width: 42½in (108cm) Depth: 21⅝in (55cm) F3G0014
Few examples of 18th century Anglo-Chinese furniture were made in Canton for British patrons, let alone shipped back to England. Consequently the survival of these Burueau cabinets as a pair Padouk bureau cabinets is even more remarkable. They represent both a fascinating insight into Cantonese cabinet-making techniques and a glimpse into the lifestyle of an officer of the British East India Company.
The present cabinets belong to a small group of furniture produced in Canton for Western Clients in the second and third quarters of the 18th century. The lack of extant furniture of this genre suggests that it was commissioned to special order, possibly by senior members of the British East India Company posted in Canton or other neighbouring outposts. Company records in the 1720s and 1730s have scarce references to furniture in its ledgers which would support the idea that such pieces were intended for private use as opposed to export trading. This hypothesis is further supported by the economic viability of shipping bulky hardwood furniture versus easily freighted items of merchandise such as costly silks, ceramics and other precious wares. The scarcity of surviving ‘China Trade’ or Cantonese furniture further attests to this deduction (See Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Woodbridge, 1991, p. 234).
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Whilst the form of the cabinets here relates to English design patterns such as Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director 3rd ed., 1763, pls. CvII and CXXIX, the use of solid and not veneered timber allied to atypical construction techniques indicate a different origin. Further evidence is provided by the presence of Chinese calligraphy to the interior of one of the cabinets, the largely original paktong handles, and the absence of any timber typically associated with 18th century English cabinet-work. The overtly English style of this pair of cabinets contrasts with Cantonese examples produced in second quarter of the century which typically exhibit distinctly Dutch characteristics (see Crossman, op cit colour pls. 77 and 79). The possible explanation for this may be the pre-eminence of Dutch trade outposts until the mid-18th Century. A further related Anglo-Chinese mid-18th century bureau cabinet with a more elaborate carved pediment sold Christie’s New York, 18 October 2001, lot 115.
Paktong This alloy composed of copper, nickel and zinc was a uniquely Chinese product until the 19th century. It is therefore a significant factor in determining the origin of this rare pair of cabinets. However it should be acknowledged that paktong was also exported and used for furniture elsewhere. Hence much 18th century Indian export market furniture bearing paktong mounts is frequently assumed to be Chinese. The name paktong name derives from the romanisation of the Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese characters for white copper. One of the earliest reliable references to paktong can be found in The Great Historical Geographical Genealogical and Poetical Dictionary, first published in 1688 and revised by Collier in 1701. The entry which was entitled ‘Empire of China...Province of Chekiang’ stated ‘They have a white kind of copper which is but little dearer than common yellow copper.’ The properties of paktong were prized for its similarity in appearance to silver It was not until 1776 that a Swedish chemist Gustav Engestrom was able to analyse the composition of paktong and speculate that further research may lead to its production in Europe. However Engestrom mistakenly assumed that the alloy was mined as mixed ore whose constituents were copper and nickel. This belief persisted until the late 20th century when a metallurgical scholar Mei Jianjun published a paper revealing that it was mined as two separate ores known ‘blue ore’ and ‘yellow ore.’ The forging of paktong was far from simple as the smelting involved a technique known as sublimation by which almost molten copper sheets were infused with tutenag (zinc) vapour prior to the final melting-pot stage of production. The highly skilled requirements of this process hampered any viable European attempts to imitate the alloy until well into the 19th century when it acquired a new name German Silver (see Keith Pinn, Paktong: The Chinese Alloy in Europe 1680-1820, Woodbridge, 1999, pp. 33-47).
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The Honourable East India Company The Governor and Merchants of the London Company Trading into the East, was established on 31st December 1600 shortly before the Dutch formed an equivalent company to trade with the East. However the Dutch proved to be the more successful of the two until at least the mid 17th century. By the 1670s, the burgeoning import business handled by the Port of London convinced the city that greater investment in the ship building industry at Blackwall was warranted. One of the most lucrative imports by this time was tea which was supplied at a cost of £4.5s for 2 lbs 2 oz to the King by the Directors of the Company. However in order to out compete the Dutch, the London East India Company realised that native products such as wool, tin lead and silver could be lucratively traded in China. The proceeds of this trade augmented English merchants’ funds to buy goods in China for the inward bound journey. A small facet of this trade existed in works of art including mirror glass which was exported to Canton for reverse painting and re-importing. Clocks were also a profitable area as testified by a Jesuit Missionary who recorded in 1735 that the Imperial Palace had acquired four thousand European clocks, watches, globes and other instruments produced in Europe. The exponential growth in trade was the catalyst to the London East India Company’s amalgamation with The Honourable East India Company in 1708. Their directors took control of both trade and the military and civil administration of depots in India, Malaya and Java. Returning cargoes were almost exclusively sold at auction leading to substantial average dividends of 12% for shareholders. However there was a degree of ‘private trade’ permitted on the company’s employees account. Typically this took the form of special private orders personally financed by an ‘East Indiaman’ Captain which could potentially multiply his basic salary. Private trading comprised luxury decorative arts such as fine lacquer, porcelain and no doubt occasionally furniture of the kind here. This trade did not exceed 10% of the total trade with China as it largely depended on social connections and personal selection of the most fashionable products available in Canton. unfortunately officers bringing back Private Cargo were not bound to keep records until such trade was regulated by sale through auction although most of these records do not survive. Consequently a picture of Eastern trade in the decorative arts during the 17th and 18th centuries relies on documented provenances of objects, many of which have been linked to particular captains or known journeys. By the 19th century the trade in decorative arts to Europe had dwindled due to increased local competition and protective duties. Transactions with the East became limited to raw materials such as ivory or lacquer and goods produced through low labour costs. During the successive centuries since the Honourable East India Company’s inception the principal trading ports have been successively Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong but modern communications are increasingly widening these links (see David S. Howard, A Tale of Three Cities, Canton, Shanghai & Hong Kong, Three Centuries of Sino-British Trade in the Decorative Arts, Sotheby’s Exhibition Catalogue, 1997).
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A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY HALL STOOLS
An unusual pair of mahogany hall stools, each of serpentine lyre outline with solid dished seats with scrolled ends applied with roundels to the facings, one stool with a fixed seat above a sliding tambour, the other with a hinged seat above a fixed tambour and opening to reveal a void interior, the serpentine shaped aprons on four cabriole legs ending in French scrolled toes. In the manner of John Cobb. England, circa 1770 Height: 21⅝in (55cm) Width: 21¼in (54cm) Depth: 15⅜in (39cm) F3F0174
This rare pair of mahogany hall stools are distinguished by their sculptural outline, superb quality of timber and cabinet form. Although frame stools of a similar design are known and recorded there are very few surviving examples of cabinet stools of this model. This pair is the only known pair. The stools relate to designs for ‘Dressing Stools’ by William Ince and John Mayhew published in The Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762, pl.XXXIv.
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A GEORGE III INLAID SATINWOOD CYLINDER BUREAU A fine George III inlaid satinwood bureau, the cross-banded rectangular top above a cylinder opening to an arrangement of ten pigeonholes above three small drawers before a leatherlined sliding panel, the frieze fitted with a pair of drawers raised on square tapering legs on castors. England, circa 1790 Height: 36⅝in (93cm) Width: 21⅝in (55cm) Depth: 40⅛in (102cm) F3F0262
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A PAIR OF GEORGE II WALNUT SIDE CHAIRS A fine pair of George II walnut side chairs, each with a cresting rail with curved rail with paper-scrolled terminals above a baluster-form splat with paper-scrolled sides flanked by Scurved styles above a balloon-form needlework-upholstered drop-in seat within a conforming apron raised on cabriole legs carved with stylized leaves to the knees ending in pendant shells and ending in claw and ball feet. England, circa 1730 Height: 39⅜in (100cm) Width: 23⅝in (60cm) Depth: 21¼in (54cm) F3F0258
PROvENANCE
Malcolm Franklin, Inc., Chicago.
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