Mallett Spring Catalogue 2014

M A L L E T T LO N D O N • N E W YO R K

Introduction In 1697, King William III of England signed the Treaty of Ryswick which effectively terminated the nine years war between the two most significant and historic adversaries, England and France. William was a dynamic leader, a man for change who in his short reign realigned the balance of power domestically between parliament and the crown and internationally with a confident and growing British navy. He disliked the cult of Louis XIV with his image of a monarch blessed by the heavens with his performance as the Sun King so created his own powerful image as the re-born half god Hercules, a man of strength measured with honesty and integrity. This image was held aloft to the people of Britain after he successfully defeated the French. He was also the last King to fight on British soil, his successes pictured in coins and medals. The extraordinary carved mirror on pages 24-27 of this catalogue was made in celebration of William’s victories.

Further battles, but of an eastern flavour, can be seen in the rare lacquer and ivory screen on pages 78-81.

The great Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms tells the story of embattled warlords, lost love and heroes in a Hollywood style epic. Rarely, if ever seen on a screen with this level of detail, the condition and quality of work is remarkable.

In a quieter period of history the massive black marble vases on pages 126-127 were created. The scale and beauty of these great objects is magnified by the knowledge that the material Ashford Black marble is mined from a seam never more than nine inches in width, then carefully pieced together and polished to look flawless.

There are many magnificent and unusual pieces throughout our 2014 catalogue illustrating the amazing skills of the artisans who produced them. As always the team at Mallett, both in London and New York, look forward to seeing you either in the galleries or at any one of the numerous fairs we attend internationally.

Another important step in 2014 is the redesign of our website. It will now be possible to purchase works of art directly off our site allowing for shipping and delivery all at the push of a button. We hope you will enjoy this new and exciting experience.

Giles Hutchinson Smith Chief Executive

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M A L L E T T LO N D O N • N E W YO R K

Introduction In 1697, King William III of England signed the Treaty of Ryswick which effectively terminated the nine years war between the two most significant and historic adversaries, England and France. William was a dynamic leader, a man for change who in his short reign realigned the balance of power domestically between parliament and the crown and internationally with a confident and growing British navy. He disliked the cult of Louis XIV with his image of a monarch blessed by the heavens with his performance as the Sun King so created his own powerful image as the re-born half god Hercules, a man of strength measured with honesty and integrity. This image was held aloft to the people of Britain after he successfully defeated the French. He was also the last King to fight on British soil, his successes pictured in coins and medals. The extraordinary carved mirror on pages 24-27 of this catalogue was made in celebration of William’s victories.

Further battles, but of an eastern flavour, can be seen in the rare lacquer and ivory screen on pages 78-81.

The great Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms tells the story of embattled warlords, lost love and heroes in a Hollywood style epic. Rarely, if ever seen on a screen with this level of detail, the condition and quality of work is remarkable.

In a quieter period of history the massive black marble vases on pages 126-127 were created. The scale and beauty of these great objects is magnified by the knowledge that the material Ashford Black marble is mined from a seam never more than nine inches in width, then carefully pieced together and polished to look flawless.

There are many magnificent and unusual pieces throughout our 2014 catalogue illustrating the amazing skills of the artisans who produced them. As always the team at Mallett, both in London and New York, look forward to seeing you either in the galleries or at any one of the numerous fairs we attend internationally.

Another important step in 2014 is the redesign of our website. It will now be possible to purchase works of art directly off our site allowing for shipping and delivery all at the push of a button. We hope you will enjoy this new and exciting experience.

Giles Hutchinson Smith Chief Executive

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LO N D O N • N E W YO R K

A TOLE WATER CISTERN A rare mid 19th century Dutch tôle water cistern, decorated to simulate Japanese lacquer, the top decorated with birds set within vignettes, the sides with ribbon bordered vignettes depicting a captain and his wife looking out towards his ship amidst a landscape. It bears the inscription ‘Door I.B. Breugelmans’ and a lighthouse with a paddle steamer, bearing the inscription ‘Antwerpen 1855’. The top with a large gilt bronze pine cone finial, the sides with elaborately cast and gilt snake handles.

The Netherlands, circa 1855

› A PAIR OF LACQUER ETAGERES A very rare pair of late 18th century Japanese Edo period bookmatched étagères, each tier decorated with landscapes, the last having two small drawers at the sides and each interior decorated with gold speckled lacquer. The pierced side supports are enriched with landscape vignettes and auspicious emblems, the whole standing on high bracket feet. Each with labels inscribed ‘White Drawing Room/CaptainTownshend RN MP/ Chinese Bookstand/1 and 2’.

Japan, circa 1775

Height: 34in/86.5cm Diameter: 20in/51cm

Height: 34in/87cm Width: 35in/89cm Depth: 15in/37.5cm

O3D0269

PROVENANCE

The Collection of the Marquesses of Townshend, Raynham Hall, Norfolk.

The labels date to between 1847 and 1855 and refer to Captain John Townshend, who was MP for Tamworth between these dates before becoming 4th Marquess in 1856. Audrey, Lady Townshend, through family connection with the East India Company, acquired a particular passion for the exotic including furnishings from the East.

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A TOLE WATER CISTERN A rare mid 19th century Dutch tôle water cistern, decorated to simulate Japanese lacquer, the top decorated with birds set within vignettes, the sides with ribbon bordered vignettes depicting a captain and his wife looking out towards his ship amidst a landscape. It bears the inscription ‘Door I.B. Breugelmans’ and a lighthouse with a paddle steamer, bearing the inscription ‘Antwerpen 1855’. The top with a large gilt bronze pine cone finial, the sides with elaborately cast and gilt snake handles.

The Netherlands, circa 1855

› A PAIR OF LACQUER ETAGERES A very rare pair of late 18th century Japanese Edo period bookmatched étagères, each tier decorated with landscapes, the last having two small drawers at the sides and each interior decorated with gold speckled lacquer. The pierced side supports are enriched with landscape vignettes and auspicious emblems, the whole standing on high bracket feet. Each with labels inscribed ‘White Drawing Room/CaptainTownshend RN MP/ Chinese Bookstand/1 and 2’.

Japan, circa 1775

Height: 34in/86.5cm Diameter: 20in/51cm

Height: 34in/87cm Width: 35in/89cm Depth: 15in/37.5cm

O3D0269

PROVENANCE

The Collection of the Marquesses of Townshend, Raynham Hall, Norfolk.

The labels date to between 1847 and 1855 and refer to Captain John Townshend, who was MP for Tamworth between these dates before becoming 4th Marquess in 1856. Audrey, Lady Townshend, through family connection with the East India Company, acquired a particular passion for the exotic including furnishings from the East.

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III ARMCHAIRS An important pair of George III carved giltwood neoclassical armchairs by Thomas Chippendale, the shaped backs with a guilloche pattern surmounted by a laurel wreath tied with ribbon, the elegant scrolled arms carved with pearl and husk decoration, the seat rails carved with a running border of overlapping leaves and centred by patera, standing on fluted, tapering legs with leaf decoration, on reeded feet.

England, circa 1775 Height: 36½in/93cm Width: 26½in/67cm Depth of Seat: 21in/54cm F3C0280

PROVENANCE

Possibly HRH Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1743-1805), younger brother of George III.

These armchairs are particularly characteristic of Thomas Chippendale’s neo-classical work. One of the most celebrated cabinet-makers of the Georgian period, he first published the widely popular pattern book, The Gentleman and CabinetMaker’s Director in 1754, offering fashionable designs for furniture. The Director focused on three main styles: Gothick, Rococo, and Chinoiserie, dominating contemporary fashion for almost twenty years. Arguably, however, Chippendale’s finest works are in the neo-classical style of the 1770s, when these chairs were made. During this time, he developed from the Director style in favour of a more refined approach, particularly in elegant seat furniture.

His firm produced several suites of furniture based on a model design for a drawing-room chair; this pair are an exquisite example with the profusion of decorative motif, and graceful carving. Chippendale never repeated the same design, each suite of these neo-classical chairs maintain a certain stylistic purity and consistency, while offering decorative variation even for the most discerning of patrons.

Comparable Examples These armchairs are particularly significant because of the extraordinary design similarity with a suite in the Royal Collection. Research has shown that the 1st Duke of Gloucester and Thomas Chippendale were affiliated.

His bank account reveals a payment of £134 15s 6d to Chippendale between 1764 to 1766, which is too early to refer to this pair, but establishes the working relationship.

In January 1768, Chippendale wrote to his client Sir Rowland Winn, informing him of a delay because of a ‘great quantity of unexpected business which I did not Know of nor could I refuse doing because it was mostly for the Royal Family.’

Chippendale is not known to have had subsequent Royal commissions, making this reference particularly significant; in addition, his 1762 publication of the Director was dedicated to the Duke of Gloucester.

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III ARMCHAIRS An important pair of George III carved giltwood neoclassical armchairs by Thomas Chippendale, the shaped backs with a guilloche pattern surmounted by a laurel wreath tied with ribbon, the elegant scrolled arms carved with pearl and husk decoration, the seat rails carved with a running border of overlapping leaves and centred by patera, standing on fluted, tapering legs with leaf decoration, on reeded feet.

England, circa 1775 Height: 36½in/93cm Width: 26½in/67cm Depth of Seat: 21in/54cm F3C0280

PROVENANCE

Possibly HRH Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1743-1805), younger brother of George III.

These armchairs are particularly characteristic of Thomas Chippendale’s neo-classical work. One of the most celebrated cabinet-makers of the Georgian period, he first published the widely popular pattern book, The Gentleman and CabinetMaker’s Director in 1754, offering fashionable designs for furniture. The Director focused on three main styles: Gothick, Rococo, and Chinoiserie, dominating contemporary fashion for almost twenty years. Arguably, however, Chippendale’s finest works are in the neo-classical style of the 1770s, when these chairs were made. During this time, he developed from the Director style in favour of a more refined approach, particularly in elegant seat furniture.

His firm produced several suites of furniture based on a model design for a drawing-room chair; this pair are an exquisite example with the profusion of decorative motif, and graceful carving. Chippendale never repeated the same design, each suite of these neo-classical chairs maintain a certain stylistic purity and consistency, while offering decorative variation even for the most discerning of patrons.

Comparable Examples These armchairs are particularly significant because of the extraordinary design similarity with a suite in the Royal Collection. Research has shown that the 1st Duke of Gloucester and Thomas Chippendale were affiliated.

His bank account reveals a payment of £134 15s 6d to Chippendale between 1764 to 1766, which is too early to refer to this pair, but establishes the working relationship.

In January 1768, Chippendale wrote to his client Sir Rowland Winn, informing him of a delay because of a ‘great quantity of unexpected business which I did not Know of nor could I refuse doing because it was mostly for the Royal Family.’

Chippendale is not known to have had subsequent Royal commissions, making this reference particularly significant; in addition, his 1762 publication of the Director was dedicated to the Duke of Gloucester.

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Parallels from each set include a certain asymmetrical quality.

The chair backs are surmounted by a laurel wreath tied with ribbon, the tapering silhouette of the legs are identical, decorated with foliate detail. They also feature the same pearl and husk decoration on the arms and a running border of overlapping leaves on the seat rail with a patera in the centre.

Another Chippendale suite very similar to the Mallett pair, were commissioned by Sir Penistone Lamb for the Saloon at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire; originally comprising twelve armchairs, twelve single chairs and four settees. The Brocket Hall chairs, shown opposite in situ, are again closely related to this pair, with the inverted heart-shaped back with guilloche pattern and serpentine seat.

Design Influences The chairs derive inspiration from French designs, particularly in the Louis XVI style. It was highly fashionable for English clients to import French furniture after the Peace of Paris in 1763 following the end of the Seven Years’ War. For example, the 14th Earl of Shrewsbury purchased a set of chairs from France, now at the Wallace Collection, for his drawing room at Heythrop Hall. Similar to the Mallett pair in the shaped backs, tapered legs, and neo-classical decoration, although the Wallace chairs maintain some qualities of the Louis XV rococo style in the three dimensionality of the carving. English furniture makers also adopted the French taste for a gap between the seat and the chair-back for upholstered chairs.

There are also parallels in design with the work of Robert Adam, a leader of taste in the preference for the simplicity and austerity of neo-classicism. The decorative motif in the Mallett pair reflect neo-classical themes. For example, Adam championed the inclusion of laurel because it was used at the Pythian games at Delphi as a sacred symbol of Apollo, these chairs feature a laurel wreath prominently on the chair-back.

In 1766, Adam collaborated with Chippendale on the decoration of Nostell Priory for Sir Rowland Winn; following this commission, Chippendale’s work shows a clear reflection of Adam’s influence on the designer. Adam and Chippendale worked together again for Edwin Lascalles at Harewood Hall, with Adam creating the interiors and Chippendale providing the furniture. A set of chairs made for the salon shares a similar inverted heart-shaped back and almost identical seat rail with the Mallett pair. Adam’s designs for Robert Child’s oval-back chairs with sphinx back-supports at Osterley Park, also have strikingly similar tapered legs to the Mallett armchairs, all corroborating Chippendale craftmanship.

Opposite, the Chippendale side chairs in the Saloon at Brocket Hall, Country Life, 18 July 1925

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Parallels from each set include a certain asymmetrical quality.

The chair backs are surmounted by a laurel wreath tied with ribbon, the tapering silhouette of the legs are identical, decorated with foliate detail. They also feature the same pearl and husk decoration on the arms and a running border of overlapping leaves on the seat rail with a patera in the centre.

Another Chippendale suite very similar to the Mallett pair, were commissioned by Sir Penistone Lamb for the Saloon at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire; originally comprising twelve armchairs, twelve single chairs and four settees. The Brocket Hall chairs, shown opposite in situ, are again closely related to this pair, with the inverted heart-shaped back with guilloche pattern and serpentine seat.

Design Influences The chairs derive inspiration from French designs, particularly in the Louis XVI style. It was highly fashionable for English clients to import French furniture after the Peace of Paris in 1763 following the end of the Seven Years’ War. For example, the 14th Earl of Shrewsbury purchased a set of chairs from France, now at the Wallace Collection, for his drawing room at Heythrop Hall. Similar to the Mallett pair in the shaped backs, tapered legs, and neo-classical decoration, although the Wallace chairs maintain some qualities of the Louis XV rococo style in the three dimensionality of the carving. English furniture makers also adopted the French taste for a gap between the seat and the chair-back for upholstered chairs.

There are also parallels in design with the work of Robert Adam, a leader of taste in the preference for the simplicity and austerity of neo-classicism. The decorative motif in the Mallett pair reflect neo-classical themes. For example, Adam championed the inclusion of laurel because it was used at the Pythian games at Delphi as a sacred symbol of Apollo, these chairs feature a laurel wreath prominently on the chair-back.

In 1766, Adam collaborated with Chippendale on the decoration of Nostell Priory for Sir Rowland Winn; following this commission, Chippendale’s work shows a clear reflection of Adam’s influence on the designer. Adam and Chippendale worked together again for Edwin Lascalles at Harewood Hall, with Adam creating the interiors and Chippendale providing the furniture. A set of chairs made for the salon shares a similar inverted heart-shaped back and almost identical seat rail with the Mallett pair. Adam’s designs for Robert Child’s oval-back chairs with sphinx back-supports at Osterley Park, also have strikingly similar tapered legs to the Mallett armchairs, all corroborating Chippendale craftmanship.

Opposite, the Chippendale side chairs in the Saloon at Brocket Hall, Country Life, 18 July 1925

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A PAIR OF TERRACOTTA FEMALE BUSTS Two very rare terracotta female busts attributed to Prospero Clemente (Prospero Spani or ‘Il Clemente,’), Reggio Emilia (1516-1584).

Italy, 1558 Height: 36in/91cm Width: 17in/43cm O3C0290

Prospero Clemente, variously known as Prospero Spani or ‘Il Clemente’, worked extensively in the region around Modena and Reggio Emilia. He was trained by his uncle, Bartolomeo Spani, before being apprenticed to Antonio Begerelli, whose work, mostly in terracotta, much impressed Michelangelo when he passed through Modena. Clemente was greatly influenced by the Mannerist style of Michelangelo and a number of his funerary monuments in Modena echo the architecture of Michelangelo’s designs.

sculpted neck and tightly coiled hair falling loose on the shoulders, has many close resemblances to the second terracotta bust here. The unusual format of portraying the whole bust with the arms truncated at the shoulders and the bottom portion fully rounded out is a particular compositional choice, which Clemente often used in his work, not only in the two busts of Diana and Minerva, but also in a number of funerary busts, such as in his portrait of Ercole II d’Este, also in the Galleria Estense.

Dr. Andrea Bacchi, whose monograph, Prospero Clemente, was published in 2001, believes that these two terracotta busts constitute an important addition to the catalogue of the sculptor’s work, noting that comparisons with many documented works by Clemente confirm this attribution.

A further similarity between these two terracotta busts and those of Diana and Minerva is that they are both profane subjects. Their idealised proportions and forms means they are probably not portraits but rather allegorical or mythological figures, which unfortunately are not identifiable without an inscription. Dr. Bacchi identifies a number of contemporary sources for other busts of mythological subjects. The production of mythological subjects in central Italy during the sixteenth century has a number of parallels. Clemente himself created various models of allegorical figures for the tragedy “Alidoro,” performed in 1570 in front of the d’Este court.

He compares the faces of these two busts, with their crisply defined features and stylised hair, to the marble statues on the facade of the cathedral in Reggio, depicting the city’s two patron saints, San Crisanto and Santa Daria. The statues were commissioned in 1552 and completed in 1558. Many other comparisons may be drawn from sculptures in the cathedral at Reggio, particularly with the figure of Eve and also with the two female figures on the monument of Nicola Sampolo, where the drapery folds on the upper half of the bodies have very similar handling.

The closest parallels can be drawn by comparison with the marble busts of Diana and Minerva from the Galleria Estense in Modena. The treatment of the drapery, particularly with the repetition and articulation of folds, is very similar on both the marble and the terracotta busts, as are the straps resting on the shoulders and the treatment to the edging of the collarline. Furthermore, the bust of Diana, with her strong, fully

Dr. Bacchi also notes that two contemporary Reggiani artists, Ruspagiarai and Signoretti, both of whom specialised in the production of bronze medals, created very similar idealised female portraits. Often with truncated shoulders and the rounded finishing of the lower torso, both were necessary characteristics to meet the constraints of a circular medal.

Thus, he argues there is a cultural context for these very rare female busts, both for their subject and their form, as well as there being many stylistic features, which confirms that these sculptures were produced in Emilia-Romagna by Prospero Clemente, during the mid-1500s, and more specifically suggests a date of sometime early in the 1560s.

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A PAIR OF TERRACOTTA FEMALE BUSTS Two very rare terracotta female busts attributed to Prospero Clemente (Prospero Spani or ‘Il Clemente,’), Reggio Emilia (1516-1584).

Italy, 1558 Height: 36in/91cm Width: 17in/43cm O3C0290

Prospero Clemente, variously known as Prospero Spani or ‘Il Clemente’, worked extensively in the region around Modena and Reggio Emilia. He was trained by his uncle, Bartolomeo Spani, before being apprenticed to Antonio Begerelli, whose work, mostly in terracotta, much impressed Michelangelo when he passed through Modena. Clemente was greatly influenced by the Mannerist style of Michelangelo and a number of his funerary monuments in Modena echo the architecture of Michelangelo’s designs.

sculpted neck and tightly coiled hair falling loose on the shoulders, has many close resemblances to the second terracotta bust here. The unusual format of portraying the whole bust with the arms truncated at the shoulders and the bottom portion fully rounded out is a particular compositional choice, which Clemente often used in his work, not only in the two busts of Diana and Minerva, but also in a number of funerary busts, such as in his portrait of Ercole II d’Este, also in the Galleria Estense.

Dr. Andrea Bacchi, whose monograph, Prospero Clemente, was published in 2001, believes that these two terracotta busts constitute an important addition to the catalogue of the sculptor’s work, noting that comparisons with many documented works by Clemente confirm this attribution.

A further similarity between these two terracotta busts and those of Diana and Minerva is that they are both profane subjects. Their idealised proportions and forms means they are probably not portraits but rather allegorical or mythological figures, which unfortunately are not identifiable without an inscription. Dr. Bacchi identifies a number of contemporary sources for other busts of mythological subjects. The production of mythological subjects in central Italy during the sixteenth century has a number of parallels. Clemente himself created various models of allegorical figures for the tragedy “Alidoro,” performed in 1570 in front of the d’Este court.

He compares the faces of these two busts, with their crisply defined features and stylised hair, to the marble statues on the facade of the cathedral in Reggio, depicting the city’s two patron saints, San Crisanto and Santa Daria. The statues were commissioned in 1552 and completed in 1558. Many other comparisons may be drawn from sculptures in the cathedral at Reggio, particularly with the figure of Eve and also with the two female figures on the monument of Nicola Sampolo, where the drapery folds on the upper half of the bodies have very similar handling.

The closest parallels can be drawn by comparison with the marble busts of Diana and Minerva from the Galleria Estense in Modena. The treatment of the drapery, particularly with the repetition and articulation of folds, is very similar on both the marble and the terracotta busts, as are the straps resting on the shoulders and the treatment to the edging of the collarline. Furthermore, the bust of Diana, with her strong, fully

Dr. Bacchi also notes that two contemporary Reggiani artists, Ruspagiarai and Signoretti, both of whom specialised in the production of bronze medals, created very similar idealised female portraits. Often with truncated shoulders and the rounded finishing of the lower torso, both were necessary characteristics to meet the constraints of a circular medal.

Thus, he argues there is a cultural context for these very rare female busts, both for their subject and their form, as well as there being many stylistic features, which confirms that these sculptures were produced in Emilia-Romagna by Prospero Clemente, during the mid-1500s, and more specifically suggests a date of sometime early in the 1560s.

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A SHERATON PERIOD CARTONNIER The elaborate inlay with pelted Simurgh birds holding pendant bell flowers on central serpentine door, opening to reveal eight cedar-lined drawers with flame mahogany veneers. The secret locking mechanism hidden behind an inlaid pilaster, with grapevines, classical urns with lion’s head handles inlaid on each side and the back finished with an enlarged pelt motif.

England, circa 1795 Height: 18in/45.5cm Width: 13in/33cm Depth: 19in/48cm

This cartonnier relates closely to a group of furniture with very similar marquetry, gilt metal mounts and concealed locking mechanisms all of which reflect Continental cabinetwork.

However, the timbers used, construction and quality of the gilded mounts are definitely of English fabrication. The Secretaire Cabinet in the Untermeyer Collection at the Metropolitan Museum (64.101.1151) is one of two cabinets, the other once belonging to J. Pierpont Morgan now in a private collection, which have the same pilasters above entwined bunches of grapes on either side of their central upper door and also similar gilded scrolling mounts, as this cartonnier.

F3D0182

There is also a demi-lune commode from the Mallett archives sold to a private British collection in the 1980s and a corner cupboard handled by Stair in the early 1990s which have the same unusual marquetry designs. The third secretaire cabinet which forms a part of this group is of Edwardian construction, being created for Sir Harold Werhner at Luton Hoo as a copy of the earlier cabinets by Frank Partridge and Son. Dr. Helena Hayward in a lecture discussing the influence of European cabinet work on English furniture proposed that this group of elaborately inlaid, complex pieces might very possibly be the later work of the Swedish craftsman Christoph Fuhrlogh. The language of the marquetry and the counter clockwise key-turn are both elements that reinforce this argument. It is interesting to note that the cedar lined drawers in the cabinet are numbered 9-16 suggesting that this was one of pair. This recently discovered cartonnier was probably sat freestanding on the library table accounting for its elaborately finished back.

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A SHERATON PERIOD CARTONNIER The elaborate inlay with pelted Simurgh birds holding pendant bell flowers on central serpentine door, opening to reveal eight cedar-lined drawers with flame mahogany veneers. The secret locking mechanism hidden behind an inlaid pilaster, with grapevines, classical urns with lion’s head handles inlaid on each side and the back finished with an enlarged pelt motif.

England, circa 1795 Height: 18in/45.5cm Width: 13in/33cm Depth: 19in/48cm

This cartonnier relates closely to a group of furniture with very similar marquetry, gilt metal mounts and concealed locking mechanisms all of which reflect Continental cabinetwork.

However, the timbers used, construction and quality of the gilded mounts are definitely of English fabrication. The Secretaire Cabinet in the Untermeyer Collection at the Metropolitan Museum (64.101.1151) is one of two cabinets, the other once belonging to J. Pierpont Morgan now in a private collection, which have the same pilasters above entwined bunches of grapes on either side of their central upper door and also similar gilded scrolling mounts, as this cartonnier.

F3D0182

There is also a demi-lune commode from the Mallett archives sold to a private British collection in the 1980s and a corner cupboard handled by Stair in the early 1990s which have the same unusual marquetry designs. The third secretaire cabinet which forms a part of this group is of Edwardian construction, being created for Sir Harold Werhner at Luton Hoo as a copy of the earlier cabinets by Frank Partridge and Son. Dr. Helena Hayward in a lecture discussing the influence of European cabinet work on English furniture proposed that this group of elaborately inlaid, complex pieces might very possibly be the later work of the Swedish craftsman Christoph Fuhrlogh. The language of the marquetry and the counter clockwise key-turn are both elements that reinforce this argument. It is interesting to note that the cedar lined drawers in the cabinet are numbered 9-16 suggesting that this was one of pair. This recently discovered cartonnier was probably sat freestanding on the library table accounting for its elaborately finished back.

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AN EMPIRE TRIC-TRAC TABLE An Empire mahogany tric-trac table, the removable top with leather writing surface and green baize to the reverse. The interior with stained and polished ivory set within an ebony frame, flanked by highly figured flame mahogany, the same timber used on the sides and drawer fronts. The table stands on finely turned, reeded legs, terminating in cylindrical foot and brass castors.

France, circa 1815 Height: 29in/73cm Width: 45in/115cm Depth: 22½in/57cm

› A PAIR OF GEORGE III WING CHAIRS An extremely rare pair of George III Chippendale period mahogany wing chairs retaining their original needlework upholstery depicting large stylised flowers in shades of red amongst foliage in shades of blue and green, on a buff coloured ground, the legs of square, chamfered form joined by stretchers.

England, circa 1760 Height: 44in/112.5cm Width: 36½in/93cm Depth: 26½in/67cm F3D0265

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AN EMPIRE TRIC-TRAC TABLE An Empire mahogany tric-trac table, the removable top with leather writing surface and green baize to the reverse. The interior with stained and polished ivory set within an ebony frame, flanked by highly figured flame mahogany, the same timber used on the sides and drawer fronts. The table stands on finely turned, reeded legs, terminating in cylindrical foot and brass castors.

France, circa 1815 Height: 29in/73cm Width: 45in/115cm Depth: 22½in/57cm

› A PAIR OF GEORGE III WING CHAIRS An extremely rare pair of George III Chippendale period mahogany wing chairs retaining their original needlework upholstery depicting large stylised flowers in shades of red amongst foliage in shades of blue and green, on a buff coloured ground, the legs of square, chamfered form joined by stretchers.

England, circa 1760 Height: 44in/112.5cm Width: 36½in/93cm Depth: 26½in/67cm F3D0265

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THE RYSWICK TROPHY MIRROR A unique late 17th century William III carved giltwood mirror. The oval central plate with an inner border of harebell husks, a central border of oak leaves and scallop shells and an outer border of fish scales.

The cartouche with a Herculean lion’s head helmet mounted on a carved club adorned with ostrich plumes and axe heads flanked by flags. The sides with swords and sabres mounted with eagle and lion head handles, above crossed serpent-tail anchors supported on a battery of mortars and cannon. The mortar crowned with the head of Hermes above an image of Nereus, ‘The Old Man of the Sea’, with surrounding thunderbolts and lightning flashes. The whole entwined with stylised rope ties.

The reverse stencilled with the English Royal Arms and an indistinct trader's mark.

England, circa 1697 Height: 44in/112cm Width: 30½in/78cm

This impressive oval looking glass was almost certainly commissioned to commemorate the English victory of the Nine Years' War (1688-1697) – fought between King Louis XIV of France and a European wide coalition, ‘The Grand Alliance’, led by the Anglo/Dutch King William III of England. Primarily a land battle, fighting also extended to the sea, resulting in the vast expansion of the English fleet, dominating the other European forces at the conclusion of the war.

William III was not a reticent monarch, his bold opinions found expression in the propaganda he spread throughout Europe. He believed himself to be a Herculean figure – at the time an emblem of a great warrior whose success brought peace to an Empire; he was also the only King of his generation to lead his troops into battle which could only have strengthened this conviction. The Herculean lion’s head helmet symbolising power sits triumphantly atop the mirror, while the bold naval warfare iconography clearly epitomises the authority of the English fleet.

F3E0019

PROVENANCE

Purchased by Michael Inchbald from ‘Ferry’ at Cowley, prior to 1978.

The war ended with the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, many commemorative items were made in honour of William III's victory, one of which was a small silver medal made the same year by engraver Jan Drapentier (d. 1713). The naval symbolism is very similar to that on the looking glass, William III depicted as Hercules with his club, stands triumphant over the body of a hydra with the characteristic anchor-like tail. On the reverse, depictions of Poseidon flanked by Mercury on the right hand side in front of a fleet of ships at sea, echo the figures of Nereus and Hermes on the base of the looking glass.

LITERATURE

Schwoerer, L. The Revolution of 1688-1689: Changing Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, 1992. pp 95-97.

A silver medal depicting the victory of William III – Jan Drapentier, 1697. Formerly in the collection of Nomos AG in Zurich, specialists in Renaissance and 17th century Dutch medals.

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THE RYSWICK TROPHY MIRROR A unique late 17th century William III carved giltwood mirror. The oval central plate with an inner border of harebell husks, a central border of oak leaves and scallop shells and an outer border of fish scales.

The cartouche with a Herculean lion’s head helmet mounted on a carved club adorned with ostrich plumes and axe heads flanked by flags. The sides with swords and sabres mounted with eagle and lion head handles, above crossed serpent-tail anchors supported on a battery of mortars and cannon. The mortar crowned with the head of Hermes above an image of Nereus, ‘The Old Man of the Sea’, with surrounding thunderbolts and lightning flashes. The whole entwined with stylised rope ties.

The reverse stencilled with the English Royal Arms and an indistinct trader's mark.

England, circa 1697 Height: 44in/112cm Width: 30½in/78cm

This impressive oval looking glass was almost certainly commissioned to commemorate the English victory of the Nine Years' War (1688-1697) – fought between King Louis XIV of France and a European wide coalition, ‘The Grand Alliance’, led by the Anglo/Dutch King William III of England. Primarily a land battle, fighting also extended to the sea, resulting in the vast expansion of the English fleet, dominating the other European forces at the conclusion of the war.

William III was not a reticent monarch, his bold opinions found expression in the propaganda he spread throughout Europe. He believed himself to be a Herculean figure – at the time an emblem of a great warrior whose success brought peace to an Empire; he was also the only King of his generation to lead his troops into battle which could only have strengthened this conviction. The Herculean lion’s head helmet symbolising power sits triumphantly atop the mirror, while the bold naval warfare iconography clearly epitomises the authority of the English fleet.

F3E0019

PROVENANCE

Purchased by Michael Inchbald from ‘Ferry’ at Cowley, prior to 1978.

The war ended with the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, many commemorative items were made in honour of William III's victory, one of which was a small silver medal made the same year by engraver Jan Drapentier (d. 1713). The naval symbolism is very similar to that on the looking glass, William III depicted as Hercules with his club, stands triumphant over the body of a hydra with the characteristic anchor-like tail. On the reverse, depictions of Poseidon flanked by Mercury on the right hand side in front of a fleet of ships at sea, echo the figures of Nereus and Hermes on the base of the looking glass.

LITERATURE

Schwoerer, L. The Revolution of 1688-1689: Changing Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, 1992. pp 95-97.

A silver medal depicting the victory of William III – Jan Drapentier, 1697. Formerly in the collection of Nomos AG in Zurich, specialists in Renaissance and 17th century Dutch medals.

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A GEORGE III MARQUETRY SIDE TABLE A very fine and well-proportioned George III inlaid satinwood side table, the serpentine and cross-banded top with a central oval cartouche banded in tulipwood and inlaid with a bouquet of flowers tied with a ribbon, all set in a flower head and trellis patterned ground, the serpentine apron defined by tulipwood cross-banding and further inlaid with a central oval, with the trellis pattern inside and flanked by swags of bell flowers to the front, with the oval panels repeated on the sides. The table stands on slender cabriole legs, divided by further tulipwood cross-banding into three panels, and terminating in gilt-metal sabots.

Attributed to John Cobb.

England, circa 1775 Height: 35½in/90cm Width: 48in/122cm Depth: 26½in/67cm F3E0044

This beautiful, transitional table displays the very best elements of English and French furniture design combined.

It is a highly refined example of the successful union of the anglicised Louis XV style and the contemporaneous neoclassical revival, and is one of a select group of pieces of marquetry furniture that can be confidently attributed to John Cobb and his workshop. They are all designed in the ‘French’ taste and made primarily of satinwood, having central panels of marquetry flowers or fruits in the top. They share also the distinctive cross-banded outlines in contrasting timbers and similar neo-classical inlay.

A lavishly inlaid bombé commode, with pair of torchères en suite, is recorded as having been supplied by Cobb in 1772 to Paul Methuen at Corsham Court in Wiltshire. A bill is preserved at Corsham which describes it as an ‘extra neat inlaid commode’ and this has become the point of reference for subsequent attributions. A near replica of the Corsham commode, apart from certain marquetry detail, has passed through three distinguished collections, those of the 1st Lord Tweedmouth, Col H H Mulliner and the late Lord Leverhulme.

Another, strikingly similar commode, also formerly part of the Tweedmouth collection, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The present table is nearly identical to a pair in the collection of the Earl of Mansfield at Scone Palace, which had previously been at Kenwood House. A pair of card tables with fruit marquetry and a small occasional table on cabriole legs are also members of the group. The neo-classical decoration is common to all, as is the curvaceous, serpentine frieze, flowing in a continuing line to slender cabriole legs, which are often shod with Rococo gilt bronze toes. All these tables are illustrated in the Furniture History Society Journal of 1974.

It is also close in comparison to a side table that Mallett sold in 2011, formerly in the collection of the 5th Marquess of Anglesey, Plas Newydd, Llanfairpwll, North Wales.

The name of John Cobb was well known some years before the likely date of this table, as the partner of William Vile, with whom he operated from 72 St Martin’s Lane from 1750.

Together they became Royal Cabinet-Makers to the King.

The firm was noted for their fine carved mahogany furniture of the early years of George III’s reign, in particular the celebrated jewel cabinet made for Queen Charlotte in 1761. William Vile died in 1767. Thereafter it would appear that Cobb, the surviving partner, began producing furniture in the French manner, successfully interpreting it to accord with current taste. Cobb is recorded as a ‘singularly haughty character’ and ‘one of the proudest men in England’ who appeared in ‘full dress of the most superb and costly kind, strutting through his workshops giving orders to his men’. George III, who ‘smiled at his pomposity’, ‘frequently employed him for cabinet work of the most elaborate and expensive sort’.

LITERATURE

de Serre J., An Inlaid Satinwood Table Country Life, 5 February 1927.

The Journal of the Furniture History Society, 1974, pl 30b and pp52-53, (photograph in the Symonds Collection at the Henry Francis du Pont Museum, Winterthur).

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A GEORGE III MARQUETRY SIDE TABLE A very fine and well-proportioned George III inlaid satinwood side table, the serpentine and cross-banded top with a central oval cartouche banded in tulipwood and inlaid with a bouquet of flowers tied with a ribbon, all set in a flower head and trellis patterned ground, the serpentine apron defined by tulipwood cross-banding and further inlaid with a central oval, with the trellis pattern inside and flanked by swags of bell flowers to the front, with the oval panels repeated on the sides. The table stands on slender cabriole legs, divided by further tulipwood cross-banding into three panels, and terminating in gilt-metal sabots.

Attributed to John Cobb.

England, circa 1775 Height: 35½in/90cm Width: 48in/122cm Depth: 26½in/67cm F3E0044

This beautiful, transitional table displays the very best elements of English and French furniture design combined.

It is a highly refined example of the successful union of the anglicised Louis XV style and the contemporaneous neoclassical revival, and is one of a select group of pieces of marquetry furniture that can be confidently attributed to John Cobb and his workshop. They are all designed in the ‘French’ taste and made primarily of satinwood, having central panels of marquetry flowers or fruits in the top. They share also the distinctive cross-banded outlines in contrasting timbers and similar neo-classical inlay.

A lavishly inlaid bombé commode, with pair of torchères en suite, is recorded as having been supplied by Cobb in 1772 to Paul Methuen at Corsham Court in Wiltshire. A bill is preserved at Corsham which describes it as an ‘extra neat inlaid commode’ and this has become the point of reference for subsequent attributions. A near replica of the Corsham commode, apart from certain marquetry detail, has passed through three distinguished collections, those of the 1st Lord Tweedmouth, Col H H Mulliner and the late Lord Leverhulme.

Another, strikingly similar commode, also formerly part of the Tweedmouth collection, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The present table is nearly identical to a pair in the collection of the Earl of Mansfield at Scone Palace, which had previously been at Kenwood House. A pair of card tables with fruit marquetry and a small occasional table on cabriole legs are also members of the group. The neo-classical decoration is common to all, as is the curvaceous, serpentine frieze, flowing in a continuing line to slender cabriole legs, which are often shod with Rococo gilt bronze toes. All these tables are illustrated in the Furniture History Society Journal of 1974.

It is also close in comparison to a side table that Mallett sold in 2011, formerly in the collection of the 5th Marquess of Anglesey, Plas Newydd, Llanfairpwll, North Wales.

The name of John Cobb was well known some years before the likely date of this table, as the partner of William Vile, with whom he operated from 72 St Martin’s Lane from 1750.

Together they became Royal Cabinet-Makers to the King.

The firm was noted for their fine carved mahogany furniture of the early years of George III’s reign, in particular the celebrated jewel cabinet made for Queen Charlotte in 1761. William Vile died in 1767. Thereafter it would appear that Cobb, the surviving partner, began producing furniture in the French manner, successfully interpreting it to accord with current taste. Cobb is recorded as a ‘singularly haughty character’ and ‘one of the proudest men in England’ who appeared in ‘full dress of the most superb and costly kind, strutting through his workshops giving orders to his men’. George III, who ‘smiled at his pomposity’, ‘frequently employed him for cabinet work of the most elaborate and expensive sort’.

LITERATURE

de Serre J., An Inlaid Satinwood Table Country Life, 5 February 1927.

The Journal of the Furniture History Society, 1974, pl 30b and pp52-53, (photograph in the Symonds Collection at the Henry Francis du Pont Museum, Winterthur).

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III TEA CADDIES A rare pair of George III japanned oval tea caddies, decorated with classical figures in grisaille in the Etruscan style, each with bands of classical anthemions and floral decoration to the lid, each with a solid silver pull handle stamped ‘HC’ and bearing the assay office mark for Birmingham, the gilt metal rimmed tops opening to reveal foil-lined interiors retaining the original japanned lids and each having its original key.

By Henry Clay (fl. 1767-1812) England, circa 1780 Height: 5½in/14cm Width: 4½in/12cm Depth: 3in/7.5cm O3E0043

PROVENANCE

The Earls of Jersey, Osterley Park, Middlesex.

These tea caddies formerly sat on a pembroke table still in situ, made by Henry Clay in the famous Etruscan Room.

Henry Clay (fl.1767-1812) of Birmingham patented ‘new improved paper-ware’ in 1772. His patent specification which lasted until 1802 was: “Making, in Paper, High Varnished Pannels [sic) or Roofs for Coaches, and all Sorts of Wheel Carriages, and Sedan Chairs, Pannels [sic) for Rooms, Doors, and Cabbins [sic] of Ships, Cabinets, Bookcases, Screens, Chimney Pieces, Tables, Teatrays, and Waiters.” This process involved “pasting several papers upon boards... [which are] put in a stove sufficiently hot to deprive them of their flexibility, and at the same time are rubbed over or dipped in oil or varnish, which so immediately drenches into them as to secure them from damps... they are capable of being sawed into different forms, and planed as wood.... then coated with colour and oils sufficient to make the surface even, and then japanned and high varnished.”

her biography of Josiah Wedgwood published in 1873, in relation to Matthew Boulton (quoted in Y.Jones, idib., p.133-134):

The position Clay held in the industry for the manufacture of decorative items is reflected by Eliza Meteyard (1816-1879) in

Clay produced items ranging from small caddies, trays, knife boxes and dressing cases to small pieces of japanned furniture.

During 1775 and the early part of 1776, Boulton seems to have been too occupied in his negotiations with Watt, and with business relative to the steam engine, to take a very active part in his ornamental manufactory. But a man named ‘Clay’ a most ingenious cabinet-maker of Birmingham, was at this time doing much for Wedgwood’s fame, by inserting the cameos in tea caddies, writing desks, dressing cases and similar articles; and so much were these admired, that he soon began to make small dressing and other box lids entirely out of one cameo. These signs of Clay’s exceeding taste and ingenuity induced Boulton to suggest a partnership, but Clay for some reason declined.

Clay moved from London to Birmingham establishing workshops at 18 King Street in Covent Garden, where his array of clients included the Royal Family, becoming ‘Japanner in Ordinary to His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales’. His other clients included numerous members of fashionable society notably Robert Child of Osterley, the Dukes of Bedford, Horace Walpole and Baron Scarsdale of Kedleston.

A few of Clay’s pieces of furniture, particularly the small decorative pieces, bear his impressed stamp including some of those with a wooden carcass, for example a late Henry Clay side cabinet decorated in chinoiserie, sold at Christie’s London, 21 April 1994, lot 137. Clay died a wealthy man in 1812 and the business continued to trade as W Clay & Co until 1860 with a showroom in Fenchurch Street, London.

Clay is known to have adopted the Etruscan-style decoration seen on Shrublands cabinet and indeed a visitor to his workshop in Covent Garden in 1775 reported that he made

boxes, tea-caddies, panels for coaches and sedan-chairs, coffee trays, and ‘... all kinds of other vessels, black with orange figures in the style of Etruscan vases’ (see Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’s Visits to England as described in his Letters and Diaries’, transl. and annot. by M. L. Mare and W. H. Quarrell, 1938). The most celebrated ‘Etruscan’ room is the State Bedroom at Osterley Park, designed by the architect Robert Adam. A table by Clay was among the contents of the Etruscan Dressing Room at Osterley listed in an inventory of 1782, described as ‘A pembroke table richly Japanned by Clay’ (see Maurice Tomlin ‘Catalogue of Adam period Furniture’, 1982, p. 84, cat.no.J/5, illus.). The full extent of the working relationship between Adam and Clay remains unclear but he certainly supplied papier-mache panels decorated with grotesque ornaments for the doors at Kedleston in 1776-7, the design for which, now in the collection of the Soane Museum, (SM 49:51) is inscribed ‘A fair copy sent to Mr Clay at Birmingham’

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III TEA CADDIES A rare pair of George III japanned oval tea caddies, decorated with classical figures in grisaille in the Etruscan style, each with bands of classical anthemions and floral decoration to the lid, each with a solid silver pull handle stamped ‘HC’ and bearing the assay office mark for Birmingham, the gilt metal rimmed tops opening to reveal foil-lined interiors retaining the original japanned lids and each having its original key.

By Henry Clay (fl. 1767-1812) England, circa 1780 Height: 5½in/14cm Width: 4½in/12cm Depth: 3in/7.5cm O3E0043

PROVENANCE

The Earls of Jersey, Osterley Park, Middlesex.

These tea caddies formerly sat on a pembroke table still in situ, made by Henry Clay in the famous Etruscan Room.

Henry Clay (fl.1767-1812) of Birmingham patented ‘new improved paper-ware’ in 1772. His patent specification which lasted until 1802 was: “Making, in Paper, High Varnished Pannels [sic) or Roofs for Coaches, and all Sorts of Wheel Carriages, and Sedan Chairs, Pannels [sic) for Rooms, Doors, and Cabbins [sic] of Ships, Cabinets, Bookcases, Screens, Chimney Pieces, Tables, Teatrays, and Waiters.” This process involved “pasting several papers upon boards... [which are] put in a stove sufficiently hot to deprive them of their flexibility, and at the same time are rubbed over or dipped in oil or varnish, which so immediately drenches into them as to secure them from damps... they are capable of being sawed into different forms, and planed as wood.... then coated with colour and oils sufficient to make the surface even, and then japanned and high varnished.”

her biography of Josiah Wedgwood published in 1873, in relation to Matthew Boulton (quoted in Y.Jones, idib., p.133-134):

The position Clay held in the industry for the manufacture of decorative items is reflected by Eliza Meteyard (1816-1879) in

Clay produced items ranging from small caddies, trays, knife boxes and dressing cases to small pieces of japanned furniture.

During 1775 and the early part of 1776, Boulton seems to have been too occupied in his negotiations with Watt, and with business relative to the steam engine, to take a very active part in his ornamental manufactory. But a man named ‘Clay’ a most ingenious cabinet-maker of Birmingham, was at this time doing much for Wedgwood’s fame, by inserting the cameos in tea caddies, writing desks, dressing cases and similar articles; and so much were these admired, that he soon began to make small dressing and other box lids entirely out of one cameo. These signs of Clay’s exceeding taste and ingenuity induced Boulton to suggest a partnership, but Clay for some reason declined.

Clay moved from London to Birmingham establishing workshops at 18 King Street in Covent Garden, where his array of clients included the Royal Family, becoming ‘Japanner in Ordinary to His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales’. His other clients included numerous members of fashionable society notably Robert Child of Osterley, the Dukes of Bedford, Horace Walpole and Baron Scarsdale of Kedleston.

A few of Clay’s pieces of furniture, particularly the small decorative pieces, bear his impressed stamp including some of those with a wooden carcass, for example a late Henry Clay side cabinet decorated in chinoiserie, sold at Christie’s London, 21 April 1994, lot 137. Clay died a wealthy man in 1812 and the business continued to trade as W Clay & Co until 1860 with a showroom in Fenchurch Street, London.

Clay is known to have adopted the Etruscan-style decoration seen on Shrublands cabinet and indeed a visitor to his workshop in Covent Garden in 1775 reported that he made

boxes, tea-caddies, panels for coaches and sedan-chairs, coffee trays, and ‘... all kinds of other vessels, black with orange figures in the style of Etruscan vases’ (see Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’s Visits to England as described in his Letters and Diaries’, transl. and annot. by M. L. Mare and W. H. Quarrell, 1938). The most celebrated ‘Etruscan’ room is the State Bedroom at Osterley Park, designed by the architect Robert Adam. A table by Clay was among the contents of the Etruscan Dressing Room at Osterley listed in an inventory of 1782, described as ‘A pembroke table richly Japanned by Clay’ (see Maurice Tomlin ‘Catalogue of Adam period Furniture’, 1982, p. 84, cat.no.J/5, illus.). The full extent of the working relationship between Adam and Clay remains unclear but he certainly supplied papier-mache panels decorated with grotesque ornaments for the doors at Kedleston in 1776-7, the design for which, now in the collection of the Soane Museum, (SM 49:51) is inscribed ‘A fair copy sent to Mr Clay at Birmingham’

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A PAIR OF GLASS CANDELABRA

› A PAIR OF GEORGE III PIER GLASSES

A pair of early 19th century cut glass candelabra attributed to John Blades. The three candle arms with two tiers of rule cut drops beneath flat, diamond cut lozenges, with a fine cross cut bobeche. The original gilded metalwork fitments in fine condition.

England, circa 1825

A very fine and important pair of late 18th century George III period carved giltwood pier glasses, the rectangular divided plates within a finely carved guilloche border and stiff leafcarved frame, the corners with palmettes surmounted by a husk-swagged urn issuing foliage, flanked by griffin.

England, circa 1800

The pier glass cresting with arabesque flame-guarding griffins derives from a pattern invented by Robert Adam in 1772 for the Earl of Bute at Luton Park, Bedfordshire and illustrated in the Works of Architecture of Robert and James Adam vol. III, plate XI, 1822. Drawings by the cabinet-makers employed by Robert Adam, William and John Linnell, also feature similar designs.

Height: 17½in/44cm Width: 13in/33cm Depth: 5in/13cm

Height:87in/221cm Width: 40in/101cm

Eydon was built in the early 1790s by the Rev. Charles A. Francis Annesley, a typical 18th century parson squire who established himself in good hunting and shooting country miles away from his living in Somerset. His architect was James Lewis, the author of two volumes of designs for villas and townhouses.

F3E0060 O3C0352 PROVENANCE

Hon. Robert, 1st Baron Bland, Eydon Hall, Northamptonshire, by descent with the house to his daughter the Hon. Virginia, Lady Ford, until sold in situ with the house to Mr. Gerald Leigh, and by descent.

Nancy Lancaster, the great arbiter of country house style, first saw Eydon Hall when she was out riding with the Pytchley Hunt in 1927. She was looking for a house for her aunt, Phyllis, Lady Brand, the younger sister of the famous Nancy, Viscountess Astor, who became Britain’s first woman MP. The hounds had lost the scent so Nancy Lancaster rode up to the house to ask if she could make a telephone call.

She learnt from the butler that it was for sale and promptly rang her aunt to tell her. Phyllis’ husband, the economist Lord Brand, was equally smitten with the house and within months they were living there.

Lord Brand’s daughter, Virginia, inherited the house on his death and lived there in great elegance with her husband, Sir Edward Ford, Assistant Private Secretary to George VI and the Queen. The subsequent owner, Gerald Leigh, acquired the house with these mirrors. He was one of the greatest post war racehorse breeders, establishing the famous Eydon Hall Stud that produced a splendid dynasty of winners developed from the foundation mare ‘Canton Silk’.

LITERATURE

Design for a pier glass by William and John Linnell, featuring similar cresting with flame-guarding griffin. Pen, ink and watercolour, circa 1765

Country Life, Vol. CXLIX, p. 128, 1971.

Hayward, H. and Kirkham, P. William and John Linnell, London 1980, p. 111, fig. 216

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LO N D O N • N E W YO R K

A PAIR OF GLASS CANDELABRA

› A PAIR OF GEORGE III PIER GLASSES

A pair of early 19th century cut glass candelabra attributed to John Blades. The three candle arms with two tiers of rule cut drops beneath flat, diamond cut lozenges, with a fine cross cut bobeche. The original gilded metalwork fitments in fine condition.

England, circa 1825

A very fine and important pair of late 18th century George III period carved giltwood pier glasses, the rectangular divided plates within a finely carved guilloche border and stiff leafcarved frame, the corners with palmettes surmounted by a husk-swagged urn issuing foliage, flanked by griffin.

England, circa 1800

The pier glass cresting with arabesque flame-guarding griffins derives from a pattern invented by Robert Adam in 1772 for the Earl of Bute at Luton Park, Bedfordshire and illustrated in the Works of Architecture of Robert and James Adam vol. III, plate XI, 1822. Drawings by the cabinet-makers employed by Robert Adam, William and John Linnell, also feature similar designs.

Height: 17½in/44cm Width: 13in/33cm Depth: 5in/13cm

Height:87in/221cm Width: 40in/101cm

Eydon was built in the early 1790s by the Rev. Charles A. Francis Annesley, a typical 18th century parson squire who established himself in good hunting and shooting country miles away from his living in Somerset. His architect was James Lewis, the author of two volumes of designs for villas and townhouses.

F3E0060 O3C0352 PROVENANCE

Hon. Robert, 1st Baron Bland, Eydon Hall, Northamptonshire, by descent with the house to his daughter the Hon. Virginia, Lady Ford, until sold in situ with the house to Mr. Gerald Leigh, and by descent.

Nancy Lancaster, the great arbiter of country house style, first saw Eydon Hall when she was out riding with the Pytchley Hunt in 1927. She was looking for a house for her aunt, Phyllis, Lady Brand, the younger sister of the famous Nancy, Viscountess Astor, who became Britain’s first woman MP. The hounds had lost the scent so Nancy Lancaster rode up to the house to ask if she could make a telephone call.

She learnt from the butler that it was for sale and promptly rang her aunt to tell her. Phyllis’ husband, the economist Lord Brand, was equally smitten with the house and within months they were living there.

Lord Brand’s daughter, Virginia, inherited the house on his death and lived there in great elegance with her husband, Sir Edward Ford, Assistant Private Secretary to George VI and the Queen. The subsequent owner, Gerald Leigh, acquired the house with these mirrors. He was one of the greatest post war racehorse breeders, establishing the famous Eydon Hall Stud that produced a splendid dynasty of winners developed from the foundation mare ‘Canton Silk’.

LITERATURE

Design for a pier glass by William and John Linnell, featuring similar cresting with flame-guarding griffin. Pen, ink and watercolour, circa 1765

Country Life, Vol. CXLIX, p. 128, 1971.

Hayward, H. and Kirkham, P. William and John Linnell, London 1980, p. 111, fig. 216

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› A PAIR OF GEORGE I WALNUT STOOLS

A PAIR OF BRASS WALL LANTERNS A pair of late 19th century brass and steel portable wall lanterns by, and stamped, Davey of London.

England, circa 1890 Height: 16in/41cm Width: 8½in/22cm Depth: 7in/18cm L3E0002

The historic firm of Davey & Co were founded in 1885 in the City of London before moving to the heart of the London docklands where they were then based for 120 years. Manufacturers of the finest traditional marine equipment, their expertise lay in combining the requirements of industrial construction, with elegant design and high quality metalwork.

In the early 20th century, during the golden age of liner travel, the firm were commissioned by many of the finest vessels, later supplying the growing market for simple maritime influenced design, which became increasingly popular in interior decoration.

A pair of George I carved walnut stools of rare oval shape, the drop in seats upholstered with period needlework decorated with floral displays, the curved seat rails with richly-figured walnut veneers, finished with an ovolo bead to position the seats, standing on cabriole legs with carved lappets terminating in pad feet.

England, circa 1725 Height: 17in/34cm Width: 21½in/55cm Depth: 16in/41cm PROVENANCE

Jessie Woolworth Donahue Collection.

Sold Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 28 April 1972, lot 376.

Private UK collection F3E0094

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› A PAIR OF GEORGE I WALNUT STOOLS

A PAIR OF BRASS WALL LANTERNS A pair of late 19th century brass and steel portable wall lanterns by, and stamped, Davey of London.

England, circa 1890 Height: 16in/41cm Width: 8½in/22cm Depth: 7in/18cm L3E0002

The historic firm of Davey & Co were founded in 1885 in the City of London before moving to the heart of the London docklands where they were then based for 120 years. Manufacturers of the finest traditional marine equipment, their expertise lay in combining the requirements of industrial construction, with elegant design and high quality metalwork.

In the early 20th century, during the golden age of liner travel, the firm were commissioned by many of the finest vessels, later supplying the growing market for simple maritime influenced design, which became increasingly popular in interior decoration.

A pair of George I carved walnut stools of rare oval shape, the drop in seats upholstered with period needlework decorated with floral displays, the curved seat rails with richly-figured walnut veneers, finished with an ovolo bead to position the seats, standing on cabriole legs with carved lappets terminating in pad feet.

England, circa 1725 Height: 17in/34cm Width: 21½in/55cm Depth: 16in/41cm PROVENANCE

Jessie Woolworth Donahue Collection.

Sold Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 28 April 1972, lot 376.

Private UK collection F3E0094

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A PAIR OF CHINESE EXPORT COFFEE POTS A pair of early 18th century Yongzheng porcelain coffee pots, the cylindrical body with blue and white trailing flowers having rich orange and gold peonies in a stylised garden landscape. The handle and spout in the stylised form of the head and tail of a dragon.

One spout restored.

China, circa 1730 Height: 14in/36cm Diameter: 7in/18cm O3E0090

› A PAIR OF NORTH ITALIAN COMMODES An exceptional pair of late 18th century tulipwood and marquetry two drawer commodes, each drawer having a central foliate marquetry patera and a border of scrolling foliate ornament on an ebony ground. The sides have quartered veneers with a large scale patera at the centre and a large scale foliate border set in ebony. The legs are square and tapering and terminate in a gilt bronze sabot and are inlaid with elegant stringing.

Italy, circa 1780 Height: 37in/93.5cm Width: 51½in/130.5cm Depth: 25½in/64.5cm F3B0396

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A PAIR OF CHINESE EXPORT COFFEE POTS A pair of early 18th century Yongzheng porcelain coffee pots, the cylindrical body with blue and white trailing flowers having rich orange and gold peonies in a stylised garden landscape. The handle and spout in the stylised form of the head and tail of a dragon.

One spout restored.

China, circa 1730 Height: 14in/36cm Diameter: 7in/18cm O3E0090

› A PAIR OF NORTH ITALIAN COMMODES An exceptional pair of late 18th century tulipwood and marquetry two drawer commodes, each drawer having a central foliate marquetry patera and a border of scrolling foliate ornament on an ebony ground. The sides have quartered veneers with a large scale patera at the centre and a large scale foliate border set in ebony. The legs are square and tapering and terminate in a gilt bronze sabot and are inlaid with elegant stringing.

Italy, circa 1780 Height: 37in/93.5cm Width: 51½in/130.5cm Depth: 25½in/64.5cm F3B0396

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A RARE LACQUER DRESSING MIRROR An exceptionally rare mid 18th century black and gilt lacquered dressing mirror. The original mirror plate with reverse glass painting with birds and floral decoration. The mirror within a decorative black and gilt lacquer frame with shaped cresting.

Having two serpentine drawers underneath, and the bottom with two deeper drawers. Decorated overall with gilt chinoiserie and fantasy floral landscapes within lined and elaborately patterned borders.

China, circa 1760 Height: 31½in/80cm Width: 16½in/42.5cm Depth: 12in/31cm F3E0021

Eighteenth century dressing mirrors were often quite plain with a simple frame, a dressing mirror with such elaborate decoration and arrangement of drawers would have been a sumptuous addition to the closet of any fashionable lady.

The technique of painting on glass in China is most often accredited to the Jesuit missionary Father Castiglione (16881766) who arrived in Peking in 1715, although the technique of 'back-painting' was already established in Europe. The mirror or glass plates were often imported from the West where the artist would remove the mercury backing in the areas to be decorated and then paint his design in reverse.

Following the stark classicism of the early 18th century, there was a desire in Europe for the whimsy and fantasy of the Orient. Imported lacquer, like porcelain, silk and spices, caused a sensation throughout Europe and dramatically increased the volume of international trade. Interiors that still demonstrate this desire for 'Chinoiserie' include Saltram in Devon, Claydon in Buckinghamshire and the Pavilion in Drottningholm, Sweden.

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A RARE LACQUER DRESSING MIRROR An exceptionally rare mid 18th century black and gilt lacquered dressing mirror. The original mirror plate with reverse glass painting with birds and floral decoration. The mirror within a decorative black and gilt lacquer frame with shaped cresting.

Having two serpentine drawers underneath, and the bottom with two deeper drawers. Decorated overall with gilt chinoiserie and fantasy floral landscapes within lined and elaborately patterned borders.

China, circa 1760 Height: 31½in/80cm Width: 16½in/42.5cm Depth: 12in/31cm F3E0021

Eighteenth century dressing mirrors were often quite plain with a simple frame, a dressing mirror with such elaborate decoration and arrangement of drawers would have been a sumptuous addition to the closet of any fashionable lady.

The technique of painting on glass in China is most often accredited to the Jesuit missionary Father Castiglione (16881766) who arrived in Peking in 1715, although the technique of 'back-painting' was already established in Europe. The mirror or glass plates were often imported from the West where the artist would remove the mercury backing in the areas to be decorated and then paint his design in reverse.

Following the stark classicism of the early 18th century, there was a desire in Europe for the whimsy and fantasy of the Orient. Imported lacquer, like porcelain, silk and spices, caused a sensation throughout Europe and dramatically increased the volume of international trade. Interiors that still demonstrate this desire for 'Chinoiserie' include Saltram in Devon, Claydon in Buckinghamshire and the Pavilion in Drottningholm, Sweden.

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A PAIR OF REGENCY TOLE LAMPS A pair of early 19th century Regency tôle lamps, the cylindrical bodies decorated with gilded classical muses on a green ground with panels of faux porphyry and musical trophies all supporting engraved glass hurricane shades.

England, circa 1810 Height: 32in/81cm Width: 8in/20cm Depth: 8in/20cm

› A PAIR OF REGENCY LIBRARY CHAIRS A pair of Regency period mahogany library chairs of grand scale, the arched backs with carved scroll and leaf decoration flanking figured mahogany veneers, the reeded downswept arms resting on tapered column supports, on reeded front legs and brass castors.

England, circa 1820 Height: 40½in/103.5cm Width: 27in/68cm Depth: 30½in/78cm

L3C0240 F3D0309

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A PAIR OF REGENCY TOLE LAMPS A pair of early 19th century Regency tôle lamps, the cylindrical bodies decorated with gilded classical muses on a green ground with panels of faux porphyry and musical trophies all supporting engraved glass hurricane shades.

England, circa 1810 Height: 32in/81cm Width: 8in/20cm Depth: 8in/20cm

› A PAIR OF REGENCY LIBRARY CHAIRS A pair of Regency period mahogany library chairs of grand scale, the arched backs with carved scroll and leaf decoration flanking figured mahogany veneers, the reeded downswept arms resting on tapered column supports, on reeded front legs and brass castors.

England, circa 1820 Height: 40½in/103.5cm Width: 27in/68cm Depth: 30½in/78cm

L3C0240 F3D0309

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A 17TH CENTURY OAK FRAME A very unusual late 17th century stained oak frame, carved profusely throughout with stylised interwoven foliage.

France, circa 1695 Height: 23½in/60cm Width: 20¾in/53cm Depth: 1½in/4cm O3E0047

› A PAIR OF NEAPOLITAN COMMODES A rare pair of mid 18th century Neapolitan painted bombé commodes with marble tops, each having two drawers decorated 'sans travers’ with foliate scrolls and swags on a pale green background. The scroll legs terminating in gilt sabots. The handles are period replacements, the marble tops are original.

Italy, circa 1760 Height: 34in/86.5cm Width: 48½in/123.5cm Depth: 24in/61cm F3C0168

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A 17TH CENTURY OAK FRAME A very unusual late 17th century stained oak frame, carved profusely throughout with stylised interwoven foliage.

France, circa 1695 Height: 23½in/60cm Width: 20¾in/53cm Depth: 1½in/4cm O3E0047

› A PAIR OF NEAPOLITAN COMMODES A rare pair of mid 18th century Neapolitan painted bombé commodes with marble tops, each having two drawers decorated 'sans travers’ with foliate scrolls and swags on a pale green background. The scroll legs terminating in gilt sabots. The handles are period replacements, the marble tops are original.

Italy, circa 1760 Height: 34in/86.5cm Width: 48½in/123.5cm Depth: 24in/61cm F3C0168

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THE BUXTED PARK CONSOLE TABLE An important George II carved giltwood side table, attributed to Matthias Lock, the deeply fluted frieze with an upper leaf border issuing swags of finely carved leaves and flowers between scallop shells centred by a bearded classical mask depicting Jupiter adorned with acanthus decoration, on eight elaborately carved and scrolling cabriole legs terminating in claw and ball feet.

The marble top a later replacement.

England, circa 1745 Height: 36in/91cm Width: 56in/14.5cm Depth: 29in/74cm F3C0289

PROVENANCE

The Ionides Collection, property of the late The Hon. Mrs Nellie Ionides, Buxted Park, 1963, Sotheby & Co, 31 May 1963, Important English Furniture Part 1. Removed from Buxted Park.

With Mallett 1966 Private UK collection

LITERATURE

For a comparative example see: An Important George II Giltwood and Black-Painted Side Table – Lot 64, Sotheby & Co Sale of Highly Important English Furniture, The property of The Right Hon. The Earl Poulett, removed from Hinton House, Somerset, 1 November 1968.

A sketch for a side table with six legs by Matthias Lock, The Victoria and Albert Museum, 2610, the George Lock Collection.

A carved giltwood side table attributed to Matthias Lock after this design and with six legs in the Earl of Dartmouth’s collection, photographed in Chippendale Furniture by Anthony Coleridge, pl.94.

Hayward J.F., Furniture Designed and Carved by Matthias Lock for Hinton House, Somerset, Connoisseur, December 1960, pp.284-6.

Roger Sayer, author of Household Furniture in Genteel Taste (1760), proclaimed, ‘the famous Mr Matt Lock… was reputed the best Draftsman in that way had ever been in England.’

He included Lock’s engravings in his publication as a tribute to his inventive designs.

Sayer’s claims about Lock’s skills as a draftsman were not unfounded—Lock produced several publications of his inventive designs. He first published Six Sconces in 1744 followed by Six Tables in 1746, A Book of Ornaments in 1747, and he then published A New Book of Ornaments in collaboration with Henry Copland in 1752. The designs in these publications were instrumental in shifting taste away from the classical style of William Kent toward a more ‘modern’ taste that reflected the influence of French Rococo design. Straight lines were replaced with serpentine curves and the decorative elements were embellished. Lock influenced the major furniture makers of his day, including Thomas Chippendale.

Matthias Lock learned his craft as an apprentice to his father, also named Matthias, who was a joiner, and Richard Goldsaddle, the carver, in 1724. He was working independently by the 1740s when he also began publishing his designs, as mentioned above. He first worked at Nottingham Court, Castle Street, Longacre and then moved ‘near the Swan, Tottenham Court Road.’

The Mallett table reflects the finest qualities of Lock’s design capabilities, relating closely to several of Lock’s drawings and designs now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. One such design is remarkably similar to the Mallett example. It features a similar leg arrangement with swags of flowers draped across the front of the table.

Another Lock design shows two versions of a pier table.

The top table features egg-and-dart decoration with a deeply fluted frieze running beneath it, which also appears on the Mallett example. The design of the second table includes additional legs at the front corner and the mask of Hercules draped with the skin of the Nemean lion. The Mallett example substitutes the mask of Hercules for the mask of Jupiter, king of the gods. Jupiter is the ideal representation of the glory of classical antiquity. His imposing and distinguished visage is surrounded by a profusion of foliage that crowns his face.

James Hall describes Jupiter as the god who has ‘noble features framed by the ambrosial locks that made Olympus shake when he nodded.’ Lock often included Jupiter in his decorative schemes. In Matthias Lock’s publication Six Tables, Plate 2 depicts a pier table with a similar bearded figure that can also be identified as Jupiter.

The most strikingly similar table is the Hinton House side table. The 2nd Earl Poulett was one of Lock’s most prominent patrons. Lock was hired 1743 to design furniture for Hinton House when he inherited it from his father. Both the Hinton table and the Mallett table feature eight legs, floral swags, scallop shells, and a central mask. The Earl of Dartmouth also has a similar table after the same design by Lock.

A table at the Metropolitan Museum of Art attributed to Lock also features similarities with the Mallett example. The Metropolitan Museum’s table features drapery and a mask of Hercules. This table features swags and classical imagery, but

it has a more massive quality than the table at Mallett as it features more robust scrolled legs on a plinth. There are similar versions of the Metropolitan Museum table at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire, Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire, and Temple Newsam House, Leeds.

A table in the manner of Matthias Lock at Mallett in 1968 also shows Jupiter’s mask as the central element of decoration, he is flanked by two eagles and festooned with swags of acanthus and Roman foliage. Similarly, the Mallett table utilises the acanthus and foliage to create a remarkably three-dimensional quality.

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THE BUXTED PARK CONSOLE TABLE An important George II carved giltwood side table, attributed to Matthias Lock, the deeply fluted frieze with an upper leaf border issuing swags of finely carved leaves and flowers between scallop shells centred by a bearded classical mask depicting Jupiter adorned with acanthus decoration, on eight elaborately carved and scrolling cabriole legs terminating in claw and ball feet.

The marble top a later replacement.

England, circa 1745 Height: 36in/91cm Width: 56in/14.5cm Depth: 29in/74cm F3C0289

PROVENANCE

The Ionides Collection, property of the late The Hon. Mrs Nellie Ionides, Buxted Park, 1963, Sotheby & Co, 31 May 1963, Important English Furniture Part 1. Removed from Buxted Park.

With Mallett 1966 Private UK collection

LITERATURE

For a comparative example see: An Important George II Giltwood and Black-Painted Side Table – Lot 64, Sotheby & Co Sale of Highly Important English Furniture, The property of The Right Hon. The Earl Poulett, removed from Hinton House, Somerset, 1 November 1968.

A sketch for a side table with six legs by Matthias Lock, The Victoria and Albert Museum, 2610, the George Lock Collection.

A carved giltwood side table attributed to Matthias Lock after this design and with six legs in the Earl of Dartmouth’s collection, photographed in Chippendale Furniture by Anthony Coleridge, pl.94.

Hayward J.F., Furniture Designed and Carved by Matthias Lock for Hinton House, Somerset, Connoisseur, December 1960, pp.284-6.

Roger Sayer, author of Household Furniture in Genteel Taste (1760), proclaimed, ‘the famous Mr Matt Lock… was reputed the best Draftsman in that way had ever been in England.’

He included Lock’s engravings in his publication as a tribute to his inventive designs.

Sayer’s claims about Lock’s skills as a draftsman were not unfounded—Lock produced several publications of his inventive designs. He first published Six Sconces in 1744 followed by Six Tables in 1746, A Book of Ornaments in 1747, and he then published A New Book of Ornaments in collaboration with Henry Copland in 1752. The designs in these publications were instrumental in shifting taste away from the classical style of William Kent toward a more ‘modern’ taste that reflected the influence of French Rococo design. Straight lines were replaced with serpentine curves and the decorative elements were embellished. Lock influenced the major furniture makers of his day, including Thomas Chippendale.

Matthias Lock learned his craft as an apprentice to his father, also named Matthias, who was a joiner, and Richard Goldsaddle, the carver, in 1724. He was working independently by the 1740s when he also began publishing his designs, as mentioned above. He first worked at Nottingham Court, Castle Street, Longacre and then moved ‘near the Swan, Tottenham Court Road.’

The Mallett table reflects the finest qualities of Lock’s design capabilities, relating closely to several of Lock’s drawings and designs now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. One such design is remarkably similar to the Mallett example. It features a similar leg arrangement with swags of flowers draped across the front of the table.

Another Lock design shows two versions of a pier table.

The top table features egg-and-dart decoration with a deeply fluted frieze running beneath it, which also appears on the Mallett example. The design of the second table includes additional legs at the front corner and the mask of Hercules draped with the skin of the Nemean lion. The Mallett example substitutes the mask of Hercules for the mask of Jupiter, king of the gods. Jupiter is the ideal representation of the glory of classical antiquity. His imposing and distinguished visage is surrounded by a profusion of foliage that crowns his face.

James Hall describes Jupiter as the god who has ‘noble features framed by the ambrosial locks that made Olympus shake when he nodded.’ Lock often included Jupiter in his decorative schemes. In Matthias Lock’s publication Six Tables, Plate 2 depicts a pier table with a similar bearded figure that can also be identified as Jupiter.

The most strikingly similar table is the Hinton House side table. The 2nd Earl Poulett was one of Lock’s most prominent patrons. Lock was hired 1743 to design furniture for Hinton House when he inherited it from his father. Both the Hinton table and the Mallett table feature eight legs, floral swags, scallop shells, and a central mask. The Earl of Dartmouth also has a similar table after the same design by Lock.

A table at the Metropolitan Museum of Art attributed to Lock also features similarities with the Mallett example. The Metropolitan Museum’s table features drapery and a mask of Hercules. This table features swags and classical imagery, but

it has a more massive quality than the table at Mallett as it features more robust scrolled legs on a plinth. There are similar versions of the Metropolitan Museum table at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire, Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire, and Temple Newsam House, Leeds.

A table in the manner of Matthias Lock at Mallett in 1968 also shows Jupiter’s mask as the central element of decoration, he is flanked by two eagles and festooned with swags of acanthus and Roman foliage. Similarly, the Mallett table utilises the acanthus and foliage to create a remarkably three-dimensional quality.

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A PAIR OF ALABASTER URNS A pair of early 19th century carved alabaster marble urns of particularly fine marking, in the neo-classical style, with flared openings and gadrooned decoration to the body, the swept handles carved with satyr’s masks, the circular bases resting on square plinths.

One handle restored.

Italy, circa 1800 Height: 19½in/50cm Diameter: 13in/32.5cm O3E0028

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A PAIR OF ALABASTER URNS A pair of early 19th century carved alabaster marble urns of particularly fine marking, in the neo-classical style, with flared openings and gadrooned decoration to the body, the swept handles carved with satyr’s masks, the circular bases resting on square plinths.

One handle restored.

Italy, circa 1800 Height: 19½in/50cm Diameter: 13in/32.5cm O3E0028

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A GEORGE III NEEDLEWORK MAP A charming oval George III silk needlework map of England and Wales by Elizabeth Waghorn, the outlines of counties worked in coloured wools against an open cotton background, set within a broad vermiculated border with floral detailing, the whole in an oval walnut frame.

Signed and dated England, 1800.

Height: 27in/69cm Width: 22½in/58cm Depth: 3in/8cm T3E0093

› A PAIR OF PARCEL GILT MIRRORS A charming pair of late 18th century neo-classical parcel gilt Genoese mirrors, the cresting surmounted by a ribbon-tied wreath supporting a garland of flowers tied at each end. The frame painted in a stone colour and gilded, with central carving of a continuous string of husks, at the base of each an entwined bough finished at each end with a knotted ribbon, supporting swags of husks and a central cabochon, carved with ears of grain.

Each retaining the original mirror plates and bronze candle holders.

Italy, circa 1770 Height: 44in/112cm Width: 27½in/70cm Depth: 6in/15cm F3D0284

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A GEORGE III NEEDLEWORK MAP A charming oval George III silk needlework map of England and Wales by Elizabeth Waghorn, the outlines of counties worked in coloured wools against an open cotton background, set within a broad vermiculated border with floral detailing, the whole in an oval walnut frame.

Signed and dated England, 1800.

Height: 27in/69cm Width: 22½in/58cm Depth: 3in/8cm T3E0093

› A PAIR OF PARCEL GILT MIRRORS A charming pair of late 18th century neo-classical parcel gilt Genoese mirrors, the cresting surmounted by a ribbon-tied wreath supporting a garland of flowers tied at each end. The frame painted in a stone colour and gilded, with central carving of a continuous string of husks, at the base of each an entwined bough finished at each end with a knotted ribbon, supporting swags of husks and a central cabochon, carved with ears of grain.

Each retaining the original mirror plates and bronze candle holders.

Italy, circa 1770 Height: 44in/112cm Width: 27½in/70cm Depth: 6in/15cm F3D0284

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A TULIPWARE CHARGER

A PAIR OF SCAGLIOLA COLUMNS

A rare Hanoverian slipware marriage plate, the brown ground with cream and green stylised artichokes surrounded by an interlocking serpentine border.

Dated ‘ANNO 1689 H H’.

Germany, 1689

A pair of early 19th century scagliola columns, the wellpatinated surface simulating a fine aged yellow breccia marble, the shafts each having a slight entasis and with moulded bases, resting on separate square block plinths.

Italy, circa 1800

Height: 2½in/6cm Diameter: 18in/46cm

Height: 40½in/102.5cm Diameter: 9in/23cm

O3E0045

F3D0220

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A TULIPWARE CHARGER

A PAIR OF SCAGLIOLA COLUMNS

A rare Hanoverian slipware marriage plate, the brown ground with cream and green stylised artichokes surrounded by an interlocking serpentine border.

Dated ‘ANNO 1689 H H’.

Germany, 1689

A pair of early 19th century scagliola columns, the wellpatinated surface simulating a fine aged yellow breccia marble, the shafts each having a slight entasis and with moulded bases, resting on separate square block plinths.

Italy, circa 1800

Height: 2½in/6cm Diameter: 18in/46cm

Height: 40½in/102.5cm Diameter: 9in/23cm

O3E0045

F3D0220

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A CHINESE EXPORT GAMES TABLE An early 19th century Chinese export games table in black and gold lacquer depicting a court scene within a watery landscape.

The central panel is framed within an abstract serpentine border surrounded by foliate designs, with depictions of stylised instruments and insects with lozenges at each corner containing exotic animals. This palace scene depicts courtly figures waiting on a central table, a motif which is repeated in the decoration around each side. The table is fitted with three drawers at the front and a hidden mechanism releases the top panel to reveal a backgammon and checkers board in black, silver, and red lacquer. The table is supported on a birdcage mechanism and finely turned column, terminating in a tripod base ending in gilded lion’s paw feet with fan cresting.

China, circa 1800 Height: 30in/76cm Width: 26in/66cm Depth: 21½in/55cm F3D0224

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A CHINESE EXPORT GAMES TABLE An early 19th century Chinese export games table in black and gold lacquer depicting a court scene within a watery landscape.

The central panel is framed within an abstract serpentine border surrounded by foliate designs, with depictions of stylised instruments and insects with lozenges at each corner containing exotic animals. This palace scene depicts courtly figures waiting on a central table, a motif which is repeated in the decoration around each side. The table is fitted with three drawers at the front and a hidden mechanism releases the top panel to reveal a backgammon and checkers board in black, silver, and red lacquer. The table is supported on a birdcage mechanism and finely turned column, terminating in a tripod base ending in gilded lion’s paw feet with fan cresting.

China, circa 1800 Height: 30in/76cm Width: 26in/66cm Depth: 21½in/55cm F3D0224

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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY STOOL A finely proportioned mid 18th century George III carved mahogany stool, the seat covered in contemporary petit point needlework depicting a bouquet of flowers tied with a ribbon, against a dark blue ground, the boldly-carved cabriole legs with foliate acanthus decoration to the knees, terminating in ‘french’ scroll feet.

England, circa 1765 Height: 17½in/45cm Width: 26½in/67cm Depth: 18in/46cm F3E0011

PROVENANCE

A Private Collection.

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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY STOOL A finely proportioned mid 18th century George III carved mahogany stool, the seat covered in contemporary petit point needlework depicting a bouquet of flowers tied with a ribbon, against a dark blue ground, the boldly-carved cabriole legs with foliate acanthus decoration to the knees, terminating in ‘french’ scroll feet.

England, circa 1765 Height: 17½in/45cm Width: 26½in/67cm Depth: 18in/46cm F3E0011

PROVENANCE

A Private Collection.

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A QING DYNASTY CANTON ENAMEL BASIN A Yongzheng period Canton enamel basin profusely decorated with famille rose enamelling of butterflies amongst floral sprays against a white ground, the interior with four vignettes of flowers, the exterior similarly decorated and the rim of alternating coloured bands.

China, circa 1725 Height: 3in/7cm Diameter: 12in/31cm O3E0038

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A QING DYNASTY CANTON ENAMEL BASIN A Yongzheng period Canton enamel basin profusely decorated with famille rose enamelling of butterflies amongst floral sprays against a white ground, the interior with four vignettes of flowers, the exterior similarly decorated and the rim of alternating coloured bands.

China, circa 1725 Height: 3in/7cm Diameter: 12in/31cm O3E0038

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A 19TH CENTURY CABINET ON STAND An early 19th century Chinese export miniature table cabinet on stand. The shaped corners centred with Prince of Wales feathers above two panelled doors, opening to reveal a stylised temple interior with pierced screen drawers, and a series of small drawers and a long drawer below a stepped slide. The fall front bureau opening to reveal pigeon holes, six small drawers and one long drawer, the lower section with two further long drawers. The whole cabinet in superb Canton lacquer, the black ground with gilded trees, pavilions, birds and insects.

China, circa 1825 Height: 69½in/177cm Width: 22in/56cm Depth: 15½in/39.5cm F3E0097

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A 19TH CENTURY CABINET ON STAND An early 19th century Chinese export miniature table cabinet on stand. The shaped corners centred with Prince of Wales feathers above two panelled doors, opening to reveal a stylised temple interior with pierced screen drawers, and a series of small drawers and a long drawer below a stepped slide. The fall front bureau opening to reveal pigeon holes, six small drawers and one long drawer, the lower section with two further long drawers. The whole cabinet in superb Canton lacquer, the black ground with gilded trees, pavilions, birds and insects.

China, circa 1825 Height: 69½in/177cm Width: 22in/56cm Depth: 15½in/39.5cm F3E0097

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AN IRISH DOUBLE BACK SETTEE A fine mid 18th century George II double chair back settee, the shaped top rail with carved foliate decoration; the double splats with intertwining ‘C’ scrolls, diamonds and a double eight. The arms with scrolled hand holds all above square chamfered legs and rails inset with geometric carved decoration. The drop-in seat now covered in green silk.

Ireland, circa 1750 Height: 39in/98.5cm Width: 48in/121.5cm Depth: 21in/53cm F3D0260

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AN IRISH DOUBLE BACK SETTEE A fine mid 18th century George II double chair back settee, the shaped top rail with carved foliate decoration; the double splats with intertwining ‘C’ scrolls, diamonds and a double eight. The arms with scrolled hand holds all above square chamfered legs and rails inset with geometric carved decoration. The drop-in seat now covered in green silk.

Ireland, circa 1750 Height: 39in/98.5cm Width: 48in/121.5cm Depth: 21in/53cm F3D0260

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A RARE CHINESE LACQUER SCREEN A very rare early 19th century six fold lacquer screen, the six leaves richly embellished with applied ivory stained in warm tones of red, blue and grey, depicting scenes from the Ming Dynasty novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with a continuous scene of three rafts with military generals, most notably Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Liu Bei, and Zhuge Liang, accompanied by attendants, flag-bearers and boatmen, and three further rafts with groups of refugees loading goods. The six lower panels having various dramatic scenes from the novel such as saving Lady Mi and child A’dou, Wei Yan interrupting Zhuge Liang’s meditations to prolong his life, Zhuge Liang on top of the walls taunting Sima Yi to attack, presenting the head of General Zhang Fei at a doorway, Zhang Fei fighting on horseback and conversing with a scholar in a grove, all on a red lacquer ground with gilt painted details; the reverse lacquered black and painted with groups of red and yellow flowers and double gourds with green leaves.

China, circa 1820 Six panels, each one: Height: 67½in/171cm Width: 15½in/39cm F3E0004

The screen depicts the events surrounding the battle of Changban (AD 208) fought between the two warlords Cao Cao and Liu Bei. In the famous Ming novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the battle was romanticised as an example of bravery and benevolence to the people.

It was during this era of civil war that the warlord Liu Bei was leading thousands of civilians with him to safety.

Although the thousands of refugees and their carts slowed down his force, he refused to abandon them to the enemy.

For this, Liu Bei was greatly respected by the people.

Instead he ordered his general, Guan Yu (who can be recognised on the screen from his red face and halberd), to sail ahead down the Han river with a detachment of troops where they would rendezvous.

However, the warlord Cao Cao caught up with Liu Bei at Changban, where Liu was defeated and barely managed to escape. He was separated from his wife Lady Mi and infant son A’dou during the chaos. In one of the lower panels, we can see his loyal retainer Zhao Yun charging through enemy lines in search of Liu Bei’s family. He eventually found Lady Mi and A’dou beside a well, whereupon Lady Mi was happy to see Zhao Yun and entrusted A’dou to him. Lady Mi then threw herself in a well to avoid becoming a hostage.

Another panel shows the retainer Wei Yan rushing in to inform the great military strategist Zhuge Liang of the situation of the campaign. At the same time however, Zhuge Liang was seriously ill and meditating to prolong his life.

Zhuge Liang’s genius for military strategy may be exemplified with a story that is also found on the lower panels. According to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang had recently captured a walled city but was not strong enough to keep it from the warlord Sima Yi. Zhuge Liang knowing Sima Yi to be suspicious by nature, ordered the gates of his city to be opened and unguarded, while he himself pretended to be drunk on the walls. Sima Yi seeing the open door as well as Zhuge Liang’s strange behaviour, believed it to be a trap and so retreated; the city was saved. This became known as ‘The Ruse of the Empty City’ which is a popular theme in Beijing operas to this day.

It is very unusual to find a screen depicting such a complex narrative; this screen utilises the ancient technique of combining different episodes from a single story, thus providing a visually dramatic re-telling particularly suited to complex battle scenes. It is also extremely rare to find such lively individual figural carvings. Related figures in the British Museum were designed for application to a screen and each dated to the 18th/early 19th century (see W. Watson (ed.)

Chinese Ivories from the Shang to the Qing, London, 1984, no.165-168).

A related twelve-leaf screen with inlaid ivory showing a single wide landscape scene of Guangdong is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasure of the Palace Museum: Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, no.197. Other screens inlaid with ivory can be found in the Qing Court Collection, but much smaller and designed to sit atop tables, and depicting more peaceful pursuits.

PROVENANCE

Acquired by J. W. Jagger in Peking, early 1920’s.

John Sparks Ltd – Royal Warrant holders from the late Queen Mary, London 1982.

EXHIBITED

According to the Sparks invoice, the screen was on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London between 1965-1981.

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A RARE CHINESE LACQUER SCREEN A very rare early 19th century six fold lacquer screen, the six leaves richly embellished with applied ivory stained in warm tones of red, blue and grey, depicting scenes from the Ming Dynasty novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with a continuous scene of three rafts with military generals, most notably Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Liu Bei, and Zhuge Liang, accompanied by attendants, flag-bearers and boatmen, and three further rafts with groups of refugees loading goods. The six lower panels having various dramatic scenes from the novel such as saving Lady Mi and child A’dou, Wei Yan interrupting Zhuge Liang’s meditations to prolong his life, Zhuge Liang on top of the walls taunting Sima Yi to attack, presenting the head of General Zhang Fei at a doorway, Zhang Fei fighting on horseback and conversing with a scholar in a grove, all on a red lacquer ground with gilt painted details; the reverse lacquered black and painted with groups of red and yellow flowers and double gourds with green leaves.

China, circa 1820 Six panels, each one: Height: 67½in/171cm Width: 15½in/39cm F3E0004

The screen depicts the events surrounding the battle of Changban (AD 208) fought between the two warlords Cao Cao and Liu Bei. In the famous Ming novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the battle was romanticised as an example of bravery and benevolence to the people.

It was during this era of civil war that the warlord Liu Bei was leading thousands of civilians with him to safety.

Although the thousands of refugees and their carts slowed down his force, he refused to abandon them to the enemy.

For this, Liu Bei was greatly respected by the people.

Instead he ordered his general, Guan Yu (who can be recognised on the screen from his red face and halberd), to sail ahead down the Han river with a detachment of troops where they would rendezvous.

However, the warlord Cao Cao caught up with Liu Bei at Changban, where Liu was defeated and barely managed to escape. He was separated from his wife Lady Mi and infant son A’dou during the chaos. In one of the lower panels, we can see his loyal retainer Zhao Yun charging through enemy lines in search of Liu Bei’s family. He eventually found Lady Mi and A’dou beside a well, whereupon Lady Mi was happy to see Zhao Yun and entrusted A’dou to him. Lady Mi then threw herself in a well to avoid becoming a hostage.

Another panel shows the retainer Wei Yan rushing in to inform the great military strategist Zhuge Liang of the situation of the campaign. At the same time however, Zhuge Liang was seriously ill and meditating to prolong his life.

Zhuge Liang’s genius for military strategy may be exemplified with a story that is also found on the lower panels. According to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang had recently captured a walled city but was not strong enough to keep it from the warlord Sima Yi. Zhuge Liang knowing Sima Yi to be suspicious by nature, ordered the gates of his city to be opened and unguarded, while he himself pretended to be drunk on the walls. Sima Yi seeing the open door as well as Zhuge Liang’s strange behaviour, believed it to be a trap and so retreated; the city was saved. This became known as ‘The Ruse of the Empty City’ which is a popular theme in Beijing operas to this day.

It is very unusual to find a screen depicting such a complex narrative; this screen utilises the ancient technique of combining different episodes from a single story, thus providing a visually dramatic re-telling particularly suited to complex battle scenes. It is also extremely rare to find such lively individual figural carvings. Related figures in the British Museum were designed for application to a screen and each dated to the 18th/early 19th century (see W. Watson (ed.)

Chinese Ivories from the Shang to the Qing, London, 1984, no.165-168).

A related twelve-leaf screen with inlaid ivory showing a single wide landscape scene of Guangdong is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasure of the Palace Museum: Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, no.197. Other screens inlaid with ivory can be found in the Qing Court Collection, but much smaller and designed to sit atop tables, and depicting more peaceful pursuits.

PROVENANCE

Acquired by J. W. Jagger in Peking, early 1920’s.

John Sparks Ltd – Royal Warrant holders from the late Queen Mary, London 1982.

EXHIBITED

According to the Sparks invoice, the screen was on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London between 1965-1981.

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A GEORGE I GILT GESSO MIRROR

AN 18TH CENTURY ENAMEL TEAPOT

A fine George I mirror, with a later plate surrounded by a scalloped-design gilt gesso frame with foliate motifs drawn on a punched ground, all surmounted by a finely carved shell.

England, circa 1725

A fine Qianlong period Canton teapot brightly enamelled with floral decoration framing four scenes of birds nesting in trees surrounded by foliage and butterflies.

China, circa 1740

Height: 44in/112cm Width: 26in/66cm

Height: 7in/18cm

F3D0013

O3E0026

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A GEORGE I GILT GESSO MIRROR

AN 18TH CENTURY ENAMEL TEAPOT

A fine George I mirror, with a later plate surrounded by a scalloped-design gilt gesso frame with foliate motifs drawn on a punched ground, all surmounted by a finely carved shell.

England, circa 1725

A fine Qianlong period Canton teapot brightly enamelled with floral decoration framing four scenes of birds nesting in trees surrounded by foliage and butterflies.

China, circa 1740

Height: 44in/112cm Width: 26in/66cm

Height: 7in/18cm

F3D0013

O3E0026

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A LOUIS XV NEEDLEWORK CARPET A fine and rare Louis XV needlework carpet in remarkable condition, worked in vibrant colours on a black background, with a central floral medallion surrounded by boldly scrolling leaves interspersed with flowers, the broad border with ribbon tied plumes and foliate arabesques, the inner and outer designs framed with gold borders entwined with oak leaves.

France, circa 1750 Height: 119in/302cm Width: 89in/226cm T3D0308

This extremely well preserved carpet may have been commissioned as a marriage carpet and is attributed to a French Carmelite workshop. At the corners are heraldic heart emblems with flames, a symbol of Aphrodite and ardent love, while the arrows within it represent Eros’ darts.

The variety of dyes is especially rich and seem never to have been exposed to daylight. The carpet has a silk fringe that appears to be original, matching exactly the wools of the needlework.

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A LOUIS XV NEEDLEWORK CARPET A fine and rare Louis XV needlework carpet in remarkable condition, worked in vibrant colours on a black background, with a central floral medallion surrounded by boldly scrolling leaves interspersed with flowers, the broad border with ribbon tied plumes and foliate arabesques, the inner and outer designs framed with gold borders entwined with oak leaves.

France, circa 1750 Height: 119in/302cm Width: 89in/226cm T3D0308

This extremely well preserved carpet may have been commissioned as a marriage carpet and is attributed to a French Carmelite workshop. At the corners are heraldic heart emblems with flames, a symbol of Aphrodite and ardent love, while the arrows within it represent Eros’ darts.

The variety of dyes is especially rich and seem never to have been exposed to daylight. The carpet has a silk fringe that appears to be original, matching exactly the wools of the needlework.

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A 19TH CENTURY SCAGLIOLA TABLE A rare early 19th century scagliola table top depicting a bucolic landscape scene of a village next to a lake in full summer with figures gathering wood, in a muted palate within a border of pearl decoration, surrounded by a wreath of acorn and oak leaves on a black background, supported on an ormolu gueridon base with leopard head terminals on scrolling acanthus supports, fluted legs and X frame supports, resting on paw feet.

The top: Italy, circa 1830 The base: France, circa 1870 Height: 30½in/77.5cm Diameter: 34in/87cm F3C0121

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A 19TH CENTURY SCAGLIOLA TABLE A rare early 19th century scagliola table top depicting a bucolic landscape scene of a village next to a lake in full summer with figures gathering wood, in a muted palate within a border of pearl decoration, surrounded by a wreath of acorn and oak leaves on a black background, supported on an ormolu gueridon base with leopard head terminals on scrolling acanthus supports, fluted legs and X frame supports, resting on paw feet.

The top: Italy, circa 1830 The base: France, circa 1870 Height: 30½in/77.5cm Diameter: 34in/87cm F3C0121

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THE NEWHAILES LIBRARY CHAIRS An important pair of mid 18th century carved mahogany Gainsborough armchairs, the rectangular backs and seats and the armrests upholstered in their original Aubusson tapestry depicting, within a cartouche, on one a cockerel and a fox and on the other a pheasant and a hare; the arms with outcurving hand rests and moulded, sloping supports with flowerhead terminals and beading; raised on square, pierced legs at front and back, with fret brackets embellished with entwined flowers and leaves, ending in guttae feet and joined by four pierced fret stretchers.

The cockerel chair back is inscribed ‘M. R. DAUBUSSON.MAGe.’ England, circa 1755 Height: 39¾in/101cm Width: 29½in/75cm Depth: 30in/76cm Depth of Seat: 24in/61cm F3D0307

These chairs, originally part of a set of four, remained in the Dalrymple family from the mid 18th century until 1928.

(The second pair was sold in New York in 1998.) Such an established provenance is rare when so many examples of great English furniture remain undocumented.

They were acquired by either General the Hon James St Clair, who died in 1762, or his widow, Janet (née Dalrymple), for her home at 60 Greek Street, London. After her death in 1766 they were purchased at the auction of the Greek Street house by her nephew, David Dalrymple (1726-1792), 1st Lord Hailes, for Newhailes House in Scotland. There they remained until 1928 when they were sold by Sir David Dalrymple.

Newhailes House stands some four miles east of Edinburgh and takes its name from the ruined Hailes Castle in East Lothian, another Dalrymple family property. Originally named Whitehill, it was built by the architect James Smith, as his own home, around 1686. In 1709 it was purchased by Sir David Dalrymple, the youngest son of the Earl of Stair, who renamed it Newhailes.

PROVENANCE

The Dalrymple family at Newhailes House, Midlothian, Scotland until 1928.

Partridge 1928 Percy R Pyne, New York Mrs Robert G Elbert, New York Partridge, New York Walter P Chrysler Jr, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 1960 The Gerstenfeld Collection, Washington DC Mallett US private collection

James Smith designed the original house as a neo-Palladian villa, with intimate interiors and small windows commensurate to its overall proportions. By 1720, William Adam had completed a new wing for Sir David, making space for a magnificent library of far grander scale than any other room in the house, with large sash windows that filled it with light.

It was in this great room that the 1st Lord Hailes, grandson of Sir David, later placed his four tapestry covered chairs. Further additions and embellishments were made at Newhailes in the 18th century, including a second wing to balance the library extension and some very fine rococo plasterwork. The hall was re-decorated in 1742 by the stuccoist, James Clayton, who also provided an elaborate, architectural overmantel for the chimney-piece in the library. Although some 19th century alterations took place, much at Newhailes today remains as it has been since the early 18th century and the house retains a remarkable atmosphere of its era.

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THE NEWHAILES LIBRARY CHAIRS An important pair of mid 18th century carved mahogany Gainsborough armchairs, the rectangular backs and seats and the armrests upholstered in their original Aubusson tapestry depicting, within a cartouche, on one a cockerel and a fox and on the other a pheasant and a hare; the arms with outcurving hand rests and moulded, sloping supports with flowerhead terminals and beading; raised on square, pierced legs at front and back, with fret brackets embellished with entwined flowers and leaves, ending in guttae feet and joined by four pierced fret stretchers.

The cockerel chair back is inscribed ‘M. R. DAUBUSSON.MAGe.’ England, circa 1755 Height: 39¾in/101cm Width: 29½in/75cm Depth: 30in/76cm Depth of Seat: 24in/61cm F3D0307

These chairs, originally part of a set of four, remained in the Dalrymple family from the mid 18th century until 1928.

(The second pair was sold in New York in 1998.) Such an established provenance is rare when so many examples of great English furniture remain undocumented.

They were acquired by either General the Hon James St Clair, who died in 1762, or his widow, Janet (née Dalrymple), for her home at 60 Greek Street, London. After her death in 1766 they were purchased at the auction of the Greek Street house by her nephew, David Dalrymple (1726-1792), 1st Lord Hailes, for Newhailes House in Scotland. There they remained until 1928 when they were sold by Sir David Dalrymple.

Newhailes House stands some four miles east of Edinburgh and takes its name from the ruined Hailes Castle in East Lothian, another Dalrymple family property. Originally named Whitehill, it was built by the architect James Smith, as his own home, around 1686. In 1709 it was purchased by Sir David Dalrymple, the youngest son of the Earl of Stair, who renamed it Newhailes.

PROVENANCE

The Dalrymple family at Newhailes House, Midlothian, Scotland until 1928.

Partridge 1928 Percy R Pyne, New York Mrs Robert G Elbert, New York Partridge, New York Walter P Chrysler Jr, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 1960 The Gerstenfeld Collection, Washington DC Mallett US private collection

James Smith designed the original house as a neo-Palladian villa, with intimate interiors and small windows commensurate to its overall proportions. By 1720, William Adam had completed a new wing for Sir David, making space for a magnificent library of far grander scale than any other room in the house, with large sash windows that filled it with light.

It was in this great room that the 1st Lord Hailes, grandson of Sir David, later placed his four tapestry covered chairs. Further additions and embellishments were made at Newhailes in the 18th century, including a second wing to balance the library extension and some very fine rococo plasterwork. The hall was re-decorated in 1742 by the stuccoist, James Clayton, who also provided an elaborate, architectural overmantel for the chimney-piece in the library. Although some 19th century alterations took place, much at Newhailes today remains as it has been since the early 18th century and the house retains a remarkable atmosphere of its era.

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A celebrated collection of books and manuscripts was formed over the years, reaching its height under Lord Hailes, when the library at Newhailes was described by Dr Johnson as ‘the most learned room in Europe’. Although certain items were sold in 1937, it is nonetheless considered to be the most important contemporary collection to survive from the period of the Scottish Enlightenment. There are approximately 7,000 volumes of British and foreign works from the 16th to the 18th century, plus numerous pamphlets and prints, maps and music. Particularly strongly represented are history and biography, politics, economics and theology, as well as much classical and contemporary literature. Among Dalrymple papers are the manuscript of Lord Hailes’ Annals of Scotland, annotated by Samuel Johnson, and letters of his contemporaries, including Hume, Robertson, Beatty and Burke. Upon the death of Sir Mark Dalrymple in 1971, the contents of the library were allocated to the National Library of Scotland, having been accepted by the Government in lieu of estate duty. Now a property of the National Trust for Scotland, Newhailes has been undergoing restoration and when this is complete it is intended that this great literary collection be returned to its rightful place.

The grand scale of these chairs, their overall design and the detail thereof are all strongly indicative of their time. They represent Chippendale in the ‘Modern’ manner, as described and illustrated in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, bringing together, in a chair form he calls ‘French’, both Chinese and Roman ornament in one model. The pierced fretwork may also be seen in his ‘Gothick’ chairs and the foliate entwined supports on his design for a ‘Chinese’ china cabinet.

While demand for English tapestry had declined by the mid 18th century, the fashion for the French alternative had grown.

Woven scenes drawn from the fables of La Fontaine appealed to the picturesque, fantasy mood of the rococo era and were widely used on English seat furniture. The tapestry on these chairs was made by Pierre Mage of the Aubusson factory, where he worked for no less than fifty years, until 1747.

Opposite, the Library at Newhailes House, 1917

General St Clair was a distinguished soldier and politician.

In 1748 he was returning from his post as Military Envoy in Vienna and it is possible that he purchased the tapestries in Paris on that trip (Coutts Bank records show they arranged credit for him in Lyons and Paris at that time) and had the tapestries put on the chairs upon acquiring them at a later date. The likelihood is that the chairs were actually upholstered by one of the Bradshaw family of London furniture makers and tapestry makers. Soho was the centre of London tapestry making in the 18th century and Greek Street was at its heart. It happened that the St Clair’s home at 60 Greek Street was once part of the curtilage of the Bradshaws’ premises at 27 Soho Square, so they were close neighbours.

William Bradshaw, although primarily an upholsterer, was also a prominent furniture maker in the 1730’s and 1740’s. However, given their later date, their sophistication of design and their quality, the chairs themselves were most probably made by one of the leading makers of the nearby St Martin’s Lane coterie, which included Chippendale himself.

LITERATURE

Weaver, L. Newhailes, Midlothian. Country Life, 8 September, 1917.

Cescinsky, H. The Gentle Art of Faking Furniture. Chapman & Hall, London, 1931.

Duncan, P. Newhailes, East Lothian. Country Life, 29 January & 5 February, 1987.

Cornforth, J. Newhailes, East Lothian. Country Life, 21 & 28 November, 1996.

Gow, I. Scottish Houses and Gardens from the Archives of Country Life. Aurum Press, London, 1997.

Cornforth, J. Newhailes, Midlothian. Country Life, 22 August, 2002.

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A celebrated collection of books and manuscripts was formed over the years, reaching its height under Lord Hailes, when the library at Newhailes was described by Dr Johnson as ‘the most learned room in Europe’. Although certain items were sold in 1937, it is nonetheless considered to be the most important contemporary collection to survive from the period of the Scottish Enlightenment. There are approximately 7,000 volumes of British and foreign works from the 16th to the 18th century, plus numerous pamphlets and prints, maps and music. Particularly strongly represented are history and biography, politics, economics and theology, as well as much classical and contemporary literature. Among Dalrymple papers are the manuscript of Lord Hailes’ Annals of Scotland, annotated by Samuel Johnson, and letters of his contemporaries, including Hume, Robertson, Beatty and Burke. Upon the death of Sir Mark Dalrymple in 1971, the contents of the library were allocated to the National Library of Scotland, having been accepted by the Government in lieu of estate duty. Now a property of the National Trust for Scotland, Newhailes has been undergoing restoration and when this is complete it is intended that this great literary collection be returned to its rightful place.

The grand scale of these chairs, their overall design and the detail thereof are all strongly indicative of their time. They represent Chippendale in the ‘Modern’ manner, as described and illustrated in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, bringing together, in a chair form he calls ‘French’, both Chinese and Roman ornament in one model. The pierced fretwork may also be seen in his ‘Gothick’ chairs and the foliate entwined supports on his design for a ‘Chinese’ china cabinet.

While demand for English tapestry had declined by the mid 18th century, the fashion for the French alternative had grown.

Woven scenes drawn from the fables of La Fontaine appealed to the picturesque, fantasy mood of the rococo era and were widely used on English seat furniture. The tapestry on these chairs was made by Pierre Mage of the Aubusson factory, where he worked for no less than fifty years, until 1747.

Opposite, the Library at Newhailes House, 1917

General St Clair was a distinguished soldier and politician.

In 1748 he was returning from his post as Military Envoy in Vienna and it is possible that he purchased the tapestries in Paris on that trip (Coutts Bank records show they arranged credit for him in Lyons and Paris at that time) and had the tapestries put on the chairs upon acquiring them at a later date. The likelihood is that the chairs were actually upholstered by one of the Bradshaw family of London furniture makers and tapestry makers. Soho was the centre of London tapestry making in the 18th century and Greek Street was at its heart. It happened that the St Clair’s home at 60 Greek Street was once part of the curtilage of the Bradshaws’ premises at 27 Soho Square, so they were close neighbours.

William Bradshaw, although primarily an upholsterer, was also a prominent furniture maker in the 1730’s and 1740’s. However, given their later date, their sophistication of design and their quality, the chairs themselves were most probably made by one of the leading makers of the nearby St Martin’s Lane coterie, which included Chippendale himself.

LITERATURE

Weaver, L. Newhailes, Midlothian. Country Life, 8 September, 1917.

Cescinsky, H. The Gentle Art of Faking Furniture. Chapman & Hall, London, 1931.

Duncan, P. Newhailes, East Lothian. Country Life, 29 January & 5 February, 1987.

Cornforth, J. Newhailes, East Lothian. Country Life, 21 & 28 November, 1996.

Gow, I. Scottish Houses and Gardens from the Archives of Country Life. Aurum Press, London, 1997.

Cornforth, J. Newhailes, Midlothian. Country Life, 22 August, 2002.

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A PAIR OF GRAND TOUR WATERCOLOURS A pair of mid 18th century Italian School watercolours of Roman ruins showing a view of the Colosseum, and an idealised view of the Roman Forum with the remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Antoninus to the right and the Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana on the left, each with attendant bucolic figures and visiting grand tourists.

Both in their original carved gilt wood frames.

Italy, circa 1755 Height: 19in/48cm Width: 22½in/57.5cm Depth: 2in/5cm P3D0170

The Roman Colosseum or Coliseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was commissioned in AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian. It was completed by his son, Titus, in AD 80, with later improvements by Domitian. The Colosseum is located just east of the Roman Forum and was built to a practical design, with its 80 arched entrances allowing easy access to 55,000 spectators, who were seated according to rank. The Colosseum is huge, having an ellipse 188m long and 156m wide. Originally 240 masts were attached to stone corbels on the 4th level.

The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum) was the central area of the city around which ancient Rome developed. Here was where commerce, business and the administration of justice took place. The Roman Forum was designed by the architect Vitruvius. For centuries, it was the site of the city’s most important public buildings, such as the Arch of Septimius Severus, built in AD 203 and the Rostra for public speeches.

The reliefs on the triple arch represented many of Rome’s victories over oriental tribes

and the Rostra was decorated with prows of warships captured during battles. The Roman Forum became the spectacular showcase of the Roman Empire and was filled with beautiful statues and architecture.

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A PAIR OF GRAND TOUR WATERCOLOURS A pair of mid 18th century Italian School watercolours of Roman ruins showing a view of the Colosseum, and an idealised view of the Roman Forum with the remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Antoninus to the right and the Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana on the left, each with attendant bucolic figures and visiting grand tourists.

Both in their original carved gilt wood frames.

Italy, circa 1755 Height: 19in/48cm Width: 22½in/57.5cm Depth: 2in/5cm P3D0170

The Roman Colosseum or Coliseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was commissioned in AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian. It was completed by his son, Titus, in AD 80, with later improvements by Domitian. The Colosseum is located just east of the Roman Forum and was built to a practical design, with its 80 arched entrances allowing easy access to 55,000 spectators, who were seated according to rank. The Colosseum is huge, having an ellipse 188m long and 156m wide. Originally 240 masts were attached to stone corbels on the 4th level.

The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum) was the central area of the city around which ancient Rome developed. Here was where commerce, business and the administration of justice took place. The Roman Forum was designed by the architect Vitruvius. For centuries, it was the site of the city’s most important public buildings, such as the Arch of Septimius Severus, built in AD 203 and the Rostra for public speeches.

The reliefs on the triple arch represented many of Rome’s victories over oriental tribes

and the Rostra was decorated with prows of warships captured during battles. The Roman Forum became the spectacular showcase of the Roman Empire and was filled with beautiful statues and architecture.

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A PAIR OF GILTWOOD MARQUISES A pair of neo-classical carved giltwood marquises, in the manner of Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, the top rails intricately carved with foliate ornament, finished at each end with classical herms. The low swept arms decorated with carved feathers tied with wreaths and acanthus also terminating in herms, the apron and side rails decorated with ribbon-tied laurel festoons punctuated with rosettes and bunches of flowers. The front legs fashioned with reeded columnar supports tied with ribbon on circular tapering acanthuscarved legs, resting on toupie feet with foliate detail. The backs with a Vitruvian scroll rail and side supports with shallow carved ornament, ending in flared square section and reeded back legs.

Italy, circa 1785 Height: 40in/101cm Width: 28in/72cm Depth: 22in/56cm F3D0239

The finely detailed carving of these elegant marquises with their architectural form and foliate decoration is characteristic of the circle of carvers and cabinet-makers in Turin, patronised by the Royal House of Savoy. The most celebrated of these Turinese cabinet-makers was Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo (1745-1820), who worked for the court from 1773. Other skilled craftsmen formed an atelier centred around him, including carvers such as Francesco Tanadei, Giuseppe Marchino, Francesco Bolgie and Bartolomeo Manghetti. Working alongside Bonzanigo, they were commissioned to provide furniture for the Royal hunting lodge at Stupinigi, for the palaces at Moncalieri, Venaria, Rivoli and most importantly for the Palazzo Reale in the centre of Turin, where over a period of twenty years they supplied an array of objects including chairs, stools, sofas, mirrors, screens, beds and panels.

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A PAIR OF GILTWOOD MARQUISES A pair of neo-classical carved giltwood marquises, in the manner of Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, the top rails intricately carved with foliate ornament, finished at each end with classical herms. The low swept arms decorated with carved feathers tied with wreaths and acanthus also terminating in herms, the apron and side rails decorated with ribbon-tied laurel festoons punctuated with rosettes and bunches of flowers. The front legs fashioned with reeded columnar supports tied with ribbon on circular tapering acanthuscarved legs, resting on toupie feet with foliate detail. The backs with a Vitruvian scroll rail and side supports with shallow carved ornament, ending in flared square section and reeded back legs.

Italy, circa 1785 Height: 40in/101cm Width: 28in/72cm Depth: 22in/56cm F3D0239

The finely detailed carving of these elegant marquises with their architectural form and foliate decoration is characteristic of the circle of carvers and cabinet-makers in Turin, patronised by the Royal House of Savoy. The most celebrated of these Turinese cabinet-makers was Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo (1745-1820), who worked for the court from 1773. Other skilled craftsmen formed an atelier centred around him, including carvers such as Francesco Tanadei, Giuseppe Marchino, Francesco Bolgie and Bartolomeo Manghetti. Working alongside Bonzanigo, they were commissioned to provide furniture for the Royal hunting lodge at Stupinigi, for the palaces at Moncalieri, Venaria, Rivoli and most importantly for the Palazzo Reale in the centre of Turin, where over a period of twenty years they supplied an array of objects including chairs, stools, sofas, mirrors, screens, beds and panels.

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› A RARE SET OF SIX LOUIS XV

SAVONNERIE PANELS A rare Louis XV paravent consisting of six panels attributed to the Savonnerie manufactory, each depicting a scalloped fan above and below a cartouche, illustrating scenes from Aesop’s fables after designs by Jean Baptiste Oudry, within verdant landscapes enclosed by leafy borders and elaborate C-scrolls.

From left to right, the depicted scenes are: The Tortoise and the Hare, The Fox and the Stork, a variation of The Fox and the Stork, The Dog and its Reflection, The Wolf and the Lamb and The Dog and the Wolf. Conserved and mounted onto a later frame.

France, circa 1735 Height: 51in/129.5cm Width: 135in/343cm Depth: 1½in/3cm T3D0302

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› A RARE SET OF SIX LOUIS XV

SAVONNERIE PANELS A rare Louis XV paravent consisting of six panels attributed to the Savonnerie manufactory, each depicting a scalloped fan above and below a cartouche, illustrating scenes from Aesop’s fables after designs by Jean Baptiste Oudry, within verdant landscapes enclosed by leafy borders and elaborate C-scrolls.

From left to right, the depicted scenes are: The Tortoise and the Hare, The Fox and the Stork, a variation of The Fox and the Stork, The Dog and its Reflection, The Wolf and the Lamb and The Dog and the Wolf. Conserved and mounted onto a later frame.

France, circa 1735 Height: 51in/129.5cm Width: 135in/343cm Depth: 1½in/3cm T3D0302

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This screen is an exquisite example of a French paravent, which was the term used for large folding screens designed to provide protection from draught as opposed to their small counterparts, the fire screen. Up to six panels would be used for a paravent and each panel would be made up of decorative surfaces, possibly on both the back and front in some early examples.

The Savonnerie manufactory was known for making the finest examples of these screens, and Pierre Verlet’s study of the manufactory reveals that they relied on a series of eight different compositions throughout the eighteenth century.

Each of these compositions consisted of one to six individual panels in the form of a cartoon, which made it handy to

replicate. Today, Savonnerie paravents survive in museums and private collections, including the Louvre and the Getty.

The most similar paravent to the one in Mallett’s collection is at the Musée d’Abbeville.

Mallett’s paravent consists of six panels. Each panel depicts a scalloped fan above and below a cartouche that contains scenes from Aesop’s fables after designs by Jean Baptiste Oudry. All of this decoration is within verdant landscapes enclosed by leafy borders and elaborate C-scrolls. From left to right, the depicted scenes are: The Tortoise and the Hare, The Fox and the Stork, a variation of The Fox and the Stork, The Dog and its Reflection, The Wolf and the Lamb and The Dog and the Wolf.

These scenes closely resemble the designs that JeanBaptiste Oudry did for the original engravings for ‘Fables Choisies’ between 1729 and 1734. In 1751, the financier Montenault acquired the original designs and made it possible for the publication to go forward. In 1755 and 1756, the first three volumes were published and reflected one of the most ambitious illustrated books of the time. The final volume appeared in 1759 and was made possible by the assistance of a royal grant.

Other paravents feature designs after those made by Alexandre-Francois Desports, who was a French painter and decorative designer who specialised in animals. His details of trophies of game and animals were often used in cartoons for

tapestries that both the Savonnerie and Gobelins used.

The panels are made of knotted wools, which is a similar technique used to create carpets. Wool threads are knotted around the warps across the width of the loom. The Savonnerie manufactory was known for using a symmetrical knot, known as a Turkish knot. To create the soft, thick pile, the weavers would pass a knife through the knots and cut the threads of wool. In all, there are about ninety knots per square inch of decoration. According to F. B. J. Watson, former Director of the Wallace Collection and Surveyor of the Queen’s Works of Art, it would take a single craftsman a year to weave less than three square yards.

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This screen is an exquisite example of a French paravent, which was the term used for large folding screens designed to provide protection from draught as opposed to their small counterparts, the fire screen. Up to six panels would be used for a paravent and each panel would be made up of decorative surfaces, possibly on both the back and front in some early examples.

The Savonnerie manufactory was known for making the finest examples of these screens, and Pierre Verlet’s study of the manufactory reveals that they relied on a series of eight different compositions throughout the eighteenth century.

Each of these compositions consisted of one to six individual panels in the form of a cartoon, which made it handy to

replicate. Today, Savonnerie paravents survive in museums and private collections, including the Louvre and the Getty.

The most similar paravent to the one in Mallett’s collection is at the Musée d’Abbeville.

Mallett’s paravent consists of six panels. Each panel depicts a scalloped fan above and below a cartouche that contains scenes from Aesop’s fables after designs by Jean Baptiste Oudry. All of this decoration is within verdant landscapes enclosed by leafy borders and elaborate C-scrolls. From left to right, the depicted scenes are: The Tortoise and the Hare, The Fox and the Stork, a variation of The Fox and the Stork, The Dog and its Reflection, The Wolf and the Lamb and The Dog and the Wolf.

These scenes closely resemble the designs that JeanBaptiste Oudry did for the original engravings for ‘Fables Choisies’ between 1729 and 1734. In 1751, the financier Montenault acquired the original designs and made it possible for the publication to go forward. In 1755 and 1756, the first three volumes were published and reflected one of the most ambitious illustrated books of the time. The final volume appeared in 1759 and was made possible by the assistance of a royal grant.

Other paravents feature designs after those made by Alexandre-Francois Desports, who was a French painter and decorative designer who specialised in animals. His details of trophies of game and animals were often used in cartoons for

tapestries that both the Savonnerie and Gobelins used.

The panels are made of knotted wools, which is a similar technique used to create carpets. Wool threads are knotted around the warps across the width of the loom. The Savonnerie manufactory was known for using a symmetrical knot, known as a Turkish knot. To create the soft, thick pile, the weavers would pass a knife through the knots and cut the threads of wool. In all, there are about ninety knots per square inch of decoration. According to F. B. J. Watson, former Director of the Wallace Collection and Surveyor of the Queen’s Works of Art, it would take a single craftsman a year to weave less than three square yards.

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A GEORGE II GILTWOOD STOOL An important George II ‘Roman’ style giltwood mahogany stool in the curule form, attributed to Henry Williams, decorated with carved Venus shells on acanthus-adorned trusses, terminating in bacchic lion paw feet.

England, circa 1740 Height: 21in/53.5cm Width: 28½in/72.5cm Depth: 20½in/52cm F3D0290

LITERATURE

G. Beard & C. Gilbert, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840. Leeds, 1986, p. 980.

Edwards, R. and Jourdain, M. Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1955, fig. 217.

This ‘Roman’ stool pattern, displaying Venus shells on acanthus trusses terminating in bacchic lion paws, shows distinct attributes with those invented in the mid-1730’s to accompany two throne-like armchairs that were supplied for the Withdrawing Room at Hampton Court Palace, illustrated in Ralph Edwards and Percy Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1954, vol. III, p. 176, fig 44.

Part of the original set of eighteen stools, invoiced in 1736-1737 by the Long Acre chair-maker Henry Williams (d. 1758), remain in situ at Hampton Court while others form part of the Benjamin Disraeli collection at Hughenden Manor, Buckinghamshire (Georgian Cabinet-Makers, fig. 217 and The National Trust, Hughenden Manor, 1988). Henry Williams (1717-1758) succeeded Richard Roberts as chair-maker to the Royal Household and in 1736-7 he supplied seat furniture for the Queen’s Withdrawing Room at Hampton Court Palace, comprising two large armchairs and twenty four square stool frames en suite at a cost of £192. At the same time, he supplied four gilt settee frames at a cost of £60 and eighteen square stool frames, also en suite for the Queen’s Gallery, for £99.

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A GEORGE II GILTWOOD STOOL An important George II ‘Roman’ style giltwood mahogany stool in the curule form, attributed to Henry Williams, decorated with carved Venus shells on acanthus-adorned trusses, terminating in bacchic lion paw feet.

England, circa 1740 Height: 21in/53.5cm Width: 28½in/72.5cm Depth: 20½in/52cm F3D0290

LITERATURE

G. Beard & C. Gilbert, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840. Leeds, 1986, p. 980.

Edwards, R. and Jourdain, M. Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1955, fig. 217.

This ‘Roman’ stool pattern, displaying Venus shells on acanthus trusses terminating in bacchic lion paws, shows distinct attributes with those invented in the mid-1730’s to accompany two throne-like armchairs that were supplied for the Withdrawing Room at Hampton Court Palace, illustrated in Ralph Edwards and Percy Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1954, vol. III, p. 176, fig 44.

Part of the original set of eighteen stools, invoiced in 1736-1737 by the Long Acre chair-maker Henry Williams (d. 1758), remain in situ at Hampton Court while others form part of the Benjamin Disraeli collection at Hughenden Manor, Buckinghamshire (Georgian Cabinet-Makers, fig. 217 and The National Trust, Hughenden Manor, 1988). Henry Williams (1717-1758) succeeded Richard Roberts as chair-maker to the Royal Household and in 1736-7 he supplied seat furniture for the Queen’s Withdrawing Room at Hampton Court Palace, comprising two large armchairs and twenty four square stool frames en suite at a cost of £192. At the same time, he supplied four gilt settee frames at a cost of £60 and eighteen square stool frames, also en suite for the Queen’s Gallery, for £99.

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A GEORGE II WALNUT CHEST A very fine George II chest of drawers of well figured walnut, the rectangular ovolo-beaded and quarter-veneered top crossbanded in walnut and feather banded, above a brushing slide of solid, straight-grain walnut of rich colour, the four graduated and cockbeaded drawers similarly finished to match the decoration of the top with crossbanding and feather inlay, retaining the original brass handles and escutcheons, standing on squat, cabriole feet carved with shells and scrolls and ending in claw and ball feet, the back feet similarly carved but resting on pad feet.

Attributed to Giles Grendey.

England, circa 1740 Height: 31½in/80cm Width: 36in/91cm Depth: 20½in/52.5cm F3E0095

PROVENANCE

Owen Evan Thomas is best known for his seminal work on treen, Domestic Utensils of Wood, XVI Century to XIX Century, published in 1932. Thomas also ran a gallery on Dover Street in London which was, during the early 20th century, a focal point for treen collectors.

The present chest is distinguished by its cabriole feet which represent a rare feature on early 18th century English cabinetwork of this kind. A notable example, also attributed to Giles Grendey, was sold at Christie’s in London on 14 May 2003 lot 150 ‘50 Years of Collecting: The Decorative Arts of England’. A further parallel is provided by the feet on a George II walnut bureau bookcase, having the same claw and ball feet headed by a carved knee (Symonds, R. W. English Furniture from Charles II to George II, p.109, fig. 64). A George II walnut linen press with Mallett in 1995 and attributed to Grendey, also has similar short cabriole legs. A chest of drawers from the Mallett archive, bearing the trade label for Giles Grendey, suggests a date for this example of circa 1740. (Bowett, A. Early Georgian Furniture 1714-1740, p.104 figs 3:19-21).

Owen Evan Thomas Ltd., Dover Street, London EXHIBITED

The Antique Dealers’ Fair, London, 1938

Giles Grendey (1693-1780) completed his apprenticeship and became a freeman in 1716; by 1726 he had his own apprentices and was recognised as the most accomplished English cabinet-maker incorporating ‘japanned’ decoration.

In 1731, it was recorded that Grendey’s workshop at Aylesbury House, St John’s Square, Clerkenwell had a fire which destroyed ‘furniture to the value of £1,000 pack’d for Exportation against the next morning’. Fortunately, premises and stock were both insured, but this record underlines the importance of the export market for his business; notably in Spain, in Italy (for the King of Naples) and in Portugal. In 1740 he was described as ‘a great Dealer in the Cabinet Way’ and ‘an eminent Timber Merchant. By 1766 he was elected a master of the Joiners’ Company and on his death in 1780, aged 87; he was living at Palmer’s Green.

LITERATURE

Illustrated in Apollo, 1938, p.183.

Symonds, R.W. English Furniture from Charles II to George II. The Connoisseur Ltd., London, 1929. P. 109, fig. 64.

Bowett, A. Early Georgian Furniture: 1714-1740. Antique Collector’s Club Ltd., 2009. P. 104, fig. 3:19- 21.

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A GEORGE II WALNUT CHEST A very fine George II chest of drawers of well figured walnut, the rectangular ovolo-beaded and quarter-veneered top crossbanded in walnut and feather banded, above a brushing slide of solid, straight-grain walnut of rich colour, the four graduated and cockbeaded drawers similarly finished to match the decoration of the top with crossbanding and feather inlay, retaining the original brass handles and escutcheons, standing on squat, cabriole feet carved with shells and scrolls and ending in claw and ball feet, the back feet similarly carved but resting on pad feet.

Attributed to Giles Grendey.

England, circa 1740 Height: 31½in/80cm Width: 36in/91cm Depth: 20½in/52.5cm F3E0095

PROVENANCE

Owen Evan Thomas is best known for his seminal work on treen, Domestic Utensils of Wood, XVI Century to XIX Century, published in 1932. Thomas also ran a gallery on Dover Street in London which was, during the early 20th century, a focal point for treen collectors.

The present chest is distinguished by its cabriole feet which represent a rare feature on early 18th century English cabinetwork of this kind. A notable example, also attributed to Giles Grendey, was sold at Christie’s in London on 14 May 2003 lot 150 ‘50 Years of Collecting: The Decorative Arts of England’. A further parallel is provided by the feet on a George II walnut bureau bookcase, having the same claw and ball feet headed by a carved knee (Symonds, R. W. English Furniture from Charles II to George II, p.109, fig. 64). A George II walnut linen press with Mallett in 1995 and attributed to Grendey, also has similar short cabriole legs. A chest of drawers from the Mallett archive, bearing the trade label for Giles Grendey, suggests a date for this example of circa 1740. (Bowett, A. Early Georgian Furniture 1714-1740, p.104 figs 3:19-21).

Owen Evan Thomas Ltd., Dover Street, London EXHIBITED

The Antique Dealers’ Fair, London, 1938

Giles Grendey (1693-1780) completed his apprenticeship and became a freeman in 1716; by 1726 he had his own apprentices and was recognised as the most accomplished English cabinet-maker incorporating ‘japanned’ decoration.

In 1731, it was recorded that Grendey’s workshop at Aylesbury House, St John’s Square, Clerkenwell had a fire which destroyed ‘furniture to the value of £1,000 pack’d for Exportation against the next morning’. Fortunately, premises and stock were both insured, but this record underlines the importance of the export market for his business; notably in Spain, in Italy (for the King of Naples) and in Portugal. In 1740 he was described as ‘a great Dealer in the Cabinet Way’ and ‘an eminent Timber Merchant. By 1766 he was elected a master of the Joiners’ Company and on his death in 1780, aged 87; he was living at Palmer’s Green.

LITERATURE

Illustrated in Apollo, 1938, p.183.

Symonds, R.W. English Furniture from Charles II to George II. The Connoisseur Ltd., London, 1929. P. 109, fig. 64.

Bowett, A. Early Georgian Furniture: 1714-1740. Antique Collector’s Club Ltd., 2009. P. 104, fig. 3:19- 21.

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A GEORGE III GREEN-STAINED TEA CADDY

A CHARLES X CENTRE TABLE

A George III green-stained decagonal tortoiseshell and ivory strung tea caddy of domed canted form, the hinged lid with silver ring handle, the sides with well-figured tortoiseshell veneers, inset with an oval shield-shaped cartouche and shaped escutcheon, the interior with remnants of foil lining, retaining its original key and internal cover.

England, circa 1780

A Charles X rosewood gueridon profusely inlaid on the top in a continuous motif of interlocking and alternate roses and wild flowers. At the centre of the top is an outstanding vellum still life of flowers, signed and dated, Azélia Maspéro, élève de Madame Delaporte, 1836. The top is supported by a frieze, inlaid with geometric neo-classical ornament. This, in turn, stands on three scroll legs having bowing swans head capitals and acanthus marquetry to the scrolling base. The whole is supported by a shaped concave sided tripod plinth terminating in block feet.

France, 1836

Height: 5½in/13.5cm Width: 4½in/11cm Depth: 3in/7cm O3E0041

Height: 30in/76cm Diameter of top: 36in/91cm F3D0264

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A GEORGE III GREEN-STAINED TEA CADDY

A CHARLES X CENTRE TABLE

A George III green-stained decagonal tortoiseshell and ivory strung tea caddy of domed canted form, the hinged lid with silver ring handle, the sides with well-figured tortoiseshell veneers, inset with an oval shield-shaped cartouche and shaped escutcheon, the interior with remnants of foil lining, retaining its original key and internal cover.

England, circa 1780

A Charles X rosewood gueridon profusely inlaid on the top in a continuous motif of interlocking and alternate roses and wild flowers. At the centre of the top is an outstanding vellum still life of flowers, signed and dated, Azélia Maspéro, élève de Madame Delaporte, 1836. The top is supported by a frieze, inlaid with geometric neo-classical ornament. This, in turn, stands on three scroll legs having bowing swans head capitals and acanthus marquetry to the scrolling base. The whole is supported by a shaped concave sided tripod plinth terminating in block feet.

France, 1836

Height: 5½in/13.5cm Width: 4½in/11cm Depth: 3in/7cm O3E0041

Height: 30in/76cm Diameter of top: 36in/91cm F3D0264

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Delicately inlaid rosewood furniture such as this became popular in France mainly as a result of the success of the designs of Jean-Josse Caron l'Aîné (1773-1838). The pieces he produced in the brief period between 1831 and 1838, as well as his publication, in 1836, of sixty designs under the title 'Le Manuel de l'ébéniste', would have considerable influence on contemporary tastes. In the few short years that he actually produced furniture, Caron supplied pieces to many noble clients, his distinctive elaborate inlays finding great demand.

Madame Delaporte probably refers to Rosine Antoinette Delaporte who was a pupil of Redouté. Similarities between his famous series of rose prints and the style of this floral vellum picture are clearly apparent. Unfortunately a fire in her shop in 1838 destroyed all her paintings and gold medals which she had won in numerous exhibitions. Only one work of hers remains in a public collection, a branch of roses at the Musée de Pontoise.

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Delicately inlaid rosewood furniture such as this became popular in France mainly as a result of the success of the designs of Jean-Josse Caron l'Aîné (1773-1838). The pieces he produced in the brief period between 1831 and 1838, as well as his publication, in 1836, of sixty designs under the title 'Le Manuel de l'ébéniste', would have considerable influence on contemporary tastes. In the few short years that he actually produced furniture, Caron supplied pieces to many noble clients, his distinctive elaborate inlays finding great demand.

Madame Delaporte probably refers to Rosine Antoinette Delaporte who was a pupil of Redouté. Similarities between his famous series of rose prints and the style of this floral vellum picture are clearly apparent. Unfortunately a fire in her shop in 1838 destroyed all her paintings and gold medals which she had won in numerous exhibitions. Only one work of hers remains in a public collection, a branch of roses at the Musée de Pontoise.

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A MAHOGANY LION’S HEAD ARMCHAIR A fine quality mahogany Fauteuil de Bureau in the manner of Jacob having a concave profiled back with a plain crest rail above a pierced diagonal trellis splat centred by paterae; the arms terminating in boldly carved lions heads standing on sabre legs at the back and turned legs at the front enriched with an overlapping scale motif at the capital, a laurel leaf at the foot and terminating in brass castors.

France, circa 1810 Height: 38in/96cm Width: 24in/61cm Depth: 20½in/52cm

The form of this chair is based on a design appearing in a drawing of circa 1795 attributed to Percier and Fontaine, showing five chair sketches for the Jacob workshop. The pioneering architects Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine (1762-1853) were the most important exponents of the archaeologically-inspired strain of late French neo-classicism that would evolve into the mature Empire style after 1800. Georges Jacob (17931814, maître 1765) was arguably the greatest menuisier of the late Louis XVI and Directoire periods who counted MarieAntoinette among his clients and founded a pre-eminent cabinet-making dynasty that flourished well into the first half of the 1800s.

F3E0101 LITERATURE

Ledoux-Lebard, D. Le Mobilier Francais du XIXe Siècle. Paris, 1989, p.283.

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A MAHOGANY LION’S HEAD ARMCHAIR A fine quality mahogany Fauteuil de Bureau in the manner of Jacob having a concave profiled back with a plain crest rail above a pierced diagonal trellis splat centred by paterae; the arms terminating in boldly carved lions heads standing on sabre legs at the back and turned legs at the front enriched with an overlapping scale motif at the capital, a laurel leaf at the foot and terminating in brass castors.

France, circa 1810 Height: 38in/96cm Width: 24in/61cm Depth: 20½in/52cm

The form of this chair is based on a design appearing in a drawing of circa 1795 attributed to Percier and Fontaine, showing five chair sketches for the Jacob workshop. The pioneering architects Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine (1762-1853) were the most important exponents of the archaeologically-inspired strain of late French neo-classicism that would evolve into the mature Empire style after 1800. Georges Jacob (17931814, maître 1765) was arguably the greatest menuisier of the late Louis XVI and Directoire periods who counted MarieAntoinette among his clients and founded a pre-eminent cabinet-making dynasty that flourished well into the first half of the 1800s.

F3E0101 LITERATURE

Ledoux-Lebard, D. Le Mobilier Francais du XIXe Siècle. Paris, 1989, p.283.

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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY BOOKCASE A finely figured George III mahogany bookcase, the moulded and fluted cornice above two glazed arched doors with geometric astragals and mirrored lozenges in the centre, the corners with carved paterae and the lower section with four graduated drawers, the whole standing on bracket feet.

England, circa 1770 Height: 92in/233.5cm Width: 54in/137cm Depth: 20in/51cm F3C0364

This sophisticated mahogany bookcase relates closely to the designs of Thomas Chippendale, parallels can be drawn with both his published designs and his commissioned work. In Chippendale’s Director of 1762 there are fourteen designs for bookcases of which plate LXXXVII shares many similarities with this bookcase. Both feature glazed arched doors fitted with geometric astragals and framed central lozenges as well as re-entrant lower corners with carved paterae.

This bookcase also relates closely to Chippendale’s commissions for the Earl of Pembroke. For this project, Chippendale worked with the architect Sir William Chambers in designing all aspects of Pembroke House. One of Chambers’ architectural studies, inscribed ‘Designs for Rooms at Whitehall,’ illustrates an elegant bookcase framed between two Corinthian columns (see Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, fig. 70). Chippendale created two bookcases from this design, and both form part of the Wilton collection today (see ibid, fig 68). Like the Wilton bookcases, the Mallett bookcase features a moulded and fluted cornice, geometric astragals and re-entrant lower corners adorned with carved paterae.

The graduated drawers on the lower portion of this bookcase are embellished with brass handles in a style commonly found on Chippendale’s pieces. The handles, with their sunflower paterae, are strikingly similar to those on the bureau dressing table made for Harewood House, now at the Victoria and Albert Museum (see Gilbert, fig 430).

LITERATURE

Gilbert, C. The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale. London, 1978, fig. 68, 70 & 430.

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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY BOOKCASE A finely figured George III mahogany bookcase, the moulded and fluted cornice above two glazed arched doors with geometric astragals and mirrored lozenges in the centre, the corners with carved paterae and the lower section with four graduated drawers, the whole standing on bracket feet.

England, circa 1770 Height: 92in/233.5cm Width: 54in/137cm Depth: 20in/51cm F3C0364

This sophisticated mahogany bookcase relates closely to the designs of Thomas Chippendale, parallels can be drawn with both his published designs and his commissioned work. In Chippendale’s Director of 1762 there are fourteen designs for bookcases of which plate LXXXVII shares many similarities with this bookcase. Both feature glazed arched doors fitted with geometric astragals and framed central lozenges as well as re-entrant lower corners with carved paterae.

This bookcase also relates closely to Chippendale’s commissions for the Earl of Pembroke. For this project, Chippendale worked with the architect Sir William Chambers in designing all aspects of Pembroke House. One of Chambers’ architectural studies, inscribed ‘Designs for Rooms at Whitehall,’ illustrates an elegant bookcase framed between two Corinthian columns (see Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, fig. 70). Chippendale created two bookcases from this design, and both form part of the Wilton collection today (see ibid, fig 68). Like the Wilton bookcases, the Mallett bookcase features a moulded and fluted cornice, geometric astragals and re-entrant lower corners adorned with carved paterae.

The graduated drawers on the lower portion of this bookcase are embellished with brass handles in a style commonly found on Chippendale’s pieces. The handles, with their sunflower paterae, are strikingly similar to those on the bureau dressing table made for Harewood House, now at the Victoria and Albert Museum (see Gilbert, fig 430).

LITERATURE

Gilbert, C. The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale. London, 1978, fig. 68, 70 & 430.

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PORTRAIT OF LADY HILLINGDON BY SIR FRANK DICKSEE Portrait of Lady Hillingdon (23 June 1857-1940).

Oil on canvas.

Signed and dated 1904.

Sir Frank Dicksee PRA, RI 1853-1928.

Height: 50in/120cm Width: 40in/101.5cm P3D0082

PROVENANCE

Private Collection of Christopher Wood Esq, (c. 1979-1993).

Private Collection, America (1993-2013).

Dicksee began exhibiting at the RA in the mid 1870’s and became a full member in 1891. He was elected President of the Royal Academy in 1924 and was knighted in 1925. Many of his pictures were of dramatic and legendary scenes, the two most famous being Harmony, 1887, now at Tate Britain, and Confession, 1896. Dicksee was highly sought after as a portrait artist because of his painting style, which represented a softening of the rigorous technique of the pre-Raphaelite movement. His work is very painterly and skillfully executed, with extreme sensibility to light and texture, both of which can be seen in this portrait of Lady Hillingdon.

Lady Hillingdon was born the Hon. Alice Marion Harbord, and married Charles William Mills, 2nd Baron Hillingdon (26 January 1855 - 6 April 1919), a British banker and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1892. They lived at Overstrand Hall in Norfolk which they were given as a wedding present by Charles’s father, Charles Mills, 1st Baron Hillingdon, who was a partner in the banking firm of Glyn, Mills & Co. Hillingdon commissioned Edwin Lutyens, to design Overstrand Hall in 1898. Nikolaus Pevsner considered it one of Lutyens most remarkable designs.

Lady Hillingdon and Climbing Lady Hillingdon, are two rose cultivars named after her by the rosarians Lowe & Shawyer in 1910. This tea rose is still highly sought after today, with scrolling petals, a vigorous health, and strong fragrance.

Lady Hillingdon’s passion for roses is reflected by Dicksee in her corsetage. However Lady Hillingdon was best known to Edwardian England as a renowned socialite and diarist.

Her most infamous comment is recorded in her 1912 journal: “When I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, open my legs and think of England.” This diary entry gave rise to the popular English idiom, “Lie back and think of England,” often used in popular culture to parody marital sex.

LITERATURE

Wood, C. Dictionary of British Art Volume IV, Victorian Painters.

London, 2007. p. 187.

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PORTRAIT OF LADY HILLINGDON BY SIR FRANK DICKSEE Portrait of Lady Hillingdon (23 June 1857-1940).

Oil on canvas.

Signed and dated 1904.

Sir Frank Dicksee PRA, RI 1853-1928.

Height: 50in/120cm Width: 40in/101.5cm P3D0082

PROVENANCE

Private Collection of Christopher Wood Esq, (c. 1979-1993).

Private Collection, America (1993-2013).

Dicksee began exhibiting at the RA in the mid 1870’s and became a full member in 1891. He was elected President of the Royal Academy in 1924 and was knighted in 1925. Many of his pictures were of dramatic and legendary scenes, the two most famous being Harmony, 1887, now at Tate Britain, and Confession, 1896. Dicksee was highly sought after as a portrait artist because of his painting style, which represented a softening of the rigorous technique of the pre-Raphaelite movement. His work is very painterly and skillfully executed, with extreme sensibility to light and texture, both of which can be seen in this portrait of Lady Hillingdon.

Lady Hillingdon was born the Hon. Alice Marion Harbord, and married Charles William Mills, 2nd Baron Hillingdon (26 January 1855 - 6 April 1919), a British banker and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1892. They lived at Overstrand Hall in Norfolk which they were given as a wedding present by Charles’s father, Charles Mills, 1st Baron Hillingdon, who was a partner in the banking firm of Glyn, Mills & Co. Hillingdon commissioned Edwin Lutyens, to design Overstrand Hall in 1898. Nikolaus Pevsner considered it one of Lutyens most remarkable designs.

Lady Hillingdon and Climbing Lady Hillingdon, are two rose cultivars named after her by the rosarians Lowe & Shawyer in 1910. This tea rose is still highly sought after today, with scrolling petals, a vigorous health, and strong fragrance.

Lady Hillingdon’s passion for roses is reflected by Dicksee in her corsetage. However Lady Hillingdon was best known to Edwardian England as a renowned socialite and diarist.

Her most infamous comment is recorded in her 1912 journal: “When I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, open my legs and think of England.” This diary entry gave rise to the popular English idiom, “Lie back and think of England,” often used in popular culture to parody marital sex.

LITERATURE

Wood, C. Dictionary of British Art Volume IV, Victorian Painters.

London, 2007. p. 187.

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A CAST IRON STICK STAND A Victorian cast iron Coalbrookdale stick stand of large scale, elaborately decorated with openwork ends in the Rococo style with ornate acanthus decoration and removal drip pans, stamped with the kite mark for the Coalbrookdale factory and model number 26.

England, circa 1867 Height: 32½in/83cm Width: 61in/155cm Depth: 16½in/42cm O3D0125

The Coalbrookdale Company of Shropshire, England was founded in 1709 and was famed for its cast iron works. In the 1840s, the company’s president Francis Darby began developing lines of decorative furniture, designed in the ornate styles of the Renaissance, Gothic Revival and Rococo periods.

Given its strength and resistance to rust, cast iron was ideal for the outdoors and for certain types of hall furniture. It was more economical to manufacture than wrought iron and featured at London’s Great Exhibition in 1851. Queen Victoria herself became a client.

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A CAST IRON STICK STAND A Victorian cast iron Coalbrookdale stick stand of large scale, elaborately decorated with openwork ends in the Rococo style with ornate acanthus decoration and removal drip pans, stamped with the kite mark for the Coalbrookdale factory and model number 26.

England, circa 1867 Height: 32½in/83cm Width: 61in/155cm Depth: 16½in/42cm O3D0125

The Coalbrookdale Company of Shropshire, England was founded in 1709 and was famed for its cast iron works. In the 1840s, the company’s president Francis Darby began developing lines of decorative furniture, designed in the ornate styles of the Renaissance, Gothic Revival and Rococo periods.

Given its strength and resistance to rust, cast iron was ideal for the outdoors and for certain types of hall furniture. It was more economical to manufacture than wrought iron and featured at London’s Great Exhibition in 1851. Queen Victoria herself became a client.

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A PAIR OF ‘SNAKE BACK’ CHAIRS A pair of Regency period parcel gilt mahogany side chairs, the back rests decorated with opposing stylised carved and gilt griffin heads with scaly bodies, resting on splayed, panelled sabre legs.

England, circa 1810 Height: 33½in/85cm Width: 18½in/47cm Depth: 19½in/49.5cm

This pair of chairs is in the style of Thomas Sheraton’s Regency designs. They relate closely to a chair illustrated in his CabinetMaker, Upholsterer, and General Artist’s Encyclopaedia of 1804 with the anthropomorphic form used on the top rail.

Sheraton often incorporated animal motifs into his furniture, including a canopy bed with a fantastical representation of a winged and scaled creature framing the base that he illustrated in his 1803 Cabinet Dictionary.

LITERATURE

F3D0171

Sheraton, T. Designs for Household Furniture: Exhibiting a Variety of Elegant and Useful Patterns in the Cabinet, Chair and Upholstery Branches on Eighty-Four Plates. London, 1910, p.64.

A similar design from parlour and drawing room chairs illustrated in Sheraton’s Designs for Household Furniture

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A PAIR OF ‘SNAKE BACK’ CHAIRS A pair of Regency period parcel gilt mahogany side chairs, the back rests decorated with opposing stylised carved and gilt griffin heads with scaly bodies, resting on splayed, panelled sabre legs.

England, circa 1810 Height: 33½in/85cm Width: 18½in/47cm Depth: 19½in/49.5cm

This pair of chairs is in the style of Thomas Sheraton’s Regency designs. They relate closely to a chair illustrated in his CabinetMaker, Upholsterer, and General Artist’s Encyclopaedia of 1804 with the anthropomorphic form used on the top rail.

Sheraton often incorporated animal motifs into his furniture, including a canopy bed with a fantastical representation of a winged and scaled creature framing the base that he illustrated in his 1803 Cabinet Dictionary.

LITERATURE

F3D0171

Sheraton, T. Designs for Household Furniture: Exhibiting a Variety of Elegant and Useful Patterns in the Cabinet, Chair and Upholstery Branches on Eighty-Four Plates. London, 1910, p.64.

A similar design from parlour and drawing room chairs illustrated in Sheraton’s Designs for Household Furniture

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AN INDIAN HARDSTONE CHESS BOARD A magnificent mid 19th century Indian ‘parchin kari’ marble chess board, the playing surface with alternating squares of lapis lazuli, agate and carnelian within a wide border of freely scrolling flowering branches further framed with a repeating pattern of pairs of entwined flowers.

India, circa 1850

› A PAIR OF NEO-CLASSICAL COMMODES An elegant pair of late 18th century North Italian neo-classical mahogany commodes, each with later fossilised marble tops, the two drawers and sides decorated with low, fielded panels, standing on square tapering legs and ending in gilt bronze feet.

Italy, circa 1775

Width: 27in/69cm Depth: 27in/69cm

Height: 36in/91cm Width: 52½in/133.5cm Depth: 26½in/67.5cm

F3D0281

F3D0111

The Italian technique of pietra dura reached the Mughal courts of India in the early 17th century. Known as parchin kari, literally ‘driven-in work’, it reached it’s historic apogee in the decoration of the Taj Mahal.

The increasing involvement of England in India in the 19th century helped grow the taste for Indian decorative arts, hitherto always slightly less popular than other oriental styles.

However, following the Great Exhibition of 1851 the nation spent £1,276 on Indian items for what became the Victoria and Albert museum. Owen Jones, one of the advisory committee, described Indian art as “..uniting the severest forms of the Arabian art with the graces of Persian refinement”, which could well describe the current fine chess board.

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AN INDIAN HARDSTONE CHESS BOARD A magnificent mid 19th century Indian ‘parchin kari’ marble chess board, the playing surface with alternating squares of lapis lazuli, agate and carnelian within a wide border of freely scrolling flowering branches further framed with a repeating pattern of pairs of entwined flowers.

India, circa 1850

› A PAIR OF NEO-CLASSICAL COMMODES An elegant pair of late 18th century North Italian neo-classical mahogany commodes, each with later fossilised marble tops, the two drawers and sides decorated with low, fielded panels, standing on square tapering legs and ending in gilt bronze feet.

Italy, circa 1775

Width: 27in/69cm Depth: 27in/69cm

Height: 36in/91cm Width: 52½in/133.5cm Depth: 26½in/67.5cm

F3D0281

F3D0111

The Italian technique of pietra dura reached the Mughal courts of India in the early 17th century. Known as parchin kari, literally ‘driven-in work’, it reached it’s historic apogee in the decoration of the Taj Mahal.

The increasing involvement of England in India in the 19th century helped grow the taste for Indian decorative arts, hitherto always slightly less popular than other oriental styles.

However, following the Great Exhibition of 1851 the nation spent £1,276 on Indian items for what became the Victoria and Albert museum. Owen Jones, one of the advisory committee, described Indian art as “..uniting the severest forms of the Arabian art with the graces of Persian refinement”, which could well describe the current fine chess board.

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A PAIR OF BLACK MARBLE VASES A magnificent pair of early 19th century, solid Ashford Black marble vases of a unique scale.

England, circa 1835 Height: 30in/76cm Diameter: 19½in/50cm O3D0282

Whilst called a marble Ashford Black, (or Derbyshire Black as it was sometimes known), is technically a limestone with a high bitumen content that gives it its unique colouring.

Mined exclusively in the Peak District in Derbyshire, close to the source of Blue John, it was first discovered in Roman times. Bess of Hardwick is the earliest recorded patron of the mine, in 1580, using the marble for the chimney piece in the Great High Presence Chamber at Hardwick Hall.

In 1748 Henry Watson founded a water powered mill in Ashford to cut and shape the marble, but it was the advent of the industrial revolution at the end of the 18th century that allowed larger scale production. Until 1835 the marble was either polished and left undecorated, the deep colour itself being highly revered, or alternatively it was lightly engraved. After 1835, however, and with the encouragement of the 6th Duke of Devonshire, the marble began to be used as a base for inlaying semi-precious stones in imitation of the collection of Italian pietra dura at Chatsworth.

The current vases relate to smaller items in the neo-classical taste that formed the core output of the various workshops at the end of the 18th century. Their shape shows the stylistic transition from the rigid forms of the Regency to the more organic and curved lines of the William IV style around 1830.

Beautifully carved and turned, their vast scale is possibly unique as most seams of the marble never exceeded nine inches deep.

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A PAIR OF BLACK MARBLE VASES A magnificent pair of early 19th century, solid Ashford Black marble vases of a unique scale.

England, circa 1835 Height: 30in/76cm Diameter: 19½in/50cm O3D0282

Whilst called a marble Ashford Black, (or Derbyshire Black as it was sometimes known), is technically a limestone with a high bitumen content that gives it its unique colouring.

Mined exclusively in the Peak District in Derbyshire, close to the source of Blue John, it was first discovered in Roman times. Bess of Hardwick is the earliest recorded patron of the mine, in 1580, using the marble for the chimney piece in the Great High Presence Chamber at Hardwick Hall.

In 1748 Henry Watson founded a water powered mill in Ashford to cut and shape the marble, but it was the advent of the industrial revolution at the end of the 18th century that allowed larger scale production. Until 1835 the marble was either polished and left undecorated, the deep colour itself being highly revered, or alternatively it was lightly engraved. After 1835, however, and with the encouragement of the 6th Duke of Devonshire, the marble began to be used as a base for inlaying semi-precious stones in imitation of the collection of Italian pietra dura at Chatsworth.

The current vases relate to smaller items in the neo-classical taste that formed the core output of the various workshops at the end of the 18th century. Their shape shows the stylistic transition from the rigid forms of the Regency to the more organic and curved lines of the William IV style around 1830.

Beautifully carved and turned, their vast scale is possibly unique as most seams of the marble never exceeded nine inches deep.

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A BRASS COCKTAIL SHAKER

A GEORGE II CHEST OF DRAWERS

An Art Deco copper and brass novelty cocktail shaker, entitled the “Thirst Extinguisher”.

America, circa 1930

A fine early George II walnut chest of drawers, with a quarter veneered and feather banded top with a brushing slide above two short and three long drawers, the finely figured bookmatched veneers edged with feather banding, retaining its original brass hardware and standing on bracket feet.

England, circa 1730

Height: 11½in/29cm Diameter: 3½in/9cm O3E0052

Height: 32½in/83cm Width: 36in/91cm Depth: 22in/56cm F3D0295

PROVENANCE

Acquired from Mallett & Son Ltd., London, 5 July 1978.

This well proportioned and elegantly restrained chest can be dated to c. 1730 on the basis of its carcass construction and decorative details. The piece conforms to ‘transitional secondphase’ construction, as defined by Adam Bowett in Early Georgian Furniture, Antique Collectors’ Club, Suffolk (2009), the carcass constructed of deal with stepped dustboards and with bracket feet. The ovolo moulding to the front of the oak lined drawers is a feature seen from c. 1730 onwards and the rebated bottom and runner to the drawers, a significant improvement on earlier forms, was introduced in the 1720’s.

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A BRASS COCKTAIL SHAKER

A GEORGE II CHEST OF DRAWERS

An Art Deco copper and brass novelty cocktail shaker, entitled the “Thirst Extinguisher”.

America, circa 1930

A fine early George II walnut chest of drawers, with a quarter veneered and feather banded top with a brushing slide above two short and three long drawers, the finely figured bookmatched veneers edged with feather banding, retaining its original brass hardware and standing on bracket feet.

England, circa 1730

Height: 11½in/29cm Diameter: 3½in/9cm O3E0052

Height: 32½in/83cm Width: 36in/91cm Depth: 22in/56cm F3D0295

PROVENANCE

Acquired from Mallett & Son Ltd., London, 5 July 1978.

This well proportioned and elegantly restrained chest can be dated to c. 1730 on the basis of its carcass construction and decorative details. The piece conforms to ‘transitional secondphase’ construction, as defined by Adam Bowett in Early Georgian Furniture, Antique Collectors’ Club, Suffolk (2009), the carcass constructed of deal with stepped dustboards and with bracket feet. The ovolo moulding to the front of the oak lined drawers is a feature seen from c. 1730 onwards and the rebated bottom and runner to the drawers, a significant improvement on earlier forms, was introduced in the 1720’s.

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AN ORMOLU MOUNTED CASKET

A GILTWOOD PIER MIRROR

An unusual early 19th century ormolu mounted casket with panels of various minerals and marbles.

England, circa 1830

An unusual 18th century south German rococo mirror in the English manner. The sides and cresting surmounted by gilt scrolling baldacchino above a delicately fashioned chinoiserie pierced lattice, throughout subsidiary scrolls with foliate ornament in high relief enrich almost every surface.

Germany, circa 1770

Height: 3½in/9cm Width: 9in/22.5cm Depth: 4½in/11cm O3E0063

Height: 58in/148cm Width: 31½in/80cm O3C0251

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AN ORMOLU MOUNTED CASKET

A GILTWOOD PIER MIRROR

An unusual early 19th century ormolu mounted casket with panels of various minerals and marbles.

England, circa 1830

An unusual 18th century south German rococo mirror in the English manner. The sides and cresting surmounted by gilt scrolling baldacchino above a delicately fashioned chinoiserie pierced lattice, throughout subsidiary scrolls with foliate ornament in high relief enrich almost every surface.

Germany, circa 1770

Height: 3½in/9cm Width: 9in/22.5cm Depth: 4½in/11cm O3E0063

Height: 58in/148cm Width: 31½in/80cm O3C0251

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A MAHOGANY MANX TABLE A George II mahogany Isle of Man ‘Manx’ occasional table of superb colour and patina throughout, the finely figured circular tilt top above an open ended box support containing a joining peg, above a tapering column with turned roundels at the base.

The tripod legs carved in the form of gentlemen’s breeches, with stockinged legs terminating in elegant buckled shoes.

England, circa 1745 Height: 29in/74cm Diameter: 32½in/83cm F3E0081

‘Manx’ refers to the traditional language historically spoken on the Isle of Man, sharing its roots with early Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The term is now used in a broader sense, to denote commodities and ‘traits’ from the Isle of Man. The design of this particular table, with its three spurred legs bent at the knee, was inspired by the traditional Manx symbol of the Triskele.

The Triskele symbol itself dates back to ancient times taking various interlocking forms, however, it was particularly characteristic in Celtic craftsmanship during the European Iron Age. A simplified form of the symbol has been found on coins dating back to the 10th century Norse King, Amlaíb Cuarán, whose reign at the time included the Isle of Man. The symbol was retained through consecutive successors of Manx kings, becoming a royal armorial emblem in the mid 13th century, when control of the island passed briefly to the Crown of Scotland and then permanently to the Crown of England.

The Triskelion was introduced in 1931 as the national flag after the Isle of Man relinquished the Union Jack.

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A MAHOGANY MANX TABLE A George II mahogany Isle of Man ‘Manx’ occasional table of superb colour and patina throughout, the finely figured circular tilt top above an open ended box support containing a joining peg, above a tapering column with turned roundels at the base.

The tripod legs carved in the form of gentlemen’s breeches, with stockinged legs terminating in elegant buckled shoes.

England, circa 1745 Height: 29in/74cm Diameter: 32½in/83cm F3E0081

‘Manx’ refers to the traditional language historically spoken on the Isle of Man, sharing its roots with early Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The term is now used in a broader sense, to denote commodities and ‘traits’ from the Isle of Man. The design of this particular table, with its three spurred legs bent at the knee, was inspired by the traditional Manx symbol of the Triskele.

The Triskele symbol itself dates back to ancient times taking various interlocking forms, however, it was particularly characteristic in Celtic craftsmanship during the European Iron Age. A simplified form of the symbol has been found on coins dating back to the 10th century Norse King, Amlaíb Cuarán, whose reign at the time included the Isle of Man. The symbol was retained through consecutive successors of Manx kings, becoming a royal armorial emblem in the mid 13th century, when control of the island passed briefly to the Crown of Scotland and then permanently to the Crown of England.

The Triskelion was introduced in 1931 as the national flag after the Isle of Man relinquished the Union Jack.

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AN ORMOLU AND OPALINE CHANDELIER An elegant mid 19th century eight light gilt bronze and opaline glass chandelier suspended on four stylised foliate chains issuing from a central corona, the opaline glass interior vase and receiver bowl are further decorated with floral work and sprays of flowers.

France, circa 1850 Height: 48in/122cm Width: 32in/81cm L3D0248

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AN ORMOLU AND OPALINE CHANDELIER An elegant mid 19th century eight light gilt bronze and opaline glass chandelier suspended on four stylised foliate chains issuing from a central corona, the opaline glass interior vase and receiver bowl are further decorated with floral work and sprays of flowers.

France, circa 1850 Height: 48in/122cm Width: 32in/81cm L3D0248

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A WILLIAM AND MARY BLANKET CASE A rare late 17th century japanned blanket chest richly decorated in the manner of coromandel incised lacquer with scenes of Chinese courtiers in landscape settings on a reddish burnt umber ground, with borders of gilt decoration and having an elaborate pierced gilt brass engraved escutcheon, standing on later turned bun feet.

England, circa 1690 Height: 30in/76cm Width: 44½in/113cm Depth: 23in/59cm F3D0238

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A WILLIAM AND MARY BLANKET CASE A rare late 17th century japanned blanket chest richly decorated in the manner of coromandel incised lacquer with scenes of Chinese courtiers in landscape settings on a reddish burnt umber ground, with borders of gilt decoration and having an elaborate pierced gilt brass engraved escutcheon, standing on later turned bun feet.

England, circa 1690 Height: 30in/76cm Width: 44½in/113cm Depth: 23in/59cm F3D0238

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A PAIR OF CAST IRON CONSOLE TABLES A highly unusual pair of mid 19th century polished iron rococo revival side tables, each having a mask in the centre of the frieze supported by scrolls and classical motif, standing on leaf and scroll cast cabriole legs joined by a shaped stretcher, stamped JAMES YATES/ Rotherham, one table stamped Registered, March 22 1842 No 1148, the other stamped Registered, March 22 1842 No 1148, with replaced serpentine white marble tops.

England, circa 1845 Height: 33in/83.5cm Width: 58½in/149cm Depth: 24½in/62.5cm F3D0292

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A PAIR OF CAST IRON CONSOLE TABLES A highly unusual pair of mid 19th century polished iron rococo revival side tables, each having a mask in the centre of the frieze supported by scrolls and classical motif, standing on leaf and scroll cast cabriole legs joined by a shaped stretcher, stamped JAMES YATES/ Rotherham, one table stamped Registered, March 22 1842 No 1148, the other stamped Registered, March 22 1842 No 1148, with replaced serpentine white marble tops.

England, circa 1845 Height: 33in/83.5cm Width: 58½in/149cm Depth: 24½in/62.5cm F3D0292

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James Yates (d. 1881) trained as a model maker at the Walker family foundry before taking over the business in 1823 with Charles Samuel Roberts Sandford, renaming themselves the New Foundry in Rotherham. During the following years the foundry expanded significantly, acquiring a new forge in 1831 for the specific manufacture of large wrought iron products, along with new premises known as the Phoenix Works. In 1838, the partnership then split and Yates took over the Phoenix Works and the original foundry in Rotherham, before entering partnership again in 1846 with George Haywood and John Drabble, forming Yates Haywood & Co. A successful venture, the company went on to feature at the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park in 1851.

The 1830’s and 1840’s were decades of rapid expansion for the iron industry. The development of the rail network allowed the iron foundries to meet a growing demand for domestic ware and as such, the use of finely cast more elaborate designs, increased at the same time. Mr. John Guest, a local Rotherham historian described the business as producing “a vast range of articles from the most elegant design and exquisite finish...ornamental tables in the richest style of the French and Italian taste with festoons of flowers and scrollwork”.

A console table of similar form by Yates Haywood & Co., illustrated in Georg Himmelheber’s book Cast-Iron Furniture, features clear similarities in the use of rococo revival elements, for example the bold use of scrollwork on the tops of the legs, acanthus leaf motif and a central cartouche, or classical masks as used on the Mallett pair of tables, centering the frieze.

LITERATURE

Georg Himmelheber, Cast-Iron Furniture and All Other Forms of Iron Furniture, London, 1996, plate 228.

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James Yates (d. 1881) trained as a model maker at the Walker family foundry before taking over the business in 1823 with Charles Samuel Roberts Sandford, renaming themselves the New Foundry in Rotherham. During the following years the foundry expanded significantly, acquiring a new forge in 1831 for the specific manufacture of large wrought iron products, along with new premises known as the Phoenix Works. In 1838, the partnership then split and Yates took over the Phoenix Works and the original foundry in Rotherham, before entering partnership again in 1846 with George Haywood and John Drabble, forming Yates Haywood & Co. A successful venture, the company went on to feature at the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park in 1851.

The 1830’s and 1840’s were decades of rapid expansion for the iron industry. The development of the rail network allowed the iron foundries to meet a growing demand for domestic ware and as such, the use of finely cast more elaborate designs, increased at the same time. Mr. John Guest, a local Rotherham historian described the business as producing “a vast range of articles from the most elegant design and exquisite finish...ornamental tables in the richest style of the French and Italian taste with festoons of flowers and scrollwork”.

A console table of similar form by Yates Haywood & Co., illustrated in Georg Himmelheber’s book Cast-Iron Furniture, features clear similarities in the use of rococo revival elements, for example the bold use of scrollwork on the tops of the legs, acanthus leaf motif and a central cartouche, or classical masks as used on the Mallett pair of tables, centering the frieze.

LITERATURE

Georg Himmelheber, Cast-Iron Furniture and All Other Forms of Iron Furniture, London, 1996, plate 228.

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LO N D O N • N E W YO R K

A CANTON ENAMEL EWER AND BASIN A fine Qianlong period canton enamel ewer and basin, the nautilus shell-shaped ewer brightly enamelled with bands of floral decoration and geometric pattern on a yellow ground, the shell-shaped basin profusely decorated with lotus flower, peach blossom and meandering floral displays, the volutes radiating from a centrally-placed cockerel on a white ground, standing on three conical feet, the reverse similarly decorated.

China, circa 1740 Height of ewer: 9in/23.5cm Width of basin: 15in/38.5cm O3E0037

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LO N D O N • N E W YO R K

A CANTON ENAMEL EWER AND BASIN A fine Qianlong period canton enamel ewer and basin, the nautilus shell-shaped ewer brightly enamelled with bands of floral decoration and geometric pattern on a yellow ground, the shell-shaped basin profusely decorated with lotus flower, peach blossom and meandering floral displays, the volutes radiating from a centrally-placed cockerel on a white ground, standing on three conical feet, the reverse similarly decorated.

China, circa 1740 Height of ewer: 9in/23.5cm Width of basin: 15in/38.5cm O3E0037

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THE SPENCER HOUSE CHAIRS A magnificent pair of George II carved armchairs, attributed to John Gordon to designs by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, each with a cartouche shaped padded back upholstered ‘à chassis’.

The husk-carved top rail centred by a ‘C’ scroll cresting and with beaded and acanthus-carved stiles, the lower back rail fluted and centred by a palm flower motif, the arms with scrolled terminals and acanthus-carved supports, above serpentine arched and fluted seat-rails centred by palm flower-carved beaded reserves, on fluted and beaded cabriole legs each headed by a palm leaf cartouche and with scrolled feet in the French style.

England , circa 1760 Height: 42in/107cm Width: 28in/71cm Depth: 29in/74cm F3E0009

These serpentine chairs were commissioned around 1758-65

by John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer for Spencer House and with their removable ‘à chassis' frames, relate to French ‘chair’ patterns illustrated in Thomas Chippendale's Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 1754-63. Enriched with palm flowers, these chairs originally formed part of an extensive suite of seat furniture, executed in two finishes – exotic fustic and white painted and parcel gilt in the French manner. Of the fustic suite, at least nine open armchairs, four pairs of stools of differing sizes and a settee were supplied – of which five armchairs and two pairs of stools remain at Althorp. The white and gold suite was larger still: commissioned for the Great Room and its adjoining withdrawing room, known as Lady Spencer's Dressing Room on the piano nobile. The original parcel gilt suite included four sofas, twenty six armchairs and eighteen side chairs.

The use of fustic is very unusual, but the extreme hardness allows for the crispest of carved detailing. Fustic, Maclura tinctoria is a tropical timber originating in the Caribbean and South America, whose heartwood, a golden bright yellow,

darkens to a rich medium brown over time, evident in these chairs. The density is more than twice that of Cuban mahogany, registering 2,400 lbs on the Janka scale. Its popular name is Dyer’s mulberry because its heartwood yielded a stable yellow dye extensively used in coloring fabrics from the early 16th century, as it was both stronger and more long lasting than the traditional fustic, obtained from the small European shrub Cotinus Coggygria since the Middle Ages.

This timber was extensively imported from the West Indies and South America from the early 16th century, shortly after Columbus’ voyage, and by the 1830’s over 6,000 tons a year was being imported annually to Britain. During the First World War, imports to the United States increased to over 14,000 tons annually because synthetic dyes from Europe were interrupted and Army uniforms were no longer blue and red, but khaki.

However, fustic was ignored by cabinet-makers because this dense timber was extremely difficult to carve in the solid.

One of its rare uses is as highly figured ground veneer on a commode commissioned from Chippendale for Lady Winn’s bedchamber at Nostell Priory. The unique use of fustic for this suite of chairs has ensured that the overall condition of the carving and construction remains remarkably fresh and without signs of wear usually found in other chairs from this period and with this rich decoration. Interestingly, the identical suite which was originally white painted and parcel gilt, is also made from a hardwood – although this is identified as Honduran mahogany rather than fustic in S. Weber Soros (ed.), James “Athenian” Stuart: The Rediscovery of Antiquity, New Haven and London, 2006, p. 432, fig. 10-52, p.446.

It seems most probable that this suite was originally commissioned for the Ground Floor apartments at Spencer House – probably for the Drawing Room on the North West corner of the building. Importantly, this room has only one long wall opposite the fireplace – and only one sofa in hardwood is recorded. This was one of the principal reception rooms on the enfilade of the Ground floor and adjoined the Great Eating Parlour to the West, which was also furnished with Vardy's mahogany dining chairs. Contrastingly all the

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THE SPENCER HOUSE CHAIRS A magnificent pair of George II carved armchairs, attributed to John Gordon to designs by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, each with a cartouche shaped padded back upholstered ‘à chassis’.

The husk-carved top rail centred by a ‘C’ scroll cresting and with beaded and acanthus-carved stiles, the lower back rail fluted and centred by a palm flower motif, the arms with scrolled terminals and acanthus-carved supports, above serpentine arched and fluted seat-rails centred by palm flower-carved beaded reserves, on fluted and beaded cabriole legs each headed by a palm leaf cartouche and with scrolled feet in the French style.

England , circa 1760 Height: 42in/107cm Width: 28in/71cm Depth: 29in/74cm F3E0009

These serpentine chairs were commissioned around 1758-65

by John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer for Spencer House and with their removable ‘à chassis' frames, relate to French ‘chair’ patterns illustrated in Thomas Chippendale's Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 1754-63. Enriched with palm flowers, these chairs originally formed part of an extensive suite of seat furniture, executed in two finishes – exotic fustic and white painted and parcel gilt in the French manner. Of the fustic suite, at least nine open armchairs, four pairs of stools of differing sizes and a settee were supplied – of which five armchairs and two pairs of stools remain at Althorp. The white and gold suite was larger still: commissioned for the Great Room and its adjoining withdrawing room, known as Lady Spencer's Dressing Room on the piano nobile. The original parcel gilt suite included four sofas, twenty six armchairs and eighteen side chairs.

The use of fustic is very unusual, but the extreme hardness allows for the crispest of carved detailing. Fustic, Maclura tinctoria is a tropical timber originating in the Caribbean and South America, whose heartwood, a golden bright yellow,

darkens to a rich medium brown over time, evident in these chairs. The density is more than twice that of Cuban mahogany, registering 2,400 lbs on the Janka scale. Its popular name is Dyer’s mulberry because its heartwood yielded a stable yellow dye extensively used in coloring fabrics from the early 16th century, as it was both stronger and more long lasting than the traditional fustic, obtained from the small European shrub Cotinus Coggygria since the Middle Ages.

This timber was extensively imported from the West Indies and South America from the early 16th century, shortly after Columbus’ voyage, and by the 1830’s over 6,000 tons a year was being imported annually to Britain. During the First World War, imports to the United States increased to over 14,000 tons annually because synthetic dyes from Europe were interrupted and Army uniforms were no longer blue and red, but khaki.

However, fustic was ignored by cabinet-makers because this dense timber was extremely difficult to carve in the solid.

One of its rare uses is as highly figured ground veneer on a commode commissioned from Chippendale for Lady Winn’s bedchamber at Nostell Priory. The unique use of fustic for this suite of chairs has ensured that the overall condition of the carving and construction remains remarkably fresh and without signs of wear usually found in other chairs from this period and with this rich decoration. Interestingly, the identical suite which was originally white painted and parcel gilt, is also made from a hardwood – although this is identified as Honduran mahogany rather than fustic in S. Weber Soros (ed.), James “Athenian” Stuart: The Rediscovery of Antiquity, New Haven and London, 2006, p. 432, fig. 10-52, p.446.

It seems most probable that this suite was originally commissioned for the Ground Floor apartments at Spencer House – probably for the Drawing Room on the North West corner of the building. Importantly, this room has only one long wall opposite the fireplace – and only one sofa in hardwood is recorded. This was one of the principal reception rooms on the enfilade of the Ground floor and adjoined the Great Eating Parlour to the West, which was also furnished with Vardy's mahogany dining chairs. Contrastingly all the

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other principal rooms at Spencer House had giltwood or white painted and parcel gilt suites of seat furniture. A progression from understated but richly carved mahogany through to the crescendo of the Palm Room’s blue painted and parcel gilt scheme, would have chimed with 18th century sensibilities. More importantly, under Henry Holland's direction, we know that the Vardy dining chairs were replaced with a set of lighter Hepplewhite chairs (now at Althorp), and it would seem that François Hervé was engaged simultaneously in providing more comfortable and feminine 'English Louis XVI' giltwood suites, for the Drawing Rooms of both Althorp and Spencer House. It therefore makes perfect sense that both the fustic suite and the Vardy dining chairs had found their way North to Althorp by as early as 1814. Perhaps the explanation lies in the bibliophile obsessions of George John, 2nd Earl Spencer. His unprecedented appetite for literature was unleashed in 1789 and from that date until his death in 1834, he 'spared neither time, labour nor money' in compiling what was to become the finest private library in Europe. As his collections of Caxtons and incunabula grew, the furniture had to give way to make space – and the Palm Room suite was an early victim. Vardy's interior being subjected to the ignominy of a partition of bookshelves instead.

Stuart, whose proposals for the furnishings of Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire in the late 1750s had demonstrated his interest in chair design, is likely to have directed the design of these chairs, whose fluted rails and Grecian palmettes correspond to the rooms' architecture (Harris, L. Robert Adam and Kedleston, London, 1987, pp. 26 and 27).

latter as Gordon's executor. Finally, the documented Gordon Furniture supplied to the 2nd Duke of Atholl for Blair Castle in 1748 provides close stylistic affinities with the Spencer House suites (P. Thornton and J. Hardy, 'The Spencer Furniture at Althorp', Apollo, April 1968, p. 448). It is the combination of these factors that allows for the confident attribution of the suite to the Gordon workshops.

In discussing Stuart's interior decoration, the architect Robert Adam (d. 1792) acknowledged 'Mr Stuart with his usual elegance and taste has contributed greatly towards introducing the true style of antique decoration' (Adam, R. and J. The Works in Architecture, 1773). Arthur Young, writing of Lord Spencer's house, noted – ‘The hangings, carpets, glasses, sofas, chairs, tables, slabs – everything are not only astonishingly beautiful, but contain a vast variety. The carving and gilding is unrivalled. The taste in which every article throughout the whole house is executed is just and elegant’.

PROVENANCE

Supplied to John Spencer, later 1st Earl Spencer (1734-83), almost certainly for the Ground Floor Apartments at Spencer House, London.

Thence by descent to George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (17581834), by whom possibly moved to the new Holland Library at Althorp House, Northamptonshire by 1814.

Thence by descent to John Poyntz, 5th Earl Spencer (18351910), where they are recorded in the Picture Gallery by 1874 and thence by descent.

LITERATURE

John Gordon These suites of seat furniture are likely to have been executed by the carver and chairmaker John Gordon (d. 1777) of St. James's, who may well be the ‘Mr Gordon upholder....to Sir William Chambers' listed as a subscriber to Chamber’s Treatise on Civil Architecture, 1759. Moreover, they almost certainly reflect his association with William Gordon, who was a subscriber to Chippendale's Director in 1754. Surviving documents show that the firm of Gordon and Taitt, with whom John Gordon formed a partnership in 1767, was supplying furniture and carrying out repairs for the Spencers by 1772, including the ‘repairing and gilding’ of the hall lantern at Spencer House and the making of 'loose covers' for Stuart's Painted Room suite.

Avray Tipping, H. ‘Althorp I’, Country Life, 11 June 1921, p. 719, fig. 10, two armchairs photographed in The Picture Gallery Treasures from Althorp, Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1970, F12 Albert Edward John, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975), Althorp, Furniture, Vol. I, circa 1937 and later Cooper, J. The Opulent Eye, Late Victorian and Edwardian Taste in Interior Design. London, 1976, p. 110, pl. 58, the armchairs photographed in 1892 in The Long Gallery, Althorp Gorvy, B. ‘A Year in the Life’, The Antique Collector, September 1993, p. 48, two armchairs photographed in The Picture Gallery at Althorp.

EXHIBITED

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Treasures from Althorp, 1970.

The theory of a longstanding relationship between Gordon and Earl Spencer's steward, Thomas Townsend, suggested by such comprehensive repairs, is confirmed by the appointment of the

Left, the armchairs photographed in the Picture Gallery at Althorp. Country Life, 11 June 1921

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other principal rooms at Spencer House had giltwood or white painted and parcel gilt suites of seat furniture. A progression from understated but richly carved mahogany through to the crescendo of the Palm Room’s blue painted and parcel gilt scheme, would have chimed with 18th century sensibilities. More importantly, under Henry Holland's direction, we know that the Vardy dining chairs were replaced with a set of lighter Hepplewhite chairs (now at Althorp), and it would seem that François Hervé was engaged simultaneously in providing more comfortable and feminine 'English Louis XVI' giltwood suites, for the Drawing Rooms of both Althorp and Spencer House. It therefore makes perfect sense that both the fustic suite and the Vardy dining chairs had found their way North to Althorp by as early as 1814. Perhaps the explanation lies in the bibliophile obsessions of George John, 2nd Earl Spencer. His unprecedented appetite for literature was unleashed in 1789 and from that date until his death in 1834, he 'spared neither time, labour nor money' in compiling what was to become the finest private library in Europe. As his collections of Caxtons and incunabula grew, the furniture had to give way to make space – and the Palm Room suite was an early victim. Vardy's interior being subjected to the ignominy of a partition of bookshelves instead.

Stuart, whose proposals for the furnishings of Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire in the late 1750s had demonstrated his interest in chair design, is likely to have directed the design of these chairs, whose fluted rails and Grecian palmettes correspond to the rooms' architecture (Harris, L. Robert Adam and Kedleston, London, 1987, pp. 26 and 27).

latter as Gordon's executor. Finally, the documented Gordon Furniture supplied to the 2nd Duke of Atholl for Blair Castle in 1748 provides close stylistic affinities with the Spencer House suites (P. Thornton and J. Hardy, 'The Spencer Furniture at Althorp', Apollo, April 1968, p. 448). It is the combination of these factors that allows for the confident attribution of the suite to the Gordon workshops.

In discussing Stuart's interior decoration, the architect Robert Adam (d. 1792) acknowledged 'Mr Stuart with his usual elegance and taste has contributed greatly towards introducing the true style of antique decoration' (Adam, R. and J. The Works in Architecture, 1773). Arthur Young, writing of Lord Spencer's house, noted – ‘The hangings, carpets, glasses, sofas, chairs, tables, slabs – everything are not only astonishingly beautiful, but contain a vast variety. The carving and gilding is unrivalled. The taste in which every article throughout the whole house is executed is just and elegant’.

PROVENANCE

Supplied to John Spencer, later 1st Earl Spencer (1734-83), almost certainly for the Ground Floor Apartments at Spencer House, London.

Thence by descent to George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (17581834), by whom possibly moved to the new Holland Library at Althorp House, Northamptonshire by 1814.

Thence by descent to John Poyntz, 5th Earl Spencer (18351910), where they are recorded in the Picture Gallery by 1874 and thence by descent.

LITERATURE

John Gordon These suites of seat furniture are likely to have been executed by the carver and chairmaker John Gordon (d. 1777) of St. James's, who may well be the ‘Mr Gordon upholder....to Sir William Chambers' listed as a subscriber to Chamber’s Treatise on Civil Architecture, 1759. Moreover, they almost certainly reflect his association with William Gordon, who was a subscriber to Chippendale's Director in 1754. Surviving documents show that the firm of Gordon and Taitt, with whom John Gordon formed a partnership in 1767, was supplying furniture and carrying out repairs for the Spencers by 1772, including the ‘repairing and gilding’ of the hall lantern at Spencer House and the making of 'loose covers' for Stuart's Painted Room suite.

Avray Tipping, H. ‘Althorp I’, Country Life, 11 June 1921, p. 719, fig. 10, two armchairs photographed in The Picture Gallery Treasures from Althorp, Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1970, F12 Albert Edward John, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975), Althorp, Furniture, Vol. I, circa 1937 and later Cooper, J. The Opulent Eye, Late Victorian and Edwardian Taste in Interior Design. London, 1976, p. 110, pl. 58, the armchairs photographed in 1892 in The Long Gallery, Althorp Gorvy, B. ‘A Year in the Life’, The Antique Collector, September 1993, p. 48, two armchairs photographed in The Picture Gallery at Althorp.

EXHIBITED

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Treasures from Althorp, 1970.

The theory of a longstanding relationship between Gordon and Earl Spencer's steward, Thomas Townsend, suggested by such comprehensive repairs, is confirmed by the appointment of the

Left, the armchairs photographed in the Picture Gallery at Althorp. Country Life, 11 June 1921

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LO N D O N • N E W YO R K

A PAIR OF 19TH CENTURY STEEL ANDIRONS WITH A SET OF FIRE IRONS A pair of 19th century steel fire tool stands as rampant lions holding gilded circular batons. The fire irons with brass fluted handles, foliate finials and with smooth polished steel shafts, the shovel with ornate pierced decoration.

England, circa 1880 ANDIRONS

FIRE IRONS

Height: 14in/36cm Width: 5in/13cm Depth: 4½in/11cm

Height: 34in/87cm

O3E0064

O3B0325

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LO N D O N • N E W YO R K

A PAIR OF 19TH CENTURY STEEL ANDIRONS WITH A SET OF FIRE IRONS A pair of 19th century steel fire tool stands as rampant lions holding gilded circular batons. The fire irons with brass fluted handles, foliate finials and with smooth polished steel shafts, the shovel with ornate pierced decoration.

England, circa 1880 ANDIRONS

FIRE IRONS

Height: 14in/36cm Width: 5in/13cm Depth: 4½in/11cm

Height: 34in/87cm

O3E0064

O3B0325

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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY DRUM TABLE A very fine George III mahogany drum table of good colour and patina, the well-figured top with bands of ebony decoration, having four short drawers alternating with four hinged compartments in the frieze, each with ebony stringing, escutcheon and original gilt brass pull handles, the rotating top supported on a turned mahogany pedestal base with four outswept, reeded legs, ending in reeded brass caps and casters.

England, circa 1810 Height: 29in/74.5cm Diameter: 47½in/121cm F3D0197

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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY DRUM TABLE A very fine George III mahogany drum table of good colour and patina, the well-figured top with bands of ebony decoration, having four short drawers alternating with four hinged compartments in the frieze, each with ebony stringing, escutcheon and original gilt brass pull handles, the rotating top supported on a turned mahogany pedestal base with four outswept, reeded legs, ending in reeded brass caps and casters.

England, circa 1810 Height: 29in/74.5cm Diameter: 47½in/121cm F3D0197

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A PAIR OF DIEPPE CARVED IVORY MIRRORS A rare pair of 19th century Dieppe carved ivory mirrors, the oval plates within an applied carved ivory frame decorated with a coat of arms flanked by dolphins also with carved crowns, stylised leaves and further winged cherubs within a giltwood border.

France, circa 1880 Height: 36in/92cm Width: 22½in/57cm Depth: 2½in/6cm O3C0083

The French city of Dieppe was a centre of excellence for producing some of the finest decorative ivory between the 17th and 19th centuries. Dieppe had become a major trading port during the early 17th century and also played an important role in the history of navigation; the Dieppe Maps produced between the 1540’s and 1560’s by eminent local cartographers, were beautiful hand-made maps commissioned by wealthy and royal patrons, charting the evolving maritime discoveries of the new world.

Newly established trade routes to West Africa allowed European merchants to import large quantities of the exotic, gold and malaguette from Sierra Leone and ivory from the coast of Guinea. An important port for the North European trade with Africa, Dieppe sailors and local craftsmen became highly skilled in carving ivory; the nature of the tusk though made it impossible to work with on a grand scale so many of the pieces were small religious or historical sculptures.

However, by the mid 19th century, Dieppe craftsmen developed a unique technique of applying small carved pieces of ivory onto furniture. The effects of this art form were exquisite, evident on this pair of mirrors, yet, few examples of this quality were made as the process was time consuming and required great expertise.

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A PAIR OF DIEPPE CARVED IVORY MIRRORS A rare pair of 19th century Dieppe carved ivory mirrors, the oval plates within an applied carved ivory frame decorated with a coat of arms flanked by dolphins also with carved crowns, stylised leaves and further winged cherubs within a giltwood border.

France, circa 1880 Height: 36in/92cm Width: 22½in/57cm Depth: 2½in/6cm O3C0083

The French city of Dieppe was a centre of excellence for producing some of the finest decorative ivory between the 17th and 19th centuries. Dieppe had become a major trading port during the early 17th century and also played an important role in the history of navigation; the Dieppe Maps produced between the 1540’s and 1560’s by eminent local cartographers, were beautiful hand-made maps commissioned by wealthy and royal patrons, charting the evolving maritime discoveries of the new world.

Newly established trade routes to West Africa allowed European merchants to import large quantities of the exotic, gold and malaguette from Sierra Leone and ivory from the coast of Guinea. An important port for the North European trade with Africa, Dieppe sailors and local craftsmen became highly skilled in carving ivory; the nature of the tusk though made it impossible to work with on a grand scale so many of the pieces were small religious or historical sculptures.

However, by the mid 19th century, Dieppe craftsmen developed a unique technique of applying small carved pieces of ivory onto furniture. The effects of this art form were exquisite, evident on this pair of mirrors, yet, few examples of this quality were made as the process was time consuming and required great expertise.

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A PAIR OF PORCELAIN COURT LADIES

› A PAIR OF GEORGE III PIER TABLES

A fine pair of Qianlong polychrome court ladies, of large scale.

The white porcelain ground decorated with famille rose and blue flowers with gilded highlights throughout. The costumes with amber-coloured borders, the under-dress with a green lower fringe, the corset centred with gilded blue bow below a necklace of pearls and amber suspending a small cross.

China, circa 1750

A pair of George III mahogany pier tables, the ‘D’ shaped tops in fine figured mahogany of rich colour, enhanced with ebony stringing and mahogany cross-banding, the frieze with scoop pattern decoration centred by carved circular patera, supported on square tapering and fluted legs headed by oval patera, standing on block feet.

England, circa 1775

Height: 21in/53cm Width: 8½in/22cm Depth 6in/15cm

Height: 30in/76cm Width: 47in/120cm Depth: 20in/51cm

O3E0046

F3D0195

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A PAIR OF PORCELAIN COURT LADIES

› A PAIR OF GEORGE III PIER TABLES

A fine pair of Qianlong polychrome court ladies, of large scale.

The white porcelain ground decorated with famille rose and blue flowers with gilded highlights throughout. The costumes with amber-coloured borders, the under-dress with a green lower fringe, the corset centred with gilded blue bow below a necklace of pearls and amber suspending a small cross.

China, circa 1750

A pair of George III mahogany pier tables, the ‘D’ shaped tops in fine figured mahogany of rich colour, enhanced with ebony stringing and mahogany cross-banding, the frieze with scoop pattern decoration centred by carved circular patera, supported on square tapering and fluted legs headed by oval patera, standing on block feet.

England, circa 1775

Height: 21in/53cm Width: 8½in/22cm Depth 6in/15cm

Height: 30in/76cm Width: 47in/120cm Depth: 20in/51cm

O3E0046

F3D0195

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A SET OF THREE CHARLES X STOOLS A set of three large scale Charles X parcel gilt stools having turned shaped baluster legs linked by an ‘H’ frame stretcher.

Each stamped BELLANGE and bearing the inventory marks for the Chateau de Versailles.

France, circa 1825 Height: 19½in/50cm Width: 19½in/50cm F3D0245

Pierre Bellangé was born around 1760 and became a ‘maitre menuisier’ in 1788. He managed to survive successfully and even flourish through the turbulent times of the end of the ‘ancien regime’, through the Revolution and the Empire to end his days in the exalted position of being ‘ébéniste du Roi’ to Louis-Philippe in 1844. Throughout his career his work was always sought after and he seems to have enjoyed a life free

from the usual turmoil of bankruptcy or worse that afflicted most of his generation. With immaculate timing he moved into ‘ébénisterie’ when merely being a ‘menuisier’ did not suffice and he made partnerships with equal skill. If we look back on his career we see that he held a position amongst the front ranks of those who fashioned the decorative arts of the early 19th century.

The Bellangé stamp

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A SET OF THREE CHARLES X STOOLS A set of three large scale Charles X parcel gilt stools having turned shaped baluster legs linked by an ‘H’ frame stretcher.

Each stamped BELLANGE and bearing the inventory marks for the Chateau de Versailles.

France, circa 1825 Height: 19½in/50cm Width: 19½in/50cm F3D0245

Pierre Bellangé was born around 1760 and became a ‘maitre menuisier’ in 1788. He managed to survive successfully and even flourish through the turbulent times of the end of the ‘ancien regime’, through the Revolution and the Empire to end his days in the exalted position of being ‘ébéniste du Roi’ to Louis-Philippe in 1844. Throughout his career his work was always sought after and he seems to have enjoyed a life free

from the usual turmoil of bankruptcy or worse that afflicted most of his generation. With immaculate timing he moved into ‘ébénisterie’ when merely being a ‘menuisier’ did not suffice and he made partnerships with equal skill. If we look back on his career we see that he held a position amongst the front ranks of those who fashioned the decorative arts of the early 19th century.

The Bellangé stamp

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A CHINESE EXPORT GAMES TABLE A rare mid 19th century Chinese export lacquer games table, decorated throughout in gold on a black ground, with scenes of courtiers in gardens with bridges and pavilions, the rotating, shaped top with concave sides and re-entrant corners, decorated with an elaborate Greek key motif entwined with foliate decoration. Having a reversible playing board opened by pressing a secret catch underneath, and revealing a mother-of-pearl and lacquer chess board and a sunken backgammon well, the single drawer opening to reveal five lacquer boxes for game pieces, each lid being further decorated with landscapes, standing on a bird cage and turned tripod base, the carved legs ending in open-mouthed dragon’s head feet with red lacquer tongues.

China, circa 1840

This Chinese export games table closely resembles the table made for the Crowninshield family of Salem, Massachusetts, now in the collection of the Peabody Museum, Salem (illustrated in The China Trade, p. 276, pl 152). Although the basic form is typical of an English Georgian example, of a centre table with a bird cage beneath the top and a tripod base, the lacquer decoration makes for an extremely elaborate and beautiful finish and the carved dragons on the legs, each with an open mouth revealing a red tongue, replace the characteristic carved leg and ball and claw foot. The table is an exceptional example of the way English forms were being combined with traditional Chinese motif, thus creating exotic pieces made for the export markets of both Europe and America.

LITERATURE

Height: 28½in/73cm Width: 32in/82cm Depth: 26½in/68cm F3D0156

Crossman. C, The China Trade: Export Paintings, Furniture, Silver and Other Objects. London, (Antique Collector’s Club), 1997. P. 276, pl 152.

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A CHINESE EXPORT GAMES TABLE A rare mid 19th century Chinese export lacquer games table, decorated throughout in gold on a black ground, with scenes of courtiers in gardens with bridges and pavilions, the rotating, shaped top with concave sides and re-entrant corners, decorated with an elaborate Greek key motif entwined with foliate decoration. Having a reversible playing board opened by pressing a secret catch underneath, and revealing a mother-of-pearl and lacquer chess board and a sunken backgammon well, the single drawer opening to reveal five lacquer boxes for game pieces, each lid being further decorated with landscapes, standing on a bird cage and turned tripod base, the carved legs ending in open-mouthed dragon’s head feet with red lacquer tongues.

China, circa 1840

This Chinese export games table closely resembles the table made for the Crowninshield family of Salem, Massachusetts, now in the collection of the Peabody Museum, Salem (illustrated in The China Trade, p. 276, pl 152). Although the basic form is typical of an English Georgian example, of a centre table with a bird cage beneath the top and a tripod base, the lacquer decoration makes for an extremely elaborate and beautiful finish and the carved dragons on the legs, each with an open mouth revealing a red tongue, replace the characteristic carved leg and ball and claw foot. The table is an exceptional example of the way English forms were being combined with traditional Chinese motif, thus creating exotic pieces made for the export markets of both Europe and America.

LITERATURE

Height: 28½in/73cm Width: 32in/82cm Depth: 26½in/68cm F3D0156

Crossman. C, The China Trade: Export Paintings, Furniture, Silver and Other Objects. London, (Antique Collector’s Club), 1997. P. 276, pl 152.

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A MID 19TH CENTURY CIGAR CUTTER

AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY WORK TABLE

A very fine mid 19th century mahogany cigar cutter in the form of a guillotine.

England, circa 1865

An early 19th century work table veneered in finely figured rosewood and decorated with elegant boxwood stringing with ivory details. The shaped, hinged, top opening to reveal a cedar-lined compartment, the front with a single drawer, with cedar divisions, beneath two dummy drawers, all retaining their original finely cast brass handles centred with lion masks.

The sides similarly decorated with boldly cast brass lion masks with ring handles retaining original gilding. The elegantly tapering legs ending in their original brass castors and joined by concave stretchers.

Attributed to Gillows.

England, circa 1805

Height: 16in/40.5cm Width: 7½in/19cm Depth: 7in/18cm O3E0013

Height: 28½in/72cm Width: 20in/51cm Depth: 13½in/34.5cm F3D0283

The work table is of noticeably fine quality as shown by the excellent rosewood chosen for its veneers, the solid mahogany top and the well cast and chased neo-classical handles. The elegantly restrained decoration is limited to geometric boxwood stringing upon the body of the cabinet, and a contrasting attenuated gothic design on the front of the legs which begins and terminates in small ivory dots. The overall quality, and this particular feature suggests the table was made by the famed English firm of Gillows. Comparable decoration can be seen on a table made by the firm for Sir John Shaw Stewart for Ardgowan in Renfrewshire, illustrated in Susan E. Stewart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, plate 235. Stewart notes that this motif can also be seen in a fine clock case, plate 506, made for Gillows by Isaac Greenwood and in a drawing of a pier table in the firm’s ‘Estimate Sketch Book’ of March 1801.

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A MID 19TH CENTURY CIGAR CUTTER

AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY WORK TABLE

A very fine mid 19th century mahogany cigar cutter in the form of a guillotine.

England, circa 1865

An early 19th century work table veneered in finely figured rosewood and decorated with elegant boxwood stringing with ivory details. The shaped, hinged, top opening to reveal a cedar-lined compartment, the front with a single drawer, with cedar divisions, beneath two dummy drawers, all retaining their original finely cast brass handles centred with lion masks.

The sides similarly decorated with boldly cast brass lion masks with ring handles retaining original gilding. The elegantly tapering legs ending in their original brass castors and joined by concave stretchers.

Attributed to Gillows.

England, circa 1805

Height: 16in/40.5cm Width: 7½in/19cm Depth: 7in/18cm O3E0013

Height: 28½in/72cm Width: 20in/51cm Depth: 13½in/34.5cm F3D0283

The work table is of noticeably fine quality as shown by the excellent rosewood chosen for its veneers, the solid mahogany top and the well cast and chased neo-classical handles. The elegantly restrained decoration is limited to geometric boxwood stringing upon the body of the cabinet, and a contrasting attenuated gothic design on the front of the legs which begins and terminates in small ivory dots. The overall quality, and this particular feature suggests the table was made by the famed English firm of Gillows. Comparable decoration can be seen on a table made by the firm for Sir John Shaw Stewart for Ardgowan in Renfrewshire, illustrated in Susan E. Stewart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, plate 235. Stewart notes that this motif can also be seen in a fine clock case, plate 506, made for Gillows by Isaac Greenwood and in a drawing of a pier table in the firm’s ‘Estimate Sketch Book’ of March 1801.

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III GILTWOOD SETTEES A fine pair of George III neo-classical carved giltwood settees in the manner of John Linnell, the frames carved throughout with a neo-classical leaf motif, with the arms further enriched with a line of beading, flanked by further leaf ornament, resting on fluted tapering legs.

England, circa 1775 Height: 37½in/95cm Width: 80in/203cm Depth: 33½in/85cm F3E0007

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III GILTWOOD SETTEES A fine pair of George III neo-classical carved giltwood settees in the manner of John Linnell, the frames carved throughout with a neo-classical leaf motif, with the arms further enriched with a line of beading, flanked by further leaf ornament, resting on fluted tapering legs.

England, circa 1775 Height: 37½in/95cm Width: 80in/203cm Depth: 33½in/85cm F3E0007

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A drawing in the V&A by the Linnell firm proposing designs for the side of a grand room, with the silhouette of a very similar settee on the right hand side, c. 1775-80.

This archetypal late eighteenth century model of settee was popularised by the neo-classical architect Robert Adam for his affluent clients. The model, with sweeping moulded back rail and down swept arms supported on a shallow curved apron and four fluted front legs, has similarities with a number of documented works by the London cabinet-maker John Linnell.

LITERATURE

Hayward, H. & Kirkham, P. William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers. London, 1980, p.116.

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A drawing in the V&A by the Linnell firm proposing designs for the side of a grand room, with the silhouette of a very similar settee on the right hand side, c. 1775-80.

This archetypal late eighteenth century model of settee was popularised by the neo-classical architect Robert Adam for his affluent clients. The model, with sweeping moulded back rail and down swept arms supported on a shallow curved apron and four fluted front legs, has similarities with a number of documented works by the London cabinet-maker John Linnell.

LITERATURE

Hayward, H. & Kirkham, P. William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers. London, 1980, p.116.

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A GEORGE II COLLECTOR’S CABINET A rare George II mahogany collector’s cabinet of small scale, the rotating envelope top above two long doors opening to reveal four graduated drawers, with pull handles above four circular cabriole legs with stylised leaf knees. The whole terminating in pad feet and separated by a shaped shelf on brass castors, the sides with carrying handles.

England, circa 1740 Height: 28½in/73cm Width: 13in/33cm Depth: 13in/33cm F3E0106

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A GEORGE II COLLECTOR’S CABINET A rare George II mahogany collector’s cabinet of small scale, the rotating envelope top above two long doors opening to reveal four graduated drawers, with pull handles above four circular cabriole legs with stylised leaf knees. The whole terminating in pad feet and separated by a shaped shelf on brass castors, the sides with carrying handles.

England, circa 1740 Height: 28½in/73cm Width: 13in/33cm Depth: 13in/33cm F3E0106

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AN ORMOLU AND CUT GLASS CHANDELIER A fine early 19th century Russian gilt bronze and cut glass globe chandelier, after designs by Alexandre Guérin, the upper corona with a berried and acanthus finial framed with bold cast anthemion, with an elaborate chain inset with cast palmettes, supporting a lobed and diamond cut glass orb in two sections, surrounded by a band of laurel leaves with alternating swans and eagle-headed candle holders complete with nozzles and drip-pans, at the centre a gilt bronze urn with tooled decoration, the whole terminating in a large pinecone finial.

Russia, circa 1830

This chandelier derives from a design executed by Alexandre Guérin for a similar piece commissioned in 1828, for the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. The sophisticated Empire style is almost certainly inspired by the work of the prominent French bronzier, Pierre-Philippe Thomire. The spherical body, urn-shaped tooled finial and distinctive eaglehead scrolled branches, relate the chandelier to the oeuvre of this particular bronzier, who worked in St. Petersburg from 1810 to 1848.

LITERATURE

Height: 43½in/110.5cm Diameter: 18in/46cm L3D0192

Sychev, I. The Russian Chandeliers 1760 – 1830. St. Petersburg, 2003, p.174.

Sychev, I. Russian Bronze: Encyclopaedia of Russian Antiques.

Moscow, 2003, p.111.

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AN ORMOLU AND CUT GLASS CHANDELIER A fine early 19th century Russian gilt bronze and cut glass globe chandelier, after designs by Alexandre Guérin, the upper corona with a berried and acanthus finial framed with bold cast anthemion, with an elaborate chain inset with cast palmettes, supporting a lobed and diamond cut glass orb in two sections, surrounded by a band of laurel leaves with alternating swans and eagle-headed candle holders complete with nozzles and drip-pans, at the centre a gilt bronze urn with tooled decoration, the whole terminating in a large pinecone finial.

Russia, circa 1830

This chandelier derives from a design executed by Alexandre Guérin for a similar piece commissioned in 1828, for the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. The sophisticated Empire style is almost certainly inspired by the work of the prominent French bronzier, Pierre-Philippe Thomire. The spherical body, urn-shaped tooled finial and distinctive eaglehead scrolled branches, relate the chandelier to the oeuvre of this particular bronzier, who worked in St. Petersburg from 1810 to 1848.

LITERATURE

Height: 43½in/110.5cm Diameter: 18in/46cm L3D0192

Sychev, I. The Russian Chandeliers 1760 – 1830. St. Petersburg, 2003, p.174.

Sychev, I. Russian Bronze: Encyclopaedia of Russian Antiques.

Moscow, 2003, p.111.

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A JAPANESE IVORY KODANSU

AN EMPIRE GUERIDON

A fine two-door ivory cabinet on lacquer wooden base carved and decorated in two tones of gold, with black hiramaki-e and takamaki-e lacquer, depicting birds in a rocky landscape and the reverse of sailing boats across an island sea. The doors open to reveal a fitted interior with drawers and sliding doors, all mounted with engraved gilded copper fittings and having a lower drawer beneath.

Japan, circa 1890

An empire mahogany gueridon, profusely mounted with gilt bronze. The frieze has a brass stringing line along the bottom edge. The table stands on a hexagonal baluster stem supported on a scrolled tripod plinth and terminating in bronze claw feet.

Attributed to JJ Werner.

France, circa 1820

Height: 7½in/19cm Width: 6½in/17cm Depth: 3in/7.5cm O3D0054

Height: 28½in/73cm Diameter: 39in/99cm F3B0302

Jean-Jacques Werner (1791-1849) was born into a wealthy family in the Canton de Vaud region of Switzerland, later assuming French nationality in 1826 he became one of the most illustrious cabinet-makers of the Restauration period.

He was established as an ébéniste in 1812 and won great acclaim at the Paris Expositions of 1819 and 1823 for his innovative use of combining rare woods with intricate marquetry. He also frequently embellished his pieces with beautifully executed gilt bronze mounts, particularly anthemion motif which typified the period. Werner enjoyed considerable success, earning the patronage of the Bonaparte family, the Duchesse de Berry and the King of Bavaria among other notable patrons; examples of his work can be seen at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Grand Trianon at Versailles.

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A JAPANESE IVORY KODANSU

AN EMPIRE GUERIDON

A fine two-door ivory cabinet on lacquer wooden base carved and decorated in two tones of gold, with black hiramaki-e and takamaki-e lacquer, depicting birds in a rocky landscape and the reverse of sailing boats across an island sea. The doors open to reveal a fitted interior with drawers and sliding doors, all mounted with engraved gilded copper fittings and having a lower drawer beneath.

Japan, circa 1890

An empire mahogany gueridon, profusely mounted with gilt bronze. The frieze has a brass stringing line along the bottom edge. The table stands on a hexagonal baluster stem supported on a scrolled tripod plinth and terminating in bronze claw feet.

Attributed to JJ Werner.

France, circa 1820

Height: 7½in/19cm Width: 6½in/17cm Depth: 3in/7.5cm O3D0054

Height: 28½in/73cm Diameter: 39in/99cm F3B0302

Jean-Jacques Werner (1791-1849) was born into a wealthy family in the Canton de Vaud region of Switzerland, later assuming French nationality in 1826 he became one of the most illustrious cabinet-makers of the Restauration period.

He was established as an ébéniste in 1812 and won great acclaim at the Paris Expositions of 1819 and 1823 for his innovative use of combining rare woods with intricate marquetry. He also frequently embellished his pieces with beautifully executed gilt bronze mounts, particularly anthemion motif which typified the period. Werner enjoyed considerable success, earning the patronage of the Bonaparte family, the Duchesse de Berry and the King of Bavaria among other notable patrons; examples of his work can be seen at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Grand Trianon at Versailles.

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A GEORGE III IVORY TEA CADDY A very fine George III gold-mounted decagonal ivory and tortoiseshell-strung tea caddy, the hinged lid with gold ring handle centering a star of mother-of-pearl beadwork, the sides veneered in ivory, the front enriched with a rectangular, shieldshaped cartouche, the escutcheon draped with gold husk decoration, with a swag-bordered blue jasperware medallion of a classical hero, the interior with remnants of foil lining, retaining its original key and internal cover.

England, circa 1790 Height: 5in/12.5cm Width: 4½in/11cm Depth: 3in/7.5cm O3E0040

› A PAIR OF LOUIS XV FAUTEUILS A very rare pair of Louis XV polychrome fauteuils, the backs enriched at the sides and at the apex with high relief carved foliate ornament echoed on the cabriole legs and front seat rail, each chair bordered with a scrolling reed motif throughout.

Indistinctly stamped on the back rail.

Attributed to Nicolas Heurtaut.

France, circa 1750 Height: 42in/107cm Width: 28in/71cm Depth: 22in/56cm F3D0306

LITERATURE

Dell, T. Furniture in Frick Collection, French 18th & 19th Century Furniture (part 2) & Gilt Bronzes. Princeton University Press, 1992, p. 192.

Pallot, Bill G.B. L’art du Siècle au XVIIIs Siècle en France.

Paris 1987, p. 291-292.

Nicolas Heurtaut (1720 -1771) was one of the most renowned craftsmen of the 18th century. Trained in the workshop of his father, specialist carver Claude Heurtaut (1687-1749), Nicolas became a master carver in 1742 before opening an atelier in the rue Neuve-de-Clery in 1752. Early in his career Heurtaut worked in a robust rocaille style showcasing his skills as a master sculptor. Parisian style rapidly changed in the middle of the eighteenth century and the influence of designers like JusteAurèle Meissonnier waned. Patrons sought a more restrained rococo approaching the neo-classicism characteristic of the Louis XVI style. Many of Heurtaut’s surviving works date to this period of emerging decorative restraint. The fauteuils offered here are particularly rich examples with polychrome decoration and carved flowers on the crest rail and apron. The elaborate rocaille shells and grotesque decoration present on Heurtaut’s chairs of the early 1750’s are here reduced to a few abstract foliate motifs and sinuous lines echoing the profile of each chair. Heurtaut retains the panel motifs alongside the chair frame present in early examples like those at the Louvre.

This motif is entirely abandoned in a set of three canapés and four armchairs in the Frick Collection that exhibit a similar decorative program presumably from a later date. The abstract carving on the front legs demonstrates artistic experimentation in reducing the complexity of the design, without losing the dynamic addition of carving.

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A GEORGE III IVORY TEA CADDY A very fine George III gold-mounted decagonal ivory and tortoiseshell-strung tea caddy, the hinged lid with gold ring handle centering a star of mother-of-pearl beadwork, the sides veneered in ivory, the front enriched with a rectangular, shieldshaped cartouche, the escutcheon draped with gold husk decoration, with a swag-bordered blue jasperware medallion of a classical hero, the interior with remnants of foil lining, retaining its original key and internal cover.

England, circa 1790 Height: 5in/12.5cm Width: 4½in/11cm Depth: 3in/7.5cm O3E0040

› A PAIR OF LOUIS XV FAUTEUILS A very rare pair of Louis XV polychrome fauteuils, the backs enriched at the sides and at the apex with high relief carved foliate ornament echoed on the cabriole legs and front seat rail, each chair bordered with a scrolling reed motif throughout.

Indistinctly stamped on the back rail.

Attributed to Nicolas Heurtaut.

France, circa 1750 Height: 42in/107cm Width: 28in/71cm Depth: 22in/56cm F3D0306

LITERATURE

Dell, T. Furniture in Frick Collection, French 18th & 19th Century Furniture (part 2) & Gilt Bronzes. Princeton University Press, 1992, p. 192.

Pallot, Bill G.B. L’art du Siècle au XVIIIs Siècle en France.

Paris 1987, p. 291-292.

Nicolas Heurtaut (1720 -1771) was one of the most renowned craftsmen of the 18th century. Trained in the workshop of his father, specialist carver Claude Heurtaut (1687-1749), Nicolas became a master carver in 1742 before opening an atelier in the rue Neuve-de-Clery in 1752. Early in his career Heurtaut worked in a robust rocaille style showcasing his skills as a master sculptor. Parisian style rapidly changed in the middle of the eighteenth century and the influence of designers like JusteAurèle Meissonnier waned. Patrons sought a more restrained rococo approaching the neo-classicism characteristic of the Louis XVI style. Many of Heurtaut’s surviving works date to this period of emerging decorative restraint. The fauteuils offered here are particularly rich examples with polychrome decoration and carved flowers on the crest rail and apron. The elaborate rocaille shells and grotesque decoration present on Heurtaut’s chairs of the early 1750’s are here reduced to a few abstract foliate motifs and sinuous lines echoing the profile of each chair. Heurtaut retains the panel motifs alongside the chair frame present in early examples like those at the Louvre.

This motif is entirely abandoned in a set of three canapés and four armchairs in the Frick Collection that exhibit a similar decorative program presumably from a later date. The abstract carving on the front legs demonstrates artistic experimentation in reducing the complexity of the design, without losing the dynamic addition of carving.

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III CANDELABRA A pair of George III Adam period candelabra on ormolu bases and dark blue rectangular pedestals. Each pedestal is decorated with four blue and white Wedgwood plaques of muses and putti, above which is a glass container supporting a central notched spire and five arms. Two of the arms are central arms with Van Dyck nozzles and pans hung with pear drops. There is a central snake arm hung with a festoon reaching underneath the pans. At the rear are two curled snake arms with circular drop pendants and a festoon leading up to the canopy over the spire. This canopy is also decorated with pear drops and is surmounted by a central urn.

England, circa 1785 Height: 26½in/68cm Width: 16½in/41cm Depth: 11in/28cm L3D0267

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III CANDELABRA A pair of George III Adam period candelabra on ormolu bases and dark blue rectangular pedestals. Each pedestal is decorated with four blue and white Wedgwood plaques of muses and putti, above which is a glass container supporting a central notched spire and five arms. Two of the arms are central arms with Van Dyck nozzles and pans hung with pear drops. There is a central snake arm hung with a festoon reaching underneath the pans. At the rear are two curled snake arms with circular drop pendants and a festoon leading up to the canopy over the spire. This canopy is also decorated with pear drops and is surmounted by a central urn.

England, circa 1785 Height: 26½in/68cm Width: 16½in/41cm Depth: 11in/28cm L3D0267

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A LOUIS XVI SETTEE A Louis XVI painted settee in the manner of Claude Sené, the frame finely carved with neo-classical decoration with gadrooned top rail flanked by small urns, the padded arms resting on spiral fluted columns capped with rosettes and resting on tapering and cable fluted legs terminating in toupie feet.

France, circa 1785 Height: 38½in/98cm Width: 56in/142cm Depth: 26in/66cm F3D0165

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A LOUIS XVI SETTEE A Louis XVI painted settee in the manner of Claude Sené, the frame finely carved with neo-classical decoration with gadrooned top rail flanked by small urns, the padded arms resting on spiral fluted columns capped with rosettes and resting on tapering and cable fluted legs terminating in toupie feet.

France, circa 1785 Height: 38½in/98cm Width: 56in/142cm Depth: 26in/66cm F3D0165

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A RARE WALNUT CHEESE COASTER

A FINE DECALCOMANIA VASE

A most unusual walnut cheese coaster having a particularly fine patina, shaped like a galleon with a lion mask figurehead in front and a carved detail of the captain’s galley behind.

The coaster standing on a base with carved foliate decoration retaining its original wooden casters.

England, circa 1790.

A particularly fine 19th century decalcomania vase and cover of baluster shape, profusely decorated with polychrome chinoiserie against a rare deep blue ground, the main body divided into four panels with alternating scenes of elegant oriental figures, and birds on branches against an ivory ground.

France, circa 1890

Height: 7in/17.5cm Width: 18½in/47cm Depth: 7½in/19.5cm

Height: 19in/48cm Width: 13in/33cm

O3D0142

Decalcomania is the process by which paper picture transfers and designs were applied in a decorative manner onto other more solid materials such as glass, wood and metal. The technique became popular in nineteenth century France and England both amongst amateurs and professionals, resulting in the great variety of quality and design in those examples that survive.

O3D0299

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A RARE WALNUT CHEESE COASTER

A FINE DECALCOMANIA VASE

A most unusual walnut cheese coaster having a particularly fine patina, shaped like a galleon with a lion mask figurehead in front and a carved detail of the captain’s galley behind.

The coaster standing on a base with carved foliate decoration retaining its original wooden casters.

England, circa 1790.

A particularly fine 19th century decalcomania vase and cover of baluster shape, profusely decorated with polychrome chinoiserie against a rare deep blue ground, the main body divided into four panels with alternating scenes of elegant oriental figures, and birds on branches against an ivory ground.

France, circa 1890

Height: 7in/17.5cm Width: 18½in/47cm Depth: 7½in/19.5cm

Height: 19in/48cm Width: 13in/33cm

O3D0142

Decalcomania is the process by which paper picture transfers and designs were applied in a decorative manner onto other more solid materials such as glass, wood and metal. The technique became popular in nineteenth century France and England both amongst amateurs and professionals, resulting in the great variety of quality and design in those examples that survive.

O3D0299

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A BURR WALNUT KIDNEY DESK A fine quality Victorian kidney desk in richly figured burr walnut

by John Barrow for Gillows of Lancaster, the top lined with faded green leather, above three drawers in the frieze and four graduated drawers in each pedestal, each with original Rococo revival gilt brass handles. The sides are locked by means of a winged pilaster with a sliding panel at the capital which marks the escutcheon. The central drawer is stamped Gillows and with the pencil inscription ‘John Barrow, Febry 1859’ to the underside. The locks stamped J.T. NEEDS/ 100 NEW BOND ST/ LATE BRAMAH 124 PICCADILLY’. At the back there are adjustable shelves for small books.

England, circa 1850 Height: 28½in/73cm Width: 51½in/131cm Depth: 22in/56.5cm F3D0179

ILLUSTRATED

The design for this form of desk, Gillows Estimate Sketch Books, (1840) no. 5293, Westminster City Archive, for An Oak Pedestal and Kidney Table supplied to Ferguson & Co. S.Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, vol II, p.215.

The kidney desk originated from a table with a kidney-shaped top. This design, often referred to as a haricot, first appeared as a writing or dressing-table during the Louis XV period (171574) in France before being introduced into England in the late 18th century. The kidney table evolved to incorporate drawers and often small shelves for books and thus became the favoured knee-hole form desk of the Sheraton and Victorian periods. Its practicality of shape and design as well as its pleasing and innovative aesthetics made it very popular. The finest examples of this style of desk were made by Gillows of Lancaster in the late 18th century until the mid-19th century.

John Barrow was the son W.J Barrow, the Liverpool cabinetmaker whose name appears in the Gillow records between 1800-1840. John Barrow was apprenticed to Leonard Redmayne in 1826 and appears in the Gillow records between 1834 and 1848. See S.Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, vol II, p.215. A similar kidney shaped desk in burr walnut stamped Gillows and bearing John Barrow’s pencil signature sold at Sotheby’s London, 15 November 1996, lot 113.

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A BURR WALNUT KIDNEY DESK A fine quality Victorian kidney desk in richly figured burr walnut

by John Barrow for Gillows of Lancaster, the top lined with faded green leather, above three drawers in the frieze and four graduated drawers in each pedestal, each with original Rococo revival gilt brass handles. The sides are locked by means of a winged pilaster with a sliding panel at the capital which marks the escutcheon. The central drawer is stamped Gillows and with the pencil inscription ‘John Barrow, Febry 1859’ to the underside. The locks stamped J.T. NEEDS/ 100 NEW BOND ST/ LATE BRAMAH 124 PICCADILLY’. At the back there are adjustable shelves for small books.

England, circa 1850 Height: 28½in/73cm Width: 51½in/131cm Depth: 22in/56.5cm F3D0179

ILLUSTRATED

The design for this form of desk, Gillows Estimate Sketch Books, (1840) no. 5293, Westminster City Archive, for An Oak Pedestal and Kidney Table supplied to Ferguson & Co. S.Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, vol II, p.215.

The kidney desk originated from a table with a kidney-shaped top. This design, often referred to as a haricot, first appeared as a writing or dressing-table during the Louis XV period (171574) in France before being introduced into England in the late 18th century. The kidney table evolved to incorporate drawers and often small shelves for books and thus became the favoured knee-hole form desk of the Sheraton and Victorian periods. Its practicality of shape and design as well as its pleasing and innovative aesthetics made it very popular. The finest examples of this style of desk were made by Gillows of Lancaster in the late 18th century until the mid-19th century.

John Barrow was the son W.J Barrow, the Liverpool cabinetmaker whose name appears in the Gillow records between 1800-1840. John Barrow was apprenticed to Leonard Redmayne in 1826 and appears in the Gillow records between 1834 and 1848. See S.Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, vol II, p.215. A similar kidney shaped desk in burr walnut stamped Gillows and bearing John Barrow’s pencil signature sold at Sotheby’s London, 15 November 1996, lot 113.

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A SADELI CABINET A rare 19th century Anglo-Indian Sadeli-ware miniature secretaire bookcase. The engraved pediment with stylised scrolling flowers, above two mirror backed doors flanked by hexagonal columns with ivory capitals, opening to reveal pigeon holes above two small drawers, and three further long drawers in alternating floral patterns. All with turned ivory handles and supported on turned ivory feet.

Anglo-Indian, circa 1870 Height: 30½in/78cm Width: 16in/41cm Depth: 6in/15.5cm F3E0022

A detail of the inside panel

The technique of sadeli has been in use since Antiquity, but is particularly associated with the Near and Middle East, whence it spread both west to Italy and east to Persia, where it is known as khatamakari. It arrived in Bombay, via Sindh and Gujarat. The Italian variety of this work was known as ‘alla certosina’, after the Certosa (Charterhouse) of Pavia, one of many places where such work was executed.

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A SADELI CABINET A rare 19th century Anglo-Indian Sadeli-ware miniature secretaire bookcase. The engraved pediment with stylised scrolling flowers, above two mirror backed doors flanked by hexagonal columns with ivory capitals, opening to reveal pigeon holes above two small drawers, and three further long drawers in alternating floral patterns. All with turned ivory handles and supported on turned ivory feet.

Anglo-Indian, circa 1870 Height: 30½in/78cm Width: 16in/41cm Depth: 6in/15.5cm F3E0022

A detail of the inside panel

The technique of sadeli has been in use since Antiquity, but is particularly associated with the Near and Middle East, whence it spread both west to Italy and east to Persia, where it is known as khatamakari. It arrived in Bombay, via Sindh and Gujarat. The Italian variety of this work was known as ‘alla certosina’, after the Certosa (Charterhouse) of Pavia, one of many places where such work was executed.

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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY LIBRARY TABLE A George III mahogany library table of small scale and rich colour, the leather-lined top with carved moulded edge, the frieze having two end drawers enriched with swags of carved husks suspended from rosettes and finished with a band of gadrooned decoration, each corner embellished with carved acanthus decoration and pierced scrollwork brackets, the chamfered legs decorated with blind fretwork and terminating on block feet.

England, circa 1760 Height: 30in/77cm Width: 33½in/85cm Depth: 43½in/110cm F3D0155

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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY LIBRARY TABLE A George III mahogany library table of small scale and rich colour, the leather-lined top with carved moulded edge, the frieze having two end drawers enriched with swags of carved husks suspended from rosettes and finished with a band of gadrooned decoration, each corner embellished with carved acanthus decoration and pierced scrollwork brackets, the chamfered legs decorated with blind fretwork and terminating on block feet.

England, circa 1760 Height: 30in/77cm Width: 33½in/85cm Depth: 43½in/110cm F3D0155

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A CALAMANDER AND SILVER GILT DRESSING CASE A beautiful mid 19th century calamander and silver-gilt dressing case with brass recessed side handles and a central monogram bearing the initials ‘M.I.W’, the interior gold fittings

by Asprey.

England, 1859 Height closed: 7in/17.5cm Height open: 15in/38cm Width: 14in/36cm Depth: 10½in/27cm O3E0110

The interior is lined with dark blue leather, moire silk and velvet, containing twelve ‘hobnail’ cut glass vanity bottles and jars with silver-gilt engraved lids. The solid gold discs inset onto the lids are engraved with the matching initialled monogram. Each of the silver fittings bear the maker’s mark of Abraham Brownett and John Rose, and are hallmarked

London 1859. The larger lids also have the stamp of ‘Asprey – 166 Bond Street’. An embossed leather panel on the inside of the lid displays the gold tooled maker’s mark of ‘ASPREY. MANUFACTURER TO HER MAJESTY. 166 BOND ST W.’ Fitted within the top vanity jar tray is a smaller removable vanity tool tray containing a mother-of-pearl ink pen, a nail file and cuticle scraper, two pairs of steel scissors, a motherof-pearl button hook, a silver-gilt pencil, and mother-of-pearl handled penknife, a bodkin, a two-part cork screw, and a pair of tweezers with an ear wax scraper. Beneath these trays sit two further leather-bound trays, the lower being lined with velvet. When both trays are removed, two small concealed pull-out drawers become accessible. A free-standing leather bound mirror and matching removable leather bound document case are fitted to the underside of the lid.The lock plate is stamped ‘Bramah – 124 Piccadilly’ and comes with its original Bramah key.

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A CALAMANDER AND SILVER GILT DRESSING CASE A beautiful mid 19th century calamander and silver-gilt dressing case with brass recessed side handles and a central monogram bearing the initials ‘M.I.W’, the interior gold fittings

by Asprey.

England, 1859 Height closed: 7in/17.5cm Height open: 15in/38cm Width: 14in/36cm Depth: 10½in/27cm O3E0110

The interior is lined with dark blue leather, moire silk and velvet, containing twelve ‘hobnail’ cut glass vanity bottles and jars with silver-gilt engraved lids. The solid gold discs inset onto the lids are engraved with the matching initialled monogram. Each of the silver fittings bear the maker’s mark of Abraham Brownett and John Rose, and are hallmarked

London 1859. The larger lids also have the stamp of ‘Asprey – 166 Bond Street’. An embossed leather panel on the inside of the lid displays the gold tooled maker’s mark of ‘ASPREY. MANUFACTURER TO HER MAJESTY. 166 BOND ST W.’ Fitted within the top vanity jar tray is a smaller removable vanity tool tray containing a mother-of-pearl ink pen, a nail file and cuticle scraper, two pairs of steel scissors, a motherof-pearl button hook, a silver-gilt pencil, and mother-of-pearl handled penknife, a bodkin, a two-part cork screw, and a pair of tweezers with an ear wax scraper. Beneath these trays sit two further leather-bound trays, the lower being lined with velvet. When both trays are removed, two small concealed pull-out drawers become accessible. A free-standing leather bound mirror and matching removable leather bound document case are fitted to the underside of the lid.The lock plate is stamped ‘Bramah – 124 Piccadilly’ and comes with its original Bramah key.

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A MAHOGANY KETTLE STAND

A CHARLES X MAHOGANY BERGERE

A fine mid 18th century carved mahogany kettle stand of good colour and patination, having a pie crust top supported by a fluted column with carved knop; on three cabriole legs, crisply carved with acanthus leaf to the knees, terminating in ball and claw feet.

England, circa 1760

A Charles X mahogany bergere with neo-classical enrichments decorated in imitation of bronze ‘à l’antique’ with bowing swan monopodia and stylised neo-classical low relief carving on the crest and on the seat rail.

Now upholstered in gauffrage silk velvet.

France, circa 1830

Height: 21½in/55cm Diameter: 12in/31cm Diameter of base: 17in/43cm

Height:37in/94.5cm Width: 19½in/50cm Depth: 23in/58cm

F3D0027

F3D0300

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A MAHOGANY KETTLE STAND

A CHARLES X MAHOGANY BERGERE

A fine mid 18th century carved mahogany kettle stand of good colour and patination, having a pie crust top supported by a fluted column with carved knop; on three cabriole legs, crisply carved with acanthus leaf to the knees, terminating in ball and claw feet.

England, circa 1760

A Charles X mahogany bergere with neo-classical enrichments decorated in imitation of bronze ‘à l’antique’ with bowing swan monopodia and stylised neo-classical low relief carving on the crest and on the seat rail.

Now upholstered in gauffrage silk velvet.

France, circa 1830

Height: 21½in/55cm Diameter: 12in/31cm Diameter of base: 17in/43cm

Height:37in/94.5cm Width: 19½in/50cm Depth: 23in/58cm

F3D0027

F3D0300

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A REGENCY MAHOGANY WINE COOLER A fine Regency period mahogany open cellaret of sarcophagus form, retaining its original lead liner, the flame veneered sides with canted corners decorated with bands of carved leaf and egg and dart mouldings, rosettes and boldly carved scroll feet with additional acanthus decoration, retaining the original finely cast gilt bronze carrying handles.

England, circa 1815 Height: 16in/41cm Width: 27½in/70cm Depth: 19in/48cm F3D0103

› A PAIR OF JAPANESE PANELS A pair of 19th century ivory, lacquer and mother-of-pearl rectangular panels with tree branches and scrolling and budding flowers with perching doves, the males with mother-of-pearl feathers featuring various insects, falling leaves and one panel with an additional small bird.

Japan, circa 1880 Height: 24½in/62cm Width: 15½in/39cm P3D0144

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A REGENCY MAHOGANY WINE COOLER A fine Regency period mahogany open cellaret of sarcophagus form, retaining its original lead liner, the flame veneered sides with canted corners decorated with bands of carved leaf and egg and dart mouldings, rosettes and boldly carved scroll feet with additional acanthus decoration, retaining the original finely cast gilt bronze carrying handles.

England, circa 1815 Height: 16in/41cm Width: 27½in/70cm Depth: 19in/48cm F3D0103

› A PAIR OF JAPANESE PANELS A pair of 19th century ivory, lacquer and mother-of-pearl rectangular panels with tree branches and scrolling and budding flowers with perching doves, the males with mother-of-pearl feathers featuring various insects, falling leaves and one panel with an additional small bird.

Japan, circa 1880 Height: 24½in/62cm Width: 15½in/39cm P3D0144

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A GEORGE II BRASS CHANDELIER A very fine George II sixteen light two-tier brass chandelier, the baluster stem with collared globes, each supporting eight candle arms of sinuous form with circular dished drip pans and elegantly shaped candle nozzles, with boldly gadrooned cap and base.

England, circa 1740 Height: 38in/96cm Diameter: 38in/96cm A similar pair of brass chandeliers with gadrooned caps and bases, still hang at Chesterfield Parish Church, Derbyshire, presented by Godfrey Heathcote in 1760 (Connoisseur Year Book, 1958, p.48, fig. 16.)

L3D0138

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A GEORGE II BRASS CHANDELIER A very fine George II sixteen light two-tier brass chandelier, the baluster stem with collared globes, each supporting eight candle arms of sinuous form with circular dished drip pans and elegantly shaped candle nozzles, with boldly gadrooned cap and base.

England, circa 1740 Height: 38in/96cm Diameter: 38in/96cm A similar pair of brass chandeliers with gadrooned caps and bases, still hang at Chesterfield Parish Church, Derbyshire, presented by Godfrey Heathcote in 1760 (Connoisseur Year Book, 1958, p.48, fig. 16.)

L3D0138

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A PAIR OF LACQUER THRONE CHAIRS A rare pair of Chinese coromandel lacquer throne chairs, the incised polychrome decoration on a black lacquer ground, the prominent back splats and seats decorated with courtiers set in formal palace water gardens with pavilions, bridges and rock work, observed drinking tea, walking and fishing, flanked by stepped, archaistic pierced back and side rails all profusely decorated with birds among sprays of peonies, the stretchers similarly decorated, the legs terminating in stylised key pattern feet. The lacquer decoration refreshed.

China, circa 1750 Height: 38in/96.5cm Width: 22½in/57cm Depth: 19in/48cm F3D0101

The trend towards archaism was especially popular with the three great Qing emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, who were all avid collectors and connoisseurs of antiques for their palaces. Numerous works of art commissioned in the style of ancient wares were produced throughout their reigns, and furniture was no exception. The angular and pierced shapes of these hall chairs originated from earlier panelled canopy daybeds used to receive dignitaries. They would have been manufactured in China and sold for export to Europe during the first half of the 18th century, when the taste for manufactured goods and curiosities from ‘the Indies’ was the height of popularity.

Coromandel was the term given in the 17th century to the Chinese trade of incised lacquer, in which the pictorial elements of the lacquered surface are defined by the different depths to which the lacquer has been cut revealing the ground coating, which is then coloured. In China it is known as ‘kuan cai’ which means ‘cut out and coloured lacquer’. This technique was first recorded in a document in Xiu Shi Lu; a 16th century book about the lacquer industry. It was often used on large screens, usually consisting of twelve panels.

The production was concentrated in the Southern region of China close to the sea ports, namely in the provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui. Coromandel itself is a misnomer because the lacquer did not originate from the Coromandel Coast of East India but from the Chinese coastal provinces surrounding Canton. The explanation for this term is that much of the British shipping sailed from the East India Trading Company’s ports in India, directly to Britain, rather than from China, the lacquer being christened ‘Coromandel’ from its port of landing rather than from its port of origin. Coromandel lacquer was originally known in Britain as Bantam lacquer.

The name comes from the fact that Bantam was an important trading post of the English East India Company in Java, when furniture decorated in this tradition started to be imported to this country.

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A PAIR OF LACQUER THRONE CHAIRS A rare pair of Chinese coromandel lacquer throne chairs, the incised polychrome decoration on a black lacquer ground, the prominent back splats and seats decorated with courtiers set in formal palace water gardens with pavilions, bridges and rock work, observed drinking tea, walking and fishing, flanked by stepped, archaistic pierced back and side rails all profusely decorated with birds among sprays of peonies, the stretchers similarly decorated, the legs terminating in stylised key pattern feet. The lacquer decoration refreshed.

China, circa 1750 Height: 38in/96.5cm Width: 22½in/57cm Depth: 19in/48cm F3D0101

The trend towards archaism was especially popular with the three great Qing emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, who were all avid collectors and connoisseurs of antiques for their palaces. Numerous works of art commissioned in the style of ancient wares were produced throughout their reigns, and furniture was no exception. The angular and pierced shapes of these hall chairs originated from earlier panelled canopy daybeds used to receive dignitaries. They would have been manufactured in China and sold for export to Europe during the first half of the 18th century, when the taste for manufactured goods and curiosities from ‘the Indies’ was the height of popularity.

Coromandel was the term given in the 17th century to the Chinese trade of incised lacquer, in which the pictorial elements of the lacquered surface are defined by the different depths to which the lacquer has been cut revealing the ground coating, which is then coloured. In China it is known as ‘kuan cai’ which means ‘cut out and coloured lacquer’. This technique was first recorded in a document in Xiu Shi Lu; a 16th century book about the lacquer industry. It was often used on large screens, usually consisting of twelve panels.

The production was concentrated in the Southern region of China close to the sea ports, namely in the provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui. Coromandel itself is a misnomer because the lacquer did not originate from the Coromandel Coast of East India but from the Chinese coastal provinces surrounding Canton. The explanation for this term is that much of the British shipping sailed from the East India Trading Company’s ports in India, directly to Britain, rather than from China, the lacquer being christened ‘Coromandel’ from its port of landing rather than from its port of origin. Coromandel lacquer was originally known in Britain as Bantam lacquer.

The name comes from the fact that Bantam was an important trading post of the English East India Company in Java, when furniture decorated in this tradition started to be imported to this country.

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A SET OF FOUR BRONZE APPLIQUES A set of four early 18th century bronze relief figures emblematic of the four seasons. The figures with their traditional attributes; Winter represented by a cloaked man, Spring by a floral crowned maid, Summer a maid carrying wheat sheaves, and Autumn by a vine-clad Bacchus.

France, circa 1750 Height: 12½in/32cm Width: 4½in/11.5cm O3D0324

The decorative use of personifications of the four seasons originated in classical times, and was revived in the Middle Ages and again in Renaissance Italy. Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, first published in 1593, codified the various attributes that could represent the seasons, and linked them with Classical figures, typically Flora as Spring, Ceres for Summer, Bacchus for Autumn and Saturn as Winter. It was this work that formed

the basis for Charles le Brun’s series of twenty-four statues for Versailles. The Grande Commande, as it was known, from Louis XIV in 1674 provided work for the greatest sculptors of the day, notably Thomas Regnaudin and Francois Giradon. It was the fame of these marble figures, and le Brun’s original drawings, that led to the fashion for ornamenting the most

magnificent furniture with reliefs such as these.

Comparable examples can be seen on several Boulle pieces in the Wallace Collection (two wardrobes F61 and F171 and two cabinets F383 and F393), and also at Versailles.

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A SET OF FOUR BRONZE APPLIQUES A set of four early 18th century bronze relief figures emblematic of the four seasons. The figures with their traditional attributes; Winter represented by a cloaked man, Spring by a floral crowned maid, Summer a maid carrying wheat sheaves, and Autumn by a vine-clad Bacchus.

France, circa 1750 Height: 12½in/32cm Width: 4½in/11.5cm O3D0324

The decorative use of personifications of the four seasons originated in classical times, and was revived in the Middle Ages and again in Renaissance Italy. Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, first published in 1593, codified the various attributes that could represent the seasons, and linked them with Classical figures, typically Flora as Spring, Ceres for Summer, Bacchus for Autumn and Saturn as Winter. It was this work that formed

the basis for Charles le Brun’s series of twenty-four statues for Versailles. The Grande Commande, as it was known, from Louis XIV in 1674 provided work for the greatest sculptors of the day, notably Thomas Regnaudin and Francois Giradon. It was the fame of these marble figures, and le Brun’s original drawings, that led to the fashion for ornamenting the most

magnificent furniture with reliefs such as these.

Comparable examples can be seen on several Boulle pieces in the Wallace Collection (two wardrobes F61 and F171 and two cabinets F383 and F393), and also at Versailles.

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A SHERATON PERIOD DRINKS CABINET

› A PAIR OF DECALCOMANIA VASES

An unusual late 18th century Sheraton period satinwood and mahogany bow front wash stand, now adapted to form a drink’s cabinet with storage for bottles, a drawer for cork screws and a deep drawer for tumblers, the hinged top in satinwood with ovals in figured mahogany with box wood stringing and cross banding. The front similarly decorated, the side pilasters with patera, inlaid fluting and bell flower marquetry, the deep drawer opening on casters, standing on six out swept legs capped in brass.

England, circa 1790

A very fine pair of decalcomania vases each with covers of baluster shape, decorated throughout with polychrome chinoiserie scenes of fishermen surrounded by idyllic garden pavilions set against an unusual pale blue ground, the neck and cover decorated profusely with floral sprays and foliage on a dark blue ground.

France, circa 1880

Height: 35½in/90.5cm Width: 24in/61cm Depth: 21½in/55cm

O3D0298

F3D0060

Height: 17in/43cm Diameter: 11in/28cm

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A SHERATON PERIOD DRINKS CABINET

› A PAIR OF DECALCOMANIA VASES

An unusual late 18th century Sheraton period satinwood and mahogany bow front wash stand, now adapted to form a drink’s cabinet with storage for bottles, a drawer for cork screws and a deep drawer for tumblers, the hinged top in satinwood with ovals in figured mahogany with box wood stringing and cross banding. The front similarly decorated, the side pilasters with patera, inlaid fluting and bell flower marquetry, the deep drawer opening on casters, standing on six out swept legs capped in brass.

England, circa 1790

A very fine pair of decalcomania vases each with covers of baluster shape, decorated throughout with polychrome chinoiserie scenes of fishermen surrounded by idyllic garden pavilions set against an unusual pale blue ground, the neck and cover decorated profusely with floral sprays and foliage on a dark blue ground.

France, circa 1880

Height: 35½in/90.5cm Width: 24in/61cm Depth: 21½in/55cm

O3D0298

F3D0060

Height: 17in/43cm Diameter: 11in/28cm

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A PAIR OF REGENCY JARDINIERES A rare and unusual pair of early 19th century giltwood jardinières, the circular tops with inset brass liners, the egg and dart bevelled edge above a band of floral vitruvian scrolling, supported on a stylised palm tree column, the circular base with bands of laurel and lotus palmettes within a gadrooned bezel all supported on weighted scrolled lead feet with further prominent foliate carving.

England, circa 1810 Height: 42½in/108cm Diameter: 17½in/45cm F3D0196

These extraordinary plant holders are luxuriously carved to imitate the leaves of palm trees and lotus plants. Classical design has historically aligned itself to the celebration of nature, with the use of exotic plants in interior and exterior decoration shown at its height in the King’s bedchamber at Greenwich Palace and the Palm Room at Spencer House.

Included in these schemes were beautifully crafted pieces of furniture which added to the opulence of the interior, seducing the viewer with an imagined oasis from far off lands.

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A PAIR OF REGENCY JARDINIERES A rare and unusual pair of early 19th century giltwood jardinières, the circular tops with inset brass liners, the egg and dart bevelled edge above a band of floral vitruvian scrolling, supported on a stylised palm tree column, the circular base with bands of laurel and lotus palmettes within a gadrooned bezel all supported on weighted scrolled lead feet with further prominent foliate carving.

England, circa 1810 Height: 42½in/108cm Diameter: 17½in/45cm F3D0196

These extraordinary plant holders are luxuriously carved to imitate the leaves of palm trees and lotus plants. Classical design has historically aligned itself to the celebration of nature, with the use of exotic plants in interior and exterior decoration shown at its height in the King’s bedchamber at Greenwich Palace and the Palm Room at Spencer House.

Included in these schemes were beautifully crafted pieces of furniture which added to the opulence of the interior, seducing the viewer with an imagined oasis from far off lands.

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A GEORGE II KETTLE STAND A rare late 18th century kettle stand in satinwood and harewood, the square inset top with a broad tulipwood banding within a frame of boxwood stringing and finished with geometric corners, the satinwood frieze with a slide to support a cup, retaining the original ivory pull handle. Supported on beautifully angled square tapering legs, ending in block feet.

England, circa 1785 Height: 23½in/60cm Width: 15½in/39cm Depth: 15½in/39cm F3D0303

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A GEORGE II KETTLE STAND A rare late 18th century kettle stand in satinwood and harewood, the square inset top with a broad tulipwood banding within a frame of boxwood stringing and finished with geometric corners, the satinwood frieze with a slide to support a cup, retaining the original ivory pull handle. Supported on beautifully angled square tapering legs, ending in block feet.

England, circa 1785 Height: 23½in/60cm Width: 15½in/39cm Depth: 15½in/39cm F3D0303

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AN IMPORTANT MAHOGANY CABINET An important carved mahogany cabinet attributed to William Vile. The upper section with two mirrored Vauxhall bevelled plates bordered by a most unusual and richly carved border of bound laurel leaves with acanthus leaves at each corner all framed within a rope twist stringing.

The doors open to reveal interior shelves with three small drawers below fitted with original gilded brass handles.

The whole frame and carcass finished in rich mahogany.

The pediment again richly carved with dentil moulding beneath a deep coving, articulated by arched acanthus leaves and lotus leaves above. The lower section with two small and four long graduated drawers, fitted with their original gilded brass scrolling handles and framed by bead and reel moulded edges, again all lined in solid mahogany.

The drawers stand beneath a finely detailed chinoiserie pagoda border projecting above a running bead of egg and dart moulding. The sides veneered and panelled out in finally figured cloud mahogany. The whole resting on a solid plinth, with an unusual moulded edge repeating the lotus flower border on the top cresting rail.

England, circa 1760 Height: 86½in/220cm Width: 48in/122cm Depth: 22in/55.5cm F3D0037

This extraordinary cabinet with its highly unusual and richly decorated surface has many similarities to other pieces commissioned from the workshop William Vile. The bead and reel mouldings around each drawer and the richly veneered and raised panelling on the side of this cabinet are motifs that can be seen in a secretaire cabinet commissioned by Queen Charlotte. The running waterleaf carving on both the top cresting rail and the lower plinth moulding can be seen on another of Vile’s commissions for the Royal Household, “a very handsome Mohogany Bookcase…” supplied to Queen Charlotte for Buckingham House in 1762.

The strong architectural character of this cabinet reflects the design influence of Sir William Chambers particularly with the use of the chinoiserie pagoda roof tiling which here is far more detailed in its refined carving than on other pieces of the period. The quality of the mahogany veneers and extravagant use of solid mahogany for the carcass and drawer frames, suggest that this cabinet was an especially important commission and the architectural details and quality of the carving, as outlined above, certainly reflect the work of William Vile at this period.

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AN IMPORTANT MAHOGANY CABINET An important carved mahogany cabinet attributed to William Vile. The upper section with two mirrored Vauxhall bevelled plates bordered by a most unusual and richly carved border of bound laurel leaves with acanthus leaves at each corner all framed within a rope twist stringing.

The doors open to reveal interior shelves with three small drawers below fitted with original gilded brass handles.

The whole frame and carcass finished in rich mahogany.

The pediment again richly carved with dentil moulding beneath a deep coving, articulated by arched acanthus leaves and lotus leaves above. The lower section with two small and four long graduated drawers, fitted with their original gilded brass scrolling handles and framed by bead and reel moulded edges, again all lined in solid mahogany.

The drawers stand beneath a finely detailed chinoiserie pagoda border projecting above a running bead of egg and dart moulding. The sides veneered and panelled out in finally figured cloud mahogany. The whole resting on a solid plinth, with an unusual moulded edge repeating the lotus flower border on the top cresting rail.

England, circa 1760 Height: 86½in/220cm Width: 48in/122cm Depth: 22in/55.5cm F3D0037

This extraordinary cabinet with its highly unusual and richly decorated surface has many similarities to other pieces commissioned from the workshop William Vile. The bead and reel mouldings around each drawer and the richly veneered and raised panelling on the side of this cabinet are motifs that can be seen in a secretaire cabinet commissioned by Queen Charlotte. The running waterleaf carving on both the top cresting rail and the lower plinth moulding can be seen on another of Vile’s commissions for the Royal Household, “a very handsome Mohogany Bookcase…” supplied to Queen Charlotte for Buckingham House in 1762.

The strong architectural character of this cabinet reflects the design influence of Sir William Chambers particularly with the use of the chinoiserie pagoda roof tiling which here is far more detailed in its refined carving than on other pieces of the period. The quality of the mahogany veneers and extravagant use of solid mahogany for the carcass and drawer frames, suggest that this cabinet was an especially important commission and the architectural details and quality of the carving, as outlined above, certainly reflect the work of William Vile at this period.

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A PAIR OF MAHOGANY AND GILTWOOD MIRRORS A fine pair of North German mahogany and giltwood mirrors, having an elaborate cresting which takes the form of a pierced basket of flowers flanked by cornucopiae hung with a swag of carved beads. Each face on the mirror has a herring-bone veneer and is bordered with a bead moulding and carved giltwood foliate paterae in high relief at the corners.

Germany, circa 1800 Height: 61in/155cm Width: 24in/61cm F3D0273

This pair of mirrors reflects the French Empire style popularised in northern Germany through publications by Charles Percier and Pierre-François Léonard Fontaine. Their designs circulated among craftsmen who worked in their own local idioms throughout Europe. Elaborate veneer effects, long popularised

by German émigré craftsmen working for the French court throughout the eighteenth century, are incorporated into these mirrors to produce a herring-bone surface pattern.

The elaborate cresting surmounting each mirror reflects an awareness of ancient design, exhibiting visual similarities to Roman wall painting and Byzantine mosaics. Mediated by Parisian publishers, these designs were available to German craftsmen via secondhand sources particularly ornament prints and reproduced images of French interiors. The complex piercing and overall lightness of the design reveals an underlying sense of restraint and conservative approach to materials.

› › A PAIR OF PAINTED CORNER BENCHES A most unusual pair of high back eighteenth century Piedmontese corner benches, retaining much of their original stone white and powder green painted ground.

The central shell cartouche entwined with bound laurel leaves sits above a reeded top rail with scrolled wave carving; each tapered upright with acanthus leaf capitol above scale-carved detail. The unusual central leg set at an angle is double the width of each other leg and faced on two sides. The seat rail again with scrolled wave motif and floral paterae above reeded tapering legs ending in elegant topie feet. The beech frame in fine original condition with one supporting stretcher replaced and all corner brackets renewed. The chairs now upholstered in a later green velvet with fine applied needlework.

Italy, circa 1780 Height: 38in/97cm Width: 48in/122cm Depth: 39½in/100cm F3D0105

The unusual form of these benches was designed to sit in a corner of an angled architectural space, possibly as a group of four in an entry hall. The stylised finials are both different, possibly reflecting the Seasons. Alternatively, the high backs suggest the seats could have been designed specifically for a box in a private theatre, which were widely popular during the late 18th century in Northern Italy.

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A PAIR OF MAHOGANY AND GILTWOOD MIRRORS A fine pair of North German mahogany and giltwood mirrors, having an elaborate cresting which takes the form of a pierced basket of flowers flanked by cornucopiae hung with a swag of carved beads. Each face on the mirror has a herring-bone veneer and is bordered with a bead moulding and carved giltwood foliate paterae in high relief at the corners.

Germany, circa 1800 Height: 61in/155cm Width: 24in/61cm F3D0273

This pair of mirrors reflects the French Empire style popularised in northern Germany through publications by Charles Percier and Pierre-François Léonard Fontaine. Their designs circulated among craftsmen who worked in their own local idioms throughout Europe. Elaborate veneer effects, long popularised

by German émigré craftsmen working for the French court throughout the eighteenth century, are incorporated into these mirrors to produce a herring-bone surface pattern.

The elaborate cresting surmounting each mirror reflects an awareness of ancient design, exhibiting visual similarities to Roman wall painting and Byzantine mosaics. Mediated by Parisian publishers, these designs were available to German craftsmen via secondhand sources particularly ornament prints and reproduced images of French interiors. The complex piercing and overall lightness of the design reveals an underlying sense of restraint and conservative approach to materials.

› › A PAIR OF PAINTED CORNER BENCHES A most unusual pair of high back eighteenth century Piedmontese corner benches, retaining much of their original stone white and powder green painted ground.

The central shell cartouche entwined with bound laurel leaves sits above a reeded top rail with scrolled wave carving; each tapered upright with acanthus leaf capitol above scale-carved detail. The unusual central leg set at an angle is double the width of each other leg and faced on two sides. The seat rail again with scrolled wave motif and floral paterae above reeded tapering legs ending in elegant topie feet. The beech frame in fine original condition with one supporting stretcher replaced and all corner brackets renewed. The chairs now upholstered in a later green velvet with fine applied needlework.

Italy, circa 1780 Height: 38in/97cm Width: 48in/122cm Depth: 39½in/100cm F3D0105

The unusual form of these benches was designed to sit in a corner of an angled architectural space, possibly as a group of four in an entry hall. The stylised finials are both different, possibly reflecting the Seasons. Alternatively, the high backs suggest the seats could have been designed specifically for a box in a private theatre, which were widely popular during the late 18th century in Northern Italy.

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A CHARLES X CENTRE TABLE A fine and rare Charles X rosewood circular centre table, the top inlaid with a stylised floral vitruvian scroll. At the centre is an outstanding verre églomisé panel decorated with neoclassical ornament and a border of vine leaves. The top has a reeded edge with a frieze below inlaid with floral marquetry and paterae standing on a hexagonal baluster stem in rosewood with boxwood stringing. The whole supported by three claw feet.

France, circa 1830 Height: 29in/74cm Diameter: 38in/97cm F3D0074

Verre églomisé is a term applied to a process of decorating glass from the reverse with metal foil, usually gold or silver, engraved with pictorial or geometric designs. The technique was known as early as the 3rd century BC in Alexandria and was widely used throughout the Roman Empire and in early Christian times.

This gold glass decoration became associated in France during the 18th century with a designer, framer and great collector of art works, Jean Baptiste Glomy (d. 1786). From his house on the rue de Bourbon he was credited with inventing a method of framing prints with black and gold fillets painted from behind the glass. Thus his name became arbitrarily linked to a much older process, that in this early 19th century table has reached the height of sophistication, with varying tones of gold and mottled greens and greys framing an elaborate central design on a porphyry ground.

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A CHARLES X CENTRE TABLE A fine and rare Charles X rosewood circular centre table, the top inlaid with a stylised floral vitruvian scroll. At the centre is an outstanding verre églomisé panel decorated with neoclassical ornament and a border of vine leaves. The top has a reeded edge with a frieze below inlaid with floral marquetry and paterae standing on a hexagonal baluster stem in rosewood with boxwood stringing. The whole supported by three claw feet.

France, circa 1830 Height: 29in/74cm Diameter: 38in/97cm F3D0074

Verre églomisé is a term applied to a process of decorating glass from the reverse with metal foil, usually gold or silver, engraved with pictorial or geometric designs. The technique was known as early as the 3rd century BC in Alexandria and was widely used throughout the Roman Empire and in early Christian times.

This gold glass decoration became associated in France during the 18th century with a designer, framer and great collector of art works, Jean Baptiste Glomy (d. 1786). From his house on the rue de Bourbon he was credited with inventing a method of framing prints with black and gold fillets painted from behind the glass. Thus his name became arbitrarily linked to a much older process, that in this early 19th century table has reached the height of sophistication, with varying tones of gold and mottled greens and greys framing an elaborate central design on a porphyry ground.

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A PAIR OF IRON AND BRASS STOOLS A pair of early 20th century brass and iron adjustable Xframe stools, each black leather seat with gilt Greek key border, cast to the frames ‘C.H. HARE & SON PATENT APPD FOR NO. 18969’.

England, circa 1920 Height: 22½in/57cm Width: 19in/48.5cm Depth: 13in/33cm F3E0018

C.H. Hare & Son were a successful firm listed from 1832 at Crown Works, Tyseley, Birmingham and were recorded in Whitakers Red Book, 1914, as ‘Manufacturers of Loose Leaf Metals, Automatic Machines etc’. The firm particularly specialised in music stands, stools and pianoforte tools, often combining the efficiency of the Industrial Age with elements of neo-classical design.

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A PAIR OF IRON AND BRASS STOOLS A pair of early 20th century brass and iron adjustable Xframe stools, each black leather seat with gilt Greek key border, cast to the frames ‘C.H. HARE & SON PATENT APPD FOR NO. 18969’.

England, circa 1920 Height: 22½in/57cm Width: 19in/48.5cm Depth: 13in/33cm F3E0018

C.H. Hare & Son were a successful firm listed from 1832 at Crown Works, Tyseley, Birmingham and were recorded in Whitakers Red Book, 1914, as ‘Manufacturers of Loose Leaf Metals, Automatic Machines etc’. The firm particularly specialised in music stands, stools and pianoforte tools, often combining the efficiency of the Industrial Age with elements of neo-classical design.

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› A PAIR OF CARY GLOBES A fine pair of early 19th century standing globes by John Cary & Sons, one celestial and the other terrestrial, both inscribed and dated, with geographical additions to 1815, supported on reeded mahogany legs joined by a stretcher with a central compass and terminating in brass castors.

England, circa 1815 Height: 47in/120cm Diameter of globes: 20¾in/53cm O3E0014

The emergence of globe making in Britain closely mirrored the great cultural and economic changes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The exploration of previously unknown continents, the expansion of ocean-going trade and the growing popular interest in science all combined to make desirable a graphic representation of newly discovered knowledge. By the late seventeenth century, terrestrial and celestial globes had become the principal instruments for teaching geography and astronomy.

By the beginning of the eighteenth century the British globe making industry was concentrated in London, and the capital remained the principal centre of manufacture until the twentieth century. Amongst London makers John and William Carey, two brothers who worked in partnership, established themselves as the leading manufacturer of all varieties of globes.

John Cary (1755-1835), was apprenticed to William Palmer in 1770, and was made a freeman in 1778. He started his globe making business in 1791 when he advertised 3,5, 9, 12 and 21 inch terrestrial and celestial globes ‘from entire new Plates’.

In 1812 he added a celestial planisphere and in 1816 a pair of 18 inch globes. In making globes and planispheres Cary co-operated with his brother William (c.1759-1825), a London instrument maker.

John and William Cary published their first globes in 1791 and, with the firms of Bordin and Newton, were soon in command of the English market. Cary produced globes in a variety of designs.

Library globes were mounted on high mahogany stands with three turned, reeded legs, or with a tripod. Table globes were usually supplied mounted on a low stand with four legs. The Mallett globes demonstrate the quality of John Cary’s work.

The elegant stands are constructed using the finest Cuban mahogany, the cradles which house the globes are veneered with figured mahogany , now having faded to a rich colour with fine patination. The design of the stands being deliberately restrained and simple to create a feeling of lightness.

An advertisement for globes by G and J Cary, London from J Cary Senior’s atlas, ‘Cary’s New Itinerary’, 11th ed, 1828 (Guildhall Library).

Of particular note, Captain Cook’s voyages are marked on the terrestrial globe, showing the sea routes and tracks that he took on his expeditions. The terrestrial globe also marks the spot where he finally met his fate in the Sandwich Islands, to quote “Here Captain Cook was killed by the natives February 14th 1779 and Captain Clerke succeeded him in the command of the Resolution.”

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› A PAIR OF CARY GLOBES A fine pair of early 19th century standing globes by John Cary & Sons, one celestial and the other terrestrial, both inscribed and dated, with geographical additions to 1815, supported on reeded mahogany legs joined by a stretcher with a central compass and terminating in brass castors.

England, circa 1815 Height: 47in/120cm Diameter of globes: 20¾in/53cm O3E0014

The emergence of globe making in Britain closely mirrored the great cultural and economic changes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The exploration of previously unknown continents, the expansion of ocean-going trade and the growing popular interest in science all combined to make desirable a graphic representation of newly discovered knowledge. By the late seventeenth century, terrestrial and celestial globes had become the principal instruments for teaching geography and astronomy.

By the beginning of the eighteenth century the British globe making industry was concentrated in London, and the capital remained the principal centre of manufacture until the twentieth century. Amongst London makers John and William Carey, two brothers who worked in partnership, established themselves as the leading manufacturer of all varieties of globes.

John Cary (1755-1835), was apprenticed to William Palmer in 1770, and was made a freeman in 1778. He started his globe making business in 1791 when he advertised 3,5, 9, 12 and 21 inch terrestrial and celestial globes ‘from entire new Plates’.

In 1812 he added a celestial planisphere and in 1816 a pair of 18 inch globes. In making globes and planispheres Cary co-operated with his brother William (c.1759-1825), a London instrument maker.

John and William Cary published their first globes in 1791 and, with the firms of Bordin and Newton, were soon in command of the English market. Cary produced globes in a variety of designs.

Library globes were mounted on high mahogany stands with three turned, reeded legs, or with a tripod. Table globes were usually supplied mounted on a low stand with four legs. The Mallett globes demonstrate the quality of John Cary’s work.

The elegant stands are constructed using the finest Cuban mahogany, the cradles which house the globes are veneered with figured mahogany , now having faded to a rich colour with fine patination. The design of the stands being deliberately restrained and simple to create a feeling of lightness.

An advertisement for globes by G and J Cary, London from J Cary Senior’s atlas, ‘Cary’s New Itinerary’, 11th ed, 1828 (Guildhall Library).

Of particular note, Captain Cook’s voyages are marked on the terrestrial globe, showing the sea routes and tracks that he took on his expeditions. The terrestrial globe also marks the spot where he finally met his fate in the Sandwich Islands, to quote “Here Captain Cook was killed by the natives February 14th 1779 and Captain Clerke succeeded him in the command of the Resolution.”

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A MAJOLICA WALL FOUNTAIN

A WILLIAM IV CHEST OF DRAWERS

An unusual pottery wall fountain, the head in the form of the mystical green man representing spring and the cycle of nature, with accompanying bowl.

France, circa 1865

A William IV satinwood chest of drawers of rich golden colour and narrow proportions, the top with an ebonised moulded surround and the drawers graduated in scale, with the original Bramah locks.

England, circa 1835

Height: 35½in/90cm Width: 25½in/65cm Depth: 14in/35cm

Height: 36½in/93cm Width: 19in/48cm Depth: 14in/35cm

O3D0053 F3D0207

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A MAJOLICA WALL FOUNTAIN

A WILLIAM IV CHEST OF DRAWERS

An unusual pottery wall fountain, the head in the form of the mystical green man representing spring and the cycle of nature, with accompanying bowl.

France, circa 1865

A William IV satinwood chest of drawers of rich golden colour and narrow proportions, the top with an ebonised moulded surround and the drawers graduated in scale, with the original Bramah locks.

England, circa 1835

Height: 35½in/90cm Width: 25½in/65cm Depth: 14in/35cm

Height: 36½in/93cm Width: 19in/48cm Depth: 14in/35cm

O3D0053 F3D0207

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A MID 19TH CENTURY DAVENPORT

A PAIR OF GEORGE III IVORY TEA CADDIES

A mid 19th century small davenport bureau in richly figured birch wood, with sliding top and pierced brass gallery, with pull-out slides on either side and four drawers on one side only.

England, circa 1840

A fine pair of George III rectangular-shaped decagonal ivory and tortoiseshell-strung tea caddies, the hinged lids with gold ring handles, the sides veneered in ivory and each front enriched with a rectangular cartouche, escutcheon, pique work and a painted oval miniature, in the manner of Sir Joshua Reynolds, behind glass depicting figures posed in Arcadian scenes, framed within gold bands, the interiors with remnants of foil lining, retaining the original keys and internal covers.

England, 1785

Height: 33½in/85cm Width: 19in/48cm Depth: 24in/61cm F3E0105

Height: 5in/13cm Width: 4½in/11.5cm Depth: 2½in/6.5cm O3E0042

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A MID 19TH CENTURY DAVENPORT

A PAIR OF GEORGE III IVORY TEA CADDIES

A mid 19th century small davenport bureau in richly figured birch wood, with sliding top and pierced brass gallery, with pull-out slides on either side and four drawers on one side only.

England, circa 1840

A fine pair of George III rectangular-shaped decagonal ivory and tortoiseshell-strung tea caddies, the hinged lids with gold ring handles, the sides veneered in ivory and each front enriched with a rectangular cartouche, escutcheon, pique work and a painted oval miniature, in the manner of Sir Joshua Reynolds, behind glass depicting figures posed in Arcadian scenes, framed within gold bands, the interiors with remnants of foil lining, retaining the original keys and internal covers.

England, 1785

Height: 33½in/85cm Width: 19in/48cm Depth: 24in/61cm F3E0105

Height: 5in/13cm Width: 4½in/11.5cm Depth: 2½in/6.5cm O3E0042

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A NAPOLEON III CARVED ROPE TWIST STOOL A Napoleon III finely-carved giltwood rope twist stool, in the form of a piece of entwined rope, knotted at the base and at each foot, finished in the form of tassels, retaining the original wooden castors and now upholstered with deep-buttoned red silk velvet. The design by A.M.E. Fournier. Bearing the stamp of a Paris retailer on the frame.

France, circa 1860 Height: 17½in/45cm Diameter: 23in/59cm F3E0082

The model for this stool was created by the upholsterer A.M.E. Fournier who was recorded as working at 109 Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris from 1850 onwards.

As well as exceptional case furniture, Fournier was famed for his upholstered work, exhibiting at many of the great exhibitions of the period, including l’Exposition Universelle of 1867. His most famous creation was the wonderfully naturalistic giltwood rope twist stool, which was as highly sought after in his own period as it is today.

A pouf à cordes by Fournier is in the Château de Compiègne and is illustrated in H. Hayward, World Furniture, London, 1965, p. 241, pl. 928.

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A NAPOLEON III CARVED ROPE TWIST STOOL A Napoleon III finely-carved giltwood rope twist stool, in the form of a piece of entwined rope, knotted at the base and at each foot, finished in the form of tassels, retaining the original wooden castors and now upholstered with deep-buttoned red silk velvet. The design by A.M.E. Fournier. Bearing the stamp of a Paris retailer on the frame.

France, circa 1860 Height: 17½in/45cm Diameter: 23in/59cm F3E0082

The model for this stool was created by the upholsterer A.M.E. Fournier who was recorded as working at 109 Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris from 1850 onwards.

As well as exceptional case furniture, Fournier was famed for his upholstered work, exhibiting at many of the great exhibitions of the period, including l’Exposition Universelle of 1867. His most famous creation was the wonderfully naturalistic giltwood rope twist stool, which was as highly sought after in his own period as it is today.

A pouf à cordes by Fournier is in the Château de Compiègne and is illustrated in H. Hayward, World Furniture, London, 1965, p. 241, pl. 928.

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A RARE NEEDLEWORK VALANCE An early 17th century needlework valance embroidered in coloured wools and silks with scenes from the story of Tobias and the Angel, including the catching of the “great fish” and the marriage of Sarah and Tobias.

England, circa 1620

The scene on the left-hand side of the panel, Tobias removing the liver and heart from the fish, derives from the woodcut by Bernard Salomon (circa 1508-1561, Lyons) in Biblia Sacra, published by Jean de Tournes, Lyons, 1558.

PROVENANCE

Height: 24½in/62.5cm Width: 68in/173cm Depth: 1½in/3.5cm T3D0172

M.J. Mayorcas Collection LITERATURE

Wace (A.J.B.), Apollo, vol. XVII, no. 101, 1933, p.208, fig. IV; Connoisseur, 1937, A.F. Kendrick, plate V, p. 146.

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A RARE NEEDLEWORK VALANCE An early 17th century needlework valance embroidered in coloured wools and silks with scenes from the story of Tobias and the Angel, including the catching of the “great fish” and the marriage of Sarah and Tobias.

England, circa 1620

The scene on the left-hand side of the panel, Tobias removing the liver and heart from the fish, derives from the woodcut by Bernard Salomon (circa 1508-1561, Lyons) in Biblia Sacra, published by Jean de Tournes, Lyons, 1558.

PROVENANCE

Height: 24½in/62.5cm Width: 68in/173cm Depth: 1½in/3.5cm T3D0172

M.J. Mayorcas Collection LITERATURE

Wace (A.J.B.), Apollo, vol. XVII, no. 101, 1933, p.208, fig. IV; Connoisseur, 1937, A.F. Kendrick, plate V, p. 146.

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VISIT OUR WEBSITE

www.mallettantiques.com Email: info@mallettantiques.com

MALLETT PLC DIRECTORS

The Lord Daresbury* Chairman Giles Hutchinson Smith Chief Executive Michael Smyth-Osbourne Financial Director James Heneage* Henry Neville *Non executive

MALLETT & SON (ANTIQUES) LTD Ely House 37 Dover Street London W1S 4NJ Telephone +44 (0)20 7499 7411 Fax +44 (0)20 7495 3179

MALLETT INC 929 Madison Avenue at 74th Street New York N.Y. 10021 Telephone 001 212 249 8783 Fax 001 212 249 8784

Giles Hutchinson Smith Chief Executive Michael Smyth-Osbourne Financial Director Richard Cave Director Felicity Jarrett Director Justin Evershed-Martin Director Gina Hamilton Katie Holyoak May Geolot

Henry Neville President Ana Gutierrez-Folch Whitney Dardik Deborah Pena

Telephone +44 (0)20 7495 5375 Fax +44 (0)20 7495 3197 Email: hello@madebymeta.com www.madebymeta.com Eleonore Halluitte Andrews Production Manager

A fine Victorian rectangular polished steel and brass fender, designed with a steel rail supported by decorative brass uprights at each end to support fire tools.

England, circa 1870 Height: 8½in/22cm Width: 60in/152cm Depth: 12½in/31.5cm O3E0100

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