Chippendale's firm while working the rococo style.
in
This is praise indeed and a clear explanation for the patronage William Vile received from Royalty and the nobility. The Great Wardrobe accounts reveal the extent of work carried out by Vile for the Royal Household. Furniture was made and work carried out for Buckingham House, St James's Palace and Windsor Castle between 1761 and 1765. Probably the most celebrated pieces are the pair of mahogany medal cabinets bearing the star of the Order of the Garter, made for George III and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the cabinet of mahogany and padouk, inlaid with ivory, made for Queen Charlotte's jewels in 1761, still at Buckingham Palace. A mahogany 'secretary' with fretwork decoration and a bombe base was supplied to the Queen's apartments in 1761 and also a work table for the Queen in 1763. These two pieces are interesting in that they both combine the new fashion for 'Chinese' fretwork decoration within rococo forms. This is also the case with these tables from Hagley. In particular, the
work table incorporates a fret pattern of similar design to that on the aprons of these side tables. The Royal Palaces apart, the impressive client list of Vile & Cobb involved the supply of furniture to many of England's greatest houses. A lesser known but significant, documented commission is that for the Honourable John Damer to supply furniture for Came House in Dorset. In Country Life in February 1953, in the second part of an article about Came House, the Vile & Cobb commission is described in detail and a sofa and armchair are illustrated, as well as an unusual writing table on base and legs of similar design. These pieces may be a little less grand than those made for the most important of the firm's commissions but all have the distinctive features of the leaf carvcd cabriole legs and aprons. They are interesting in that they arc evidence that by that time the firm was also providing seat furniture alongside its cabinet work and close comparison may be made to the chairs supplied to stand with the tables in the Saloon at Hagley. The hallmarks of Vile's oeuvre are the sheer quality of his workmanship and the
vitality with which he embraced the styles of the time, creating bold forms in the very best mahogany, embellished with the finest carving. These tables are masterpieces of the most significant age of English cabinet-making and design, created for a great contempory interior.
T h e S a l o o n , H a g l e y P a r k , C o u r t e s y Country
l.ifc
Picture Library.
I I