Apter-Fredericks 2011 Brochure by Apter-Fredericks

IMPORTANT ENGLISH FURNITURE

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

265-267 Fulham Road, London SW3 6HY, United Kingdom Tel: +44 20 7352 2188 Fax: +44 20 7376 5619 Email: antiques@apter-fredericks.com www.apter-fredericks.com

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

pter-Fredericks are delighted and proud to offer this brochure with its broad selection of some of the finest pieces of English furniture currently available.

Acquisition of great items continues to become increasingly difficult and accordingly the market remains strong. We have presented these items with brief notes. For full descriptions, reference and provenence, including decorative items displayed on the furniture, please see the second part of the brochure. Apter-Fredericks believe it is essential that London continues to be at the heart of the Art Market. As a founding partner of The Masterpiece Fair we are taking a lead role in promoting London’s position. Extremely well received last year, we have no doubt that this innovative and exciting event will continue to showcase the best dealers with the best pieces and we would encourage everyone to make it a part of their year. Harry Apter & Guy Apter

Front cover: The Bishop of Gloucester’s Side Chairs Attributed to Thomas Chippendale (see page 38) Back cover: Chippendale's drawing for The Bishop of Gloucester’s Side Chairs Endpapers: A Pair of 'Chinese' Painted Clay Nodding Figures, Piedmontese, Circa 1810, the tallest 11¼" (28.6cm) Opposite: Detail of Colonel Mulliner’s Extraordinary Tray (see page 96)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

an Early Eighteenth Century masterpiece A George I ‘Love’ Seat dating to about 1725 and almost certainly by Thomas Roberts. Quite where the term Love seat comes from is unclear. Peter Thornton used it in an article in the Furniture History Society Journal of 1980 but in the Nineteenth century they were described as bergeres or ‘burjairs’ and before that possibly as ‘easy chairs’. This chair is an outstanding example of early Eighteenth century walnut furniture. The legs are superbly shaped, (typically the rear legs will be plainer than the front) of a wonderful colour walnut and the carved gesso detail is exceptional. It is now upholstered in a very fine piece of needlework which is the same age as the chair and is in entirely original condition. Width: 40½” (102.5cm) Depth: 28” (71cm) Height: 39” (99cm)

a george III satinwood secretaire This satinwood secretaire bookcase, one of the finest we have ever seen, epitomises good proportion and excellent colour. Satinwood can sometimes fade to a beautiful light golden hue, in which case the graining will become even more three dimensional and the effect will be rich and inviting. Quite often, satinwood furniture from the latter part of the Eighteenth century, in this case circa 1780, will be of good quality. This will be reflected in the construction but also in the attention to detail. For example, the inclusion of bandings and stringing and the quality of the handles, which are original. Width: 45Âž" (116cm) Depth: 22" (56cm) Height: 91Âź" (232cm) Displayed inside the cabinet is a Crown Derby tea service.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a george III Chippendale period side table from ricking hall, suffolk By the middle of the Eighteenth century the most important name in English Furniture was Thomas Chippendale. By 1762 he had published the 3rd edition of his Director and the design of the frieze on this table may be seen in plate LVII. The proportions are exemplary. The slimness of the frieze and the soft serpentine shape of the top are exactly what purists look for. Combine this with the crisp carving of the mahogany, which has been allowed to develop a patinated surface, and you have a perfect example of period English furniture. Whilst researching this table, we felt that the indent at the top of the legs was worth focusing on. This is an interesting feature and one that we knew we had seen before. A stool illustrated in the Dictionary of English Furniture has the same design and we feel confident that at some point we will see this feature again and hopefully it will enable us to make a positive attribution. Width: 54" (137cm) Depth: 29Âź" (75cm) Height: 33Â˝" (85cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

the Beningbrough hall tables by James moore We recently acquired this outstanding pair of tables which originally came from Beningbrough Hall. The carving is of the finest workmanship and exactly what one would expect from James Moore, the Royal Cabinet-Maker to King George I. Apart from stylistic comparisons that support this attribution, the tables are, apart from a carved apron, identical to a larger table at Buckingham Palace which is incised with Moore’s name. Width: 35¾" (91cm) Depth: 19¼" (49cm) Height: 31¾" (80.5cm) The pair of tables also appear on page 10 and 11.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

the Campsea ashe gesso mirrors attributed to James moore As with the previous tables, this pair of mirrors are also attributed to James Moore. They originally graced Campsea Ashe High House, the home of Viscount Ullswater, before becoming a part of the collection formed by Sir James & Lady Horlick at Achamore House on The Isle of Gigha, Scotland. This was an impressive collection of English furniture which was written up in the Connoisseur Magazine in the 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Width: 30Â˝" (77.5cm) Height: 51" (129.5cm) The pair of mirrors also appear on page 10 and 11.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a pair of gainsborough armchairs This wonderful, generously proportioned, pair of chairs are remarkable for the colour and depth of patination to the wood and the superbly carved seat rails and arms which are an excellent indication of their high quality. They have been upholstered in needlework which is of the same age as the chairs and complements the colour of the wood perfectly. Width: 29" (74cm) Depth: 29" (74cm) Height: 39他" (101cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

lord Ebury’s tripod table The table is significant on three counts, the condition of the table, the overall scale of the table and finally its most unusual base. The niche carved into the base between each leg may be compared to niches seen on other tables and candle-stands, including documented examples by Chippendale for Aske Hall and Harewood House. Designs for the distinctive double ‘C’ scroll legs exist both by Chippendale and Mayhew & Ince. Diameter: 31¼" (79.5cm) Height: 28" (71cm)

lord minimus This statue is of Sir Jeffrey Hudson, otherwise known as Lord Minimus. Jeffrey Hudson was presented to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, after he had jumped out of a pie at a banquet held by the Duke of Buckingham. He was considered a wonder of his age. He was an Officer in the Civil War, was banished from court for killing a man in a duel and subsequently enslaved by the Barbary Pirates for twenty five years. He returned to England only to be imprisoned after getting involved in the Popish plot. To put it simply, what a life, what a character and what a face. The figure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Height: 44" (112cm) Height: with plinth 78Â˝" (199cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a pair of regency period amboyna & simulated marble Etageres A love of fine woods is paramount in an appreciation of English furniture. In this case it is amboyna, which is a very tightly grained wood from the East Indies. The wood has acquired the most wonderful golden colour and in combination with the brass is extremely attractive. The top tier has been decorated with simulated marbles to such a high standard that it is not immediately apparent that they are not actually marble. Width: 17Â˝" (44.5cm) Depth: 13Â˝" (33.5cm) Height: 32" (81.5cm)

a regency period rosewood & Brass Inlaid sofa table If ever there was a combination that epitomised the Regency period, it is rosewood inlaid with brass decoration. The effect is quite dramatic and very rich in feeling, a marked change from the inlaid and banded examples from the Sheraton period. Indeed, it was Sheraton himself who commented that “cross-banding is now laid aside for the more durable work in solid brass”. Length 64½" (163cm) Width: 31" (79cm) Height: 28¾" (73cm) On the table are a pair of Regency period candlesticks.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

an Eighteenth Century giltwood mirror by William France The mirror, with another of later date, is one of a number of very distinctive mirrors made by William France for various clients including Sir Lawrence Dundas at 19 Arlington St and Moor Park, the 6th Earl of Coventry at Croome Court, John Chute at The Vyne, 1st Duke of Northumberland at Syon House, and the 1st Earl of Mansfield at Kenwood House. The depth of carving and exceptional design of these mirrors can rarely be equalled. Height: 60" (152.5cm) Width: 32" (81.5cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a rare george I Burr Yew Wood Chest of Drawers The chest of drawers is veneered in burr yew-wood which has faded to varying degrees and has ash wood herring-bone bandings. The effect of the highly figured, golden coloured wood is warm and inviting. Width: 36¼" (92cm) Depth: 19¼" (49cm) Height: 38½" (98cm)

the goat’s head Vases by matthew Boulton Always a superb combination, the stone is ‘blue-john’ and the craftsman is Matthew Boulton, one of the most celebrated makers of ornament. This model, sometimes referred to as the ‘goat’s head vase’ may be found in a number of variations but all relate to a sketch illustrated in Boulton and Fothergill’s pattern books. The model was one of the most popular of the smaller vases and first appeared in 1769 when a Mrs Yeats ordered “1 pair of goat’s head vases light blue cheny or enamelled”. In the same year, Sir William Guise ordered a pair with blue-john bodies. Other buyers of goat’s head vases include Lord Digby in 1774 and Lord Scarsdale in 1772, who paid £4.4s a pair. Height: 8" (20.5cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a george I lacquer Bureau Bookcase A taste of the Orient. This is English lacquer or ‘japanning’ as it was known, and a very good example. The bookcase would appear to be one of several examples that are undoubtedly by the same hand, including a bookcase acquired by Queen Mary which was subsequently in the collection of the Duke of Windsor. Others include a bookcase which was formerly in the collection of the Fogg Art Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University and a third, illustrated in Lacquer of the West by Hans Huth. The charm of this bookcase is enhanced by the decoration. As is quite usual there are butterflies and various buildings set within landscapes but in this instance the theme of birds and people hunting with birds, is seen repeatedly throughout the decoration. Width: 42" (107cm) Depth: 25" (63.5cm) Height: 96" (244cm) Displayed inside the bookcase is a Canton enamel Tea Service with a Canton ‘Phoenix’ teapot.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

lord spencer’s Bergere Chairs This is the first time the Althorp Bergere Chairs have come to the market. Until now they have been in the possession of the Spencer family, since commissioned by the 2nd Earl Spencer in the 1790’s probably from the French émigré cabinet maker, Hervé. As the name implies, the chairs are conceived in the French style, they are generous in form and exceptionally well shaped. Well travelled, they moved from Althorp to the family’s mansion in London, Spencer House, and back again. They have been recorded in a number of rooms and one of the chairs may be seen in a 1921 photograph of the Sir Joshua Reynolds room at Althorp. Width: 29" (74cm) Depth: 29" (74cm) Height: 37½" (95cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

an Extending regency period Dining table As far as we have been able to discover, this table is a one-off. As the top is pulled apart, the extra leaves rise up on springs from inside the body of the table which allows it to be of three different lengths. Long enough to comfortably seat 10 people at its maximum length, it is also very narrow making it perfect for dining rooms where width is an issue. Max length: 93" (236cm) Width: 42" (106cm) Height: 27" (69cm)

a Collectorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Cabinet During the Eighteenth century young gentlemen undertook a grand tour of Europe as part of their education. Whilst on that tour many formed collections which needed to be housed and cabinet makers in England provided no end of solutions. This cabinet is a superior example. With its choice of woods, inlaid decoration and the delightful stretcher, it would undoubtedly have been London made and specially commissioned. On the platform stretcher is one from a pair of Kangxi Dynasty Chinese porcelain blue and white bottle vases.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

the Bishop of gloucester’s set of six side Chairs attributed to thomas Chippendale The celebrated historian R.W. Symonds, in his book ‘Masterpieces of English Furniture and Clocks’, discusses these chairs and says; ‘The quality of the workmanship is too good for this set to be the work of a provincial chair-maker’. He reiterates this opinion in an article entitled ‘The Books of Eighteenth Century Cabinet Makers’. ‘This set of chairs is of the highest quality workmanship, the carving being of the finest execution and the mahogany of the hardest Cuban variety’. He goes on to say that ‘if this set of chairs had been made by a provincial chair-maker, it is unlikely he would have given the chair the same elegant form and graceful curve to the back and stance to the legs.’ Sheraton states ‘It is very remarkable, the difference of some chairs of precisely the same pattern, when executed by different chair makers, arising chiefly in the want of taste concerning the beauty of an outline, of which we judge by the eye, more than the rigid rules of geometry.’ Width: 24½" (62cm) Depth: 24" (61cm) Height: 39" (99cm) Available as pairs.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

the Ditchley park mirror by John linnell An exceptional, superb and very rare rococo mirror attributed to John Linnell and conceived as a Chinese park complete with rocks, grottoes, cascading water and a pagoda which reflect the naturalistic garden designs being created by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown at the time. Width: 57½" (146cm) Height: 66¾" (179.5cm) On the Mirror (opposite) is a selection of Ming & Kangxi Dynasty Blanc de Chine Figures.

an Exceptional table by William Vile The wonderful table is of the same age as the mirror and is one of a select group of pieces attributed to William Vile. The majority of the extant examples of his work may be found in the Royal collection, including a bookcase made for Queen Charlotte. The exceptional carving which may be seen on the frieze of this table and on the bookcase are strikingly similar. Taken together with a number of other similarities found on other pieces by Vile, the attribution seems entirely justified. Width: 72" (183cm) Depth: 33¾" (86cm) Height: 36¾" (93cm) On the table (opposite) is a selection of Kangxi Dynasty Blue & White Porcelain.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a pair of Walnut armchairs Dating to the early Georgian period these chairs are, as far as we can tell, unique. Chairs with three legs to the front, usually refered to as corner or writing chairs, have just one leg at the back. These are the only ones we know of to have two rear legs. Having said they are unique, we have to qualify that statement by mentioning that they are numbered III & IIII. Presumably another two of these chairs are comfortably sitting in a house being very much enjoyed. Width: 32" (81.5cm) Depth: 23" (58.5cm) Height: 36Â˝" (93cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a rare george I Burr Walnut side table We are pleased to be offering this table for the second time. Sold by us some years ago, it recently returned from a home in America. Clearly visible on the drawer front is a wonderful burr walnut veneer which is of a very good colour. The carving is crisp and well designed; flowing along the apron and integrating seamlessly with the boldly carved acanthus leaves to the top of each leg. A very rare table indeed. Width: 34' (87cm) Depth: 21' (51cm) Height: 28Âź' (72cm)

a george III sheraton period satinwood Flower stand or Bough pot When the craze for tulips spread from Holland to England, bough pots were designed to allow for the growing of bulbs inside the house. This example is most unusual being intended for a corner and having three tiers on a stand. It is indicative of the value placed on growing bulbs that it is made of very expensive satinwood which has been combined with a charming decorative panel on each tier. It is also highly likely that this piece was made by Henry Kettle. The satinwood banner motif used on this stand is identical to the motif used on the pembroke table on page 51. The unusual nature of this motif suggests a common hand. Width: 20Â˝" (52cm) Depth: 14Â˝" (37cm) Height: 45Âž" (119cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a pair of regency period temple lights Classical in inspiration and for obvious reasons, known as ‘temple’ lights, these candelabra are in excellent condition and retain their original and rare turquoise columns. Height: 15½" (39.5cm) Width: 5" (13cm)

the harvey armchairs from Ickwell Bury house This beautiful pair of chairs were once part of The Harvey suite of ten armchairs and two window seats from Ickwell Bury House. Almost certainly by the firm Gillows, they mark a move away from more ornamented furniture of Linnell and Chippendale to a simpler style which relied on well drawn design for effect. Without doubt, as your eye travels along the curving form of the backs and arms, one cannot help but to find them pleasing. Width: 23" (59cm) Depth: 21" (53cm) Height: 37" (94cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a Dutch Cabinet with oriental lacquer panels This is a highly decorative cabinet incorporating satinwood veneers and lacquer panels of a quality rarely seen within a piece of furniture. The scenes depicted on the panels are handled with consummate skill and include the use of both gold and silver decoration. Width: 55Â˝" (141cm) Depth: 22Â˝" (57cm) Height 37" (94cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

mr Kettle’s pembroke table In Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ the heroine talks about her father taking his meals on one. Jane Austen also wrote to her sister when some new furniture was delivered to Steventon, saying that her mother kept all her papers in a Pembroke table. As one can gather, these tables were hugely popular and thus there were countless variations and in some cases such as this example, no expense would have been spared. The degree to which this table has been decorated with various inlaid motifs, and the quality of this work, is exemplary. Our title is derived from the attribution of the table to Henry Kettle. Width: 32" (82cm) Depth: 26" (66cm) Height: 28" (71.5cm)

merlin’s Weighing scales Stamped, Made at Week’s R’L Museum, Tichborne Street. The Personal Weighing Machine was invented by John Joseph Merlin, although the mechanism itself was invented by Wyatt albeit on a grander scale for the weighing of vehicles after the enactment of the Turnpike Act of 1741. Merlin was responsible for scaling it down. The idea of weighing one’s body seems to have been due to the Italian Physician Santorio Santorio (‘Sanctorius’) 1561 - 1626, who used a large steelyard for the purpose. In Paris in the mid-eighteenth century a public weighing machine was maintained for people to weigh themselves and it was likely that Merlin knew of it from his time spent in Paris. Height: 53" (135cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a Drinking table attributed to gillows Amongst the specialised variety of tables produced in the 18th century were wine or drinking tables. Intended to be used after dinner, the table was placed in front of a fire and the gentlemen would help themselves to drink by virtue of the coasters which may be moved from side to side. This table is one of the smallest examples we have seen and this is without doubt in its favour. Diameter: 59Â˝" (151cm) Height: 28" (71cm) Radius 29Âž" (75cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

the gargrave house Curricle Chairs This is the second occasion that we have had the pleasure of handling these chairs. Originally purchased by us from Gargrave House, we exhibited them on our stand at the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair in 1983 and were fortunate to buy them again recently. With the scrolling head-rail incised with anthemion decoration, they are far superior to most chairs of this form. Width: 22" (56cm) Depth: 29Â˝" (76cm) Height: 36" (91cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

an Important pair of gilt-wood settees in the manner of Chippendale the Younger To find a pair of settees of this importance is a very rare occurrence indeed. In this case, the settees have the most graceful lines with gently serpentined backs connected to the seats with shaped and carved arms and uprights. The carving throughout is exemplary and the swags of husks flanking each leg are unusual for having survived intact. Length 76½" (194cm) Depth: 27½" (70cm) Height: 46½" (118cm)

a gillows Extending Dining table Richard Gillow registered his patent, no. 2396, for this form of table in 1800. The firm described to a customer the practical advantages of this form of table as ‘...so constructed that the boards may be moved in 2 or 3 minutes to dine from 6 persons to 26 and are not more likely to be injured or out of order by common usage than other dining tables.’ The other fantastic feature of this table, considering the length, is the very small number of legs and there being no frieze to impede one’s guests from sitting comfortably. Length 184½" (469cm) Width: 59¾" (152cm) each leaf 26½" (67cm) Height: 28¾" (73cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

Colonel Barhamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 18 Chippendale Dining Chairs It is exceptionally rare to find 18 Chippendale period chairs. This set was used by Colonel Barham and his family in the pews of Rolvenden Church and comprises a set of 12, including 2 armchairs, and a set of six which vary slightly from the others. Width: 25Â˝" (65cm) Depth: 24" (61cm) Height: 38" (96.5cm)

a matched pair of hepplewhite period Commodes Pairs of commodes are extremely difficult to find and this pair have a very good serpentine shape with rather interesting pilasters, which flank the drawers and have both fluting and stop fluting. The taper to these pilasters also adds to the attractive appeal of these chests, and with their original handles and their golden colour, we can highly recommend them. Width: 50½" (128cm) & 51½" (130cm) Depth: 24½" (62cm) Height: 35" (89cm) On the commodes are a pair of cloisonné elephants dating to the Qing dynasty, a pair of Jasperware lustres on the right hand commode and a pair of Coalport lustres on the left hand commode.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a george III satinwood Bookcase Unusually

shallow

and

entirely

practical, it was designed for the display of books and storage. However, the cabinet-maker has used a combination of satinwood veneers and well executed painted decoration to turn an ostensibly functional piece of furniture into a very decorative bookcase. Width: 56Âź" (143cm) Depth: 12Âž" (32.5cm) Height: 95" (241cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

the Cliveden rococo mirror This wonderful rococo mirror, dating to circa 1760, came from Cliveden, a house made famous by the Profumo scandal. Owned by the Astors it was at the centre of political life, playing host to such luminaries as Winston Churchill, the artist John Singer Sargent and writer George Bernard Shaw. Framed by its foliate borders, cluster columns and gothic arches, the mirror would have reflected some of the most prominent artistic and political figures of the early Twentieth century. Width: 44" (112cm) Height: 94" (239cm)

a pair of george III White marble & ormolu Candle Vases By matthew Boulton These superbly shaped ovoid candle vases are illustrated in Sir Nicolas Goodison’s comprehensive book on Boulton. They may also be compared to a drawing in Boulton’s pattern book p.170. Height: 8¾" (22cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a russian Basket A rare Russian piece dating from the Eighteenth century, and although we have photographed it with walking sticks it is probably an oversized waste paper basket as a similar example is illustrated sitting next to a desk in a watercolour of the Lantern Study at Pavlovsk Palace. Height: 28" (71cm) Diameter: 21" (53.5cm)

a george I Walnut Chest on Chest otherwise known as a tallboy We look for certain attributes when examining walnut tallboys. This example has canted corners to the top and bottom, original handles, cross-banding and herringbone and perhaps most importantly, a sunburst in the bottom drawer. The ideal is for the piece to have all these features and, as in this case, to be of a golden colour walnut. Width: 45" (114.5cm) Depth: 22Âź" (57cm) Height: 78" (198cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a set of Four Wall lights by moses lafount Moses Lafount took out a patent in 1796 for his method of attaching glass candlebranches to a small brass loop, giving the impression that the entire branch was formed from one long curve of glass. While still hot, some of the branches were drawn through a six-lobed opening to give them a subtle ribbed or fluted effect as in this case. Height: 21" (53.5cm) Width: 16" (40.5cm)

a Burr-ash, Burr-Yew & marquetry Centre table attributed to george Blake & Co This attractive golden coloured table is inlaid with finely executed marquetry decoration and has a concave sided pedestal base which adds to the table’s elegance. The condition of the top is ‘untouched’. By this we are referring to the fine patination and the gradual change in colour that have come about over two hundred years. Height: 28½" (73cm) Diameter: 26" (66cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a Chippendale Wine Cooler Illustrated in The Connoisseur Magazine, in 1969 and exhibited at The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair, this exceptional wine cooler, which is in the manner of Thomas Chippendale, is of superb quality and has faded to a golden colour. Width: 29Â˝" (75cm) Depth: 19Âž" (50cm) Height: 24" (61cm)

a superb Walnut Kidney Desk by gillows The kidney shape was first used by Chippendale for a commode table in his 1762 Director, and was later developed by Thomas Sheraton in his Drawing Book of 1793. Such was the influence of these publications that the design became quite popular for various forms of table towards the end of the Eighteenth century. The kidney desk is most commonly associated with Gillows and this one could well be by them. The best examples, like this one, have an enclosed kneehole allowing for shelves on the back for books or ornaments and are of magnificent colour and quality. Width: 50½" (129cm) Depth: 27" (69cm) Height: 28¾" (73cm) On the desk are a pair of cloisonné birds and a bronze elephant.

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a pair of regency period Candelabra These grand candelabra are conceived in the neo-classical tradition and are ‘triumphant’ in feeling. The combination of the bronze and the ormolu works well and the quality of the workmanship is very good. The draped swags held above the figures and the figures themselves are finely cast ensuring the quality is a match for their impressive scale. Width: 11½" (29cm) Depth: 5½" (14cm) Height: 24¼" (62cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a george I Elm stool This elegant stool is of an exceptionally rare large size. It is also unusual for it is made of elm, rather than the more typical walnut, and has developed a good patinated surface. The detailing of the ‘C’ scroll and the feet are also particularly interesting and add to the huge eye appeal of the stool. Width: 34½" (88cm) Depth: 21" (54cm) Height: 15" (38.5cm)

a pair of george III hall Chairs Chippendale gave us no fewer than six designs for Hall Chairs in his 3rd edition of the Director, and Hepplewhite a further three, which illustrates how popular they were. In many of the Palladian houses they would line the hallways, for example at Spencer House there were twelve such chairs. The chairs illustrated here are highly refined and the mahogany has become rich and golden in colour. They are indeed extremely attractive. Width: 16Âź" (41cm) Depth: 18" (46cm) Height: 37" (94cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a Commode by henry hill This commode is a very good example of the work of Henry Hill, the foremost cabinet maker in the West Country in the mid to late Eighteenth century. Gently serpentine front and sides, flame figured veneers on the drawer fronts, original handles and of a great colour. Width: 48" (122cm) Depth: 25" (63.5cm) Height: 33Âź" (84.5cm)

a pair of Blue John Baccanalian Vases Blue john was used in the creation of ornamental objects dating as far back as the time of Pompeii, however, its first recorded use in Britain dates from 1743. The use of this wonderfully coloured mineral became increasingly popular in the second half of the Eighteenth century both here and in France, where large quantities of the stone were imported and the spar was known as bleu-jaune, from which the name â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;blue johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; derives. Height: 12" (30.5cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

an Exceptional urn stand This is an excellent example from the Hepplewhite period with inlaid decoration, original gallery and of great colour. The table may be the one formerly at Godmersham Park before being sold in the early 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and is also identical to another table in the Norman Adams Collection. Intended for the samovar or tea urn, it has a slide which may be pulled out to take the tea-pot. Width: 11" (28cm) Depth: 11" (28cm) Height: 27Âź" (69cm)

the penfold letter Box by Walter thornhill The drawer in the plinth has a plate stamped with registration diamond and lettered registered post box WT No. 320. The WT stands for Walter Thornhill of 144 New Bond Street, who retailed these letter boxes. It is based on the full size street pillar box and named after its architect designer, J.W. Penfold. First erected in 1866, this box was hexagonal in shape with the top decorated by acanthus leaves and balls. It was manufactured by Cochrane, Grove and Company in three different sizes. The Penfold pillar box continued to be manufactured for thirteen years, but with fifteen modifications to the design. Diameter: 11" (28cm) Height: 23" (58cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a pair of regency tables attributable to gillows This model of table is known to have been made by Gillows and indeed their drawing still exists. Always known for the quality of their work, this pair of tables are no exception. What is particularly unusual is to find a pair of them. Depth: 24Â˝" (62cm) Height: 28Â˝" (72cm) Length: 41" (104cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

the Weald hall satinwood Breakfront Bookcase attributed to mayhew & Ince It is really rather wonderful to be able to say that a piece is as good an example of its type as one could hope to see. This breakfront bookcase is one such, and typical of the quality one would expect of the cabinet making firm Mayhew & Ince. Its proportions, colour and quality are outstanding. Width: 81Â˝" (207cm) Depth: 24" (61cm) Height: 100" (254cm)

a Charming occasional table The finely fluted frieze and scalloped apron add huge decorative appeal to this table. With the banded top, inlaid with a patarae, and the slightly tapering legs and spade toes, it is delightful. Width: 20" (51cm) Depth: 16" (41cm) Height: 27他" (70.5cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a george III marquetry Inlaid Box attributed to thomas Chippendale This box was almost certainly executed by the celebrated St. Martin’s Lane cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, as he introduced the same motif of an oval medallion of golden satinwood on a dressing-table supplied to the Lascelles family of Harewood House, Yorkshire. Width: 12¾" (32.5cm) Depth: 9½" (24cm) Height: 4½" (11.5cm)

a Victorian octagonal Caddy Silver and oak is always a most attractive combination. In this case, it is used to great effect in this octagonal biscuit barrel with a monogrammed escutcheon. Height: 8Â˝" (22cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

regency Chic: a pair of Corner shelves A pair of corner shelves, very much in the French style that was in vogue in the early Nineteenth century, and so strongly influenced by the Prince Regent in his choice of French inspired furnishings for his palace, Carlton House. Width: 21Â˝" (54.5cm) Depth: 14Â˝" (37cm) Height: 33" (84cm)

a george III mirror This mirror is very much influenced by the work of the neo-classical architect Robert Adam and could easily be imagined within one of his decorative schemes at Osterley Park or Kedleston Hall. Indeed by the 1760â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Adam was working closely with Linnell at a number of houses, including the above, where a closely related mirror may be found. Width: 42" (106.7cm) Height: 57" (144.8cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

a george III Commode attributed to John Cobb The commode is from the same period as the mirror and exemplifies the influence the French cabinet makers were having in England at this time. Once a riot of colour, it has now faded and mellowed with age. It is highly likely to have been made by John Cobb, of whom it was said a ‘singularly haughty character’, strutting ‘in full dress of the most superb and costly kind...through his workshops giving orders to his men’, and earning on one occasion a rebuke from George III. He made furniture to very high standards and earned a reputation for exquisite marquetry: Hester Thrale, the writer and friend of Dr Johnson, compared the inlaid floors at Sceaux, France, to “the most high prized Cabinet which Mr Cobb can produce to captivate the Eyes of his Customers”. Width: 54½" (138.5cm) Depth: 23¾" (60cm) Height: 35" (89cm)

a Chippendale armchair A virtuoso piece, this chair is distinguished by its idiosyncratic design, its quality and the colour and patination of the wood. Despite extensive research it has not been possible to attribute the chair to any particular craftsmen. There is certainly something of a temptation to compare the shape of the back to designs found in Chippendale’s ‘Director’ or in Mayhew & Ince’s ‘Universal System’, however, there is nothing conclusive. Undoubtedly, one can suggest that this chair was the work of a cabinet maker of some considerable talent. Width: 24" (61cm) Depth: 21" (53.5cm) Height: 35½" (90cm)

Important EnglIsh FurnIturE

Colonel mulliner’s Extraordinary tray attributed to mayhew & Ince In 1788, Hepplewhite wrote in his ‘Guide’ “For tea trays a very great variety of patterns may be invented… they afford an opportunity for much taste and fancy.” This tray employs a number of motifs inlaid within various woods in the most attractive pattern. Illustrated in the Dictionary of English Furniture, the tray was formerly a part of the collection of Colonel Mulliner, considered to be one of the finest collections of English Decorative Arts formed in the early Twentieth century. Width: 31½" (80cm) Depth: 23¼" (59cm)

APPENDIX

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An Early Eighteenth Century Masterpiece

A George III Satinwood Secretaire

51303

51369

This exceptionally rare chair compares closely to the suite of seat furniture supplied to Sir Robert Walpole for Houghton Hall in Norfolk and to another suite supplied to Sir John Chester, whose new house at Chicheley, Buckinghamshire was being fitted out from 1722 onwards. Attribution in both cases has been hampered by a lack of accounts, but it is thought that both suites were probably by the same maker. The close similarities between both suites and this chair suggest that it too might have been made in the same workshop. English, Circa 1725 Width: 40½” (102.5cm) Depth: 28” (71cm) Height: 39” (99cm) PROVENANCE Mallett Antiques , 1963 The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair, 1972 Dr. F. Campbell-Golding F.R.C.P, Fisherton de La Mere House, Wylye, Wiltshire ATTRIBUTION Thomas Roberts is often credited as the maker of the Houghton suite. Unfortunately, the accounts that survive mostly relate to his work at Walpole’s London House. However, he certainly supplied upholstery materials to Houghton and indeed had two men working there for sixty-four days in 1728. The maker of the Chicheley Suite is also unknown but a cabinet maker called Hodson did supply seat furniture to Chicheley in 1725 at a cost of £34.

Originally known as a ‘Secretary and Bookcase’ this was designed for a George III apartment in the late Eighteenth century ‘antique’ or ‘Roman’ manner. The chest-ofdrawers conceals a bureau, while the projecting cornice of its recessed cabinet would serve for vase display. The frieze beneath the dentil and pearl-wreathed cornice is japanned with floral garlands and a veil-draped sacred urn; while its reed-banded chest is raised on scalloped and Grecian-scrolled bracket feet which are banded to match the drawer fronts. English, Circa 1780 Width: 45¾” (116 cm) Depth: 22” (56 cm) Height: 91¼” (232 cm) REFERENCE The bracket foot and oval medallion inlay of the fitted ‘secretary’ drawer featured in the 1788 publication of The Cabinet-Maker’s London Book of Prices, while the arcaded astragal pattern for the doors did not appear until the 2nd edition of 1793. LITERATURE The Cabinet Maker’s London Book of Prices, 2nd Edition, 1793, pl. 15 Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, p. 248

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ILLUSTRATED E.T. Joy, The Country Life Book of Chairs, fig. 41

A George III Chippendale Period Side Table from Ricking Hall, Suffolk

NEEDLEWORK PANEL Its central oval vignette of a richly flowered park provides the stage for theatrical figures that sport beneath a gigantic insect, whose outsized proportions reflect contemporary ‘India’ [Chinese] taste. Here a courtier proffers a flower to a female, who bears a floral hoop and dances to the music provided by a youth with rustic pipes. His guitar-playing companion has the rustic feathered head-dress worn by actors in the Italian Comedy. The source for this figure is likely to have been a Parisian engraving entitled ‘Harlequin’ issued in the late 17th century by Nicholas Bonnart (see M. Swain, Figures on Fabric, 1980, pl.36).

51328

LITERATURE Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, p. 173 P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture: The Age of Walnut, p. 194, fig. 172 H. Avray Tipping, ‘Houghton Hall—Il’, Country Life, 3 August 1907, P. 169 C. Latham, In English Homes, Vol.III, p. 369 A. Stratton, The English Interior, p1. LXXIX H. Avray Tipping, ‘Houghton Hall—lV’, Country Life, 22 January 1921, p. 102 & p. 106, fig. 7, fig. 12 H. Avray Tipping, English Homes, Period V, Vol. 1, Early Georgian, 1714-60, p. 107, fig. 135, p. 98, fig. 124, p.100. fig. 127 P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, P. 260, fig. 105 C. Hussey, English Country Houses, Early Georgian 1715-60, p. 86, fig. 119 R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, P. 135, fig. 72 D. Cooper, ed., Great Family Collections, p. 229 J. Cornforth, Houghton Hall, Norfolk—II’, Country Life, 7 May 1987, p. 107, fig. 8 S. Morris, ‘Houghton’, The Antique Collector, January 1991, p. 53, fig. 2

The table has a well patinated top above a serpentine frieze carved with fretwork and standing on square legs with carved bead and reel motif and leaf carved spandrels. A particularly noteworthy feature is the way each leg has an indent to the top, which along with the serpentine shape, adds to the movement and appeal of the table. Certainly worth noting is that the design of the fretwork is an exact match for the fretwork on a drawing of a sideboard table in Chippendale’s Director. Although there were numerous cabinet makers producing furniture based on his designs, the inclusion on this table of the quirky indent at the top of the leg would indicate that the cabinet maker was capable of far more than just copying Chippendale’s design. With this in mind, consideration should be given to Wright & Elwick as the makers of this table. Known to have subscribed to Chippendale’s Director, they showed themselves to be very capable of interpreting rather than just copying. English, Circa 1765 Width: 54” (137cm) Depth: 29¼” (75cm) Height: 33½” (85cm) PROVENANCE The Rippinghall Family at Ricking Hall, Suffolk LITERATURE Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 3rd edition, Pl. LVII

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Sir James & Lady Horlick, Achamore House, The Isle of Gigha, Scotland.

The Beningbrough Hall Gesso Tables by James Moore

ATTRIBUTION The decoration to the cresting of these mirrors, in particular the flowering tendrils, relate to a pair of mirrors which were sold at Sotheby’s New York, 22 January, 1999, Lot 212, which were attributed to James Moore (c 1670-1726).

51354 The tables have marble tops sitting above a concave frieze carved with bellflowers within a series of arches. The tables each stand on four tapered legs with ionic capitals to the top and carved acanthus leaves and strap-work designs below. The legs united by a stretcher centred by a lozenge and flanked by C-shaped stretchers with guilloche banding, on quatrefoil voluted leaf-carved panel feet, decorated throughout on a scaled ground. English, Circa 1720 Width: 35¾” (91cm) Depth: 19¼” (49cm) Height: 31¾” (80.5cm) PROVENANCE Possibly supplied to James, 3rd Viscount Scudamore for Holme Lacy, Herefordshire Thence by descent to Edwyn Scudamore-Stanhope, 10th Earl of Chesterfield, Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire Subsequently, Lady Menzies.

Recorded as a cabinet maker at Nottingham Court, Short’s Gardens, St Giles in the Field, he was in partnership with John Gumley and was Royal cabinet-maker to George I and George II, supplying gilt pier glasses, tables, torcheres and other items to the Royal palaces. He was also commissioned by Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu and Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough for the supply of items at Blenheim where he succeeded Vanbrugh as the Comptroller of Works. Campsea Ashe High House was rebuilt in the 19th Century by Anthony Salvin for the Hon William Lowther, younger brother of the 3rd Earl of Lonsdale. The house was designed to retain many of the original Georgian features. Lowther’s son, James William, was speaker of the House of Commons from 1905 until 1921 at which point he became Viscount Ullswater. LITERATURE LGG Ramsay, ‘Chinoiserie in the Western Isles, The Collection of Sir James and Lady Horlick’, The Connoisseur, June 1985, p.3, fig 3

ATTRIBUTION Royal Cabinet-Maker to King George I, James Moore the Elder supplied furniture to a variety of members of the Royal Court and for the Duke of Marlborough and his wife Sarah, ‘becoming as much involved with building work and the supervision of fitting out apartments as with cabinet making’ at Blenheim Palace, even being referred to as her ‘oracle’ by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. The accounts of the Royal Palaces include bills for a group of tables he and his partner John Gumley supplied to George I for Kensington Palace between 1725 and 1727. The elaborately carved gesso adorning the tapered legs of the marble-topped tables, the intricate strap-work and the acanthus-fronded feet all recall the designs of Daniel Marot and apart from the apron are almost identical to a single table from this group which is incised with Moore’s name. LITERATURE Margaret Jourdain, ‘Furniture at Beningbrough Hall’, Country Life, December 3, 1927, p. 855 ‘Beningbrough Hall - II. Yorkshire’, Country Life, December 3, 1927, pp. 824 (illustrated), 829 Ralph Edwards and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London: Country Life Ltd., rev. ed. 1946, p. 92, fig. 17 Beard and Gilbert, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986. pp. 618619

Page 16 A Pair of George II Gainsborough Armchairs 51183 The serpentine backs and seats upholstered in Eighteenth century gros-point floral needlework with curved arm supports carved with acanthus and flowers on a punched ground and a seat rail with similarly carved mahogany show-wood supported by carved cabriole legs terminating in scrolled feet. English, Circa 1755 Width: 29” (74cm) Depth: 29” (74cm) Height: 39¾” (101cm) LITERATURE One from the pair, illustrated in F. Lewis Hinckley, The More Significant Georgian Furniture, pl. 39, p. 33

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Lord Ebury’s Tripod Table

The Campsea Ashe Gesso Mirrors Attributed to James Moore

50885

50950 The shaped and beveled mirror plates are framed by a finely carved gesso border. Above is a swan neck pediment flanking a central cartouche which is surmounted by stylised leaves. Below is a scrolling apron, carved with trailing foliage and with brass candle-arms.

The table has a ‘pie-crust’ top supported on a fluted column with a spirally fluted vase above double ‘C’ scroll legs standing on rock-work feet.

English, Circa 1720

This exceptional table, constructed from dense mahogany timber, has turned a rich golden colour and is well patinated. The top, which pivots on the base, still retains its original lock. The base has no breaks to the legs.

Width: 30½” (77.5cm) Height: 51” (129.5cm)

English, Circa 1760

PROVENANCE Viscount Ullswater, Campsea Ashe High House, Campsea Ashe, Suffolk.

Diameter: 31¼” (79.5cm) Height: 28” (71cm)

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PROVENANCE The table carries a depository label identifying it as having belonged to Lord Ebury. This peerage was created in 1857. However, Lord Ebury was descended from both the Grosvenor family (Duke of Westminster) and the Egerton family (Earl of Wilton), two noble families with numerous houses from which this table may have come. Research is ongoing.

In 1841 they published their first catalogue; Collection of Ornaments at Austin & Seeley’s Artificial Stone Works for Gardens, Parks and Pleasure Grounds etc. Sir Jeffrey is included on page 10 of the 1844 edition. The firm continued in production until about 1872. A similar lead model of Sir Jeffrey is displayed in the gardens at Longleat House, Wiltshire.

LITERATURE Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 3rd Edition, Pl. CXLV Mayhew & Ince, Universal System, Pl. LXVIII COMPARISON Another table, almost certainly by the same hand, formed part of the Sir Michael Sobell Collection, Bakeham House, Egham.

III

Page 22 A Pair of Regency Period Amboyna and Simulated Marble Etageres 51373

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The etageres combine the particularly well figured and highly attractive amboyna wood with gilt metal gallery and columns. The simulated marble tops, which vary slightly, are extremely well executed and together form a very unusual pair of tables.

‘Lord Minimus’

English, Circa 1815

51357

Width: 17½” (44.5cm) Depth: 13½” (33.5cm Height: 32” (81.5 cm)

Sir Jeffrey Hudson by Austin & Seeley Sir Jeffrey stands proudly upon his plinth with musket and sword and wearing the armour of the Holy Roman Emperor. The spurs on his boots and the firing mechanism on the musket made of lead. The figure – Height: 44” (112cm) Height with plinth: 78½” (199cm) PROVENANCE The Winn Family, Nostell Priory, Yorkshire. Jeffrey Hudson (b. 1619, d. circa 1682) was presented to the Duchess of Buckingham, on his seventh birthday, as a ‘rarity of nature’. She was so taken with him that she invited him to join her household. Subsequently, the Duke and Duchess entertained a visit from King Charles and his young wife, Queen Henrietta Maria. During the evening a most lavish banquet took place and as a highlight of the evening, Jeffrey was presented to the Queen, served in a large pie. When the pie was placed in front of the Queen, Jeffrey arose from the crust. The Queen was delighted and the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham immediately offered Hudson to her as a gift.

PROVENANCE The Sobell Collection (purchased at the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair on the 8th June 1960) REFERENCE The distinctive painted ‘trompe l’oeil’ marble tops reflect the contemporary taste for importing marbles from the Continent. Whilst on their ‘Grand Tour’, gentlemen would have visited quarries and various workshops in Italy where they would have seen specimen tops being made. There are a number of recorded examples of marble effect furniture, including a pair of tables formerly at Ham House, London and a number of pieces of ‘marbleised’ furniture from Gillows, commissioned by the Marquesses of Cholmondeley, that are now at Houghton Hall, Norfolk.

Page 24 A Regency Period Brass Inlaid Rosewood Sofa Table 51370

Known as the ‘Queen’s Dwarf’, he was also referred to as ‘Lord Minimus’ and was considered one of the ‘wonders of the age’ because of his extreme but well-proportioned smallness. His size did not prevent him from fighting with the Royalists in the English Civil War until he fled with the Queen to France. Unfortunately for him, after killing a man in a duel he was expelled from her court and ended up being captured by Barbary pirates. After spending twenty-five years as a slave in North Africa, he finally escaped and returned to England. In 1676, he was accused of involvement in the ‘Popish Plot’ with Titus Oates and was imprisoned in Gatehouse Prison for four years. He died two years after being released from prison.

This highly decorative sofa table retains its darkly figured rosewood veneer which has been inlaid with brass decoration. The quality of the additional brass mounts to the base and the consummate skill with which the inlay has been cut into the rosewood are a clear indication of a highly gifted maker, certainly one based in London.

AUSTIN & SEELEY Felix Austin went into business making artificial stone in New Road, London in 1828. He described himself variously as an architect, statuary mason and sculptor as well as artificial stone maker. In 1840, he entered into partnership with John Seeley. Seeley had trained at the Royal Academy Schools and also made an artificial stone, which he called ‘artificial limestone’, before entering into partnership with Austin. Though their items were rarely stamped, they can be identified by their quality and in this case, the inclusion of the figure of Sir Jeffrey in one of their catalogues. The quality of their work was certainly appreciated by Queen Victoria who was included amongst their patrons.

English, Circa 1815

Apart from the quality, this table exhibits knowledge of the most up to date fashions in London in the early Nineteenth century. The most plausible maker would be Louis le Gaigneur, a cabinet maker working almost exclusively for George IV, who was setting the fashion with his furnishings of Carlton House.

Length: 64½” (163cm) Width: 31” (79cm) Height: 28¾” (73 cm) PROVENANCE Acquired by Sir Sydney Barratt from Temple Williams Ltd., London, 27 June 1960 (as probably by Louis Constantin Le Gaigneur of Queen Street) and by descent.

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ON THE SOFA TABLE A Pair of Regency Period Candlesticks 51346 Each candlestick with an oriental figure standing on a chased ormolu and bronze plinth mounted with a pierced ormolu rosette. On one, the figure is that of a woman holding a small bird cage in one hand and a parasol in the other. The figure on the other candlestick is a man holding the bird that the woman had released from its cage. He too holds a parasol, and in each case the parasol is hung with alternating bells and acorns. English, Circa 1810 Height: 11½” (29cm) Depth: 4” (10cm) Width: 4” (10cm)

Page 27 A Rare George I Burr Yew Wood Chest of Drawers 51015 The chest of drawers has a burr yew-wood top with a herring-bone inlaid border and a further herring-bone diamond to the centre of the top. On the sides the herring-bone is repeated as a border and this time with a circle to the centre. The front of the chest has three short drawers above four graduated long drawers, each inlaid with herringbone and retaining their original handles and escutcheons. The chest stands on original bracket feet. The chest benefits from being veneered in the most highly figured yew-wood which has faded to a golden colour and developed a rich patination.

Page 26 An Eighteenth Century Gilt-wood Mirror Attributed to William France

English, Circa 1720 Width: 36¼” (92cm) Depth: 19¼” (49cm) Height: 38½” (98cm)

50993 This highly important carved gilt-wood girandole has a cartouche-shaped moulded frame with scrolling foliage enclosing a forward spray of leafy plumes with ruffled edges and surmounted by a shell. The scrolls at the base enclosing a cabochon within scrolls and leaves, and with three foliate ornamented scrolled arms supporting gilt-metal candle holders in the form of joined leaves.

Page 28 The Goat’s Head Vases by Matthew Boulton 51338

English, Circa 1765

The cassolettes have strikingly coloured blue-john bodies with pairs of ormolu goat’s masks holding laurel swags. The finials are reversible with a spiral-twisted nozzle. The base with foliage-clasped socle on a square stepped base with bun feet.

With one mirror of a later date

English, Circa 1770

Height: 60” (152.5 cm) Width: 32” (81.5 cm)

Height: 8” (20.5 cm)

ATTRIBUTION A pair of similar girandoles attributed to William France and John Bradburn were commissioned by Sir Lawrence Dundas, 19 Arlington Street, London William France had a wonderfully successful career and a remarkably distinguished patronage. His clients included Sir Lawrence Dundas at 19 Arlington St and Moor Park, the 6th Earl of Coventry at Croome Court, John Chute at The Vyne, 1st Duke of Northumberland at Syon House, and the 1st Earl of Mansfield at Kenwood House. France was under the employment of William Vile and John Cobb, until in 1764 he entered into partnership with John Bradburne, and together they worked on a number of highly important commissions for the royal family including the Lodge at Richmond, the Prince of Wales’s and the King’s apartments at St James, and the pavilions at Hampton Court. LITERATURE Country Life, September 17, 1921, ‘London Houses - 19 Arlington Street, A Residence of The Marquess of Zetland’, pp. 350-355, fig. 7 Arthur T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert & James Adam, London, 1922, Vol. II, p. 345, and Part VI - Chapter XXXVII, Furniture, pp. 288-317 Apollo Magazine, September 1967, Anthony Coleridge, ‘Some Rococo Cabinet-Makers and Sir Lawrence Dundas’, pp. 214-225, fig 4 G. Beard & C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, pp. 95-97, pp. 316-317 John Cornforth, London Interiors, London, 2000, pp. 53-55 Graham Child, World Mirrors 1650-1900, fig. 217

PROVENANCE Benjamin F. Edwards III ATTRIBUTION The ‘goat’s head vase’ is derived from a sketch illustrated in Boulton and Fothergill’s pattern books. The model was one of the most popular of the smaller vases and first appeared in 1769. LITERATURE N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, pp. 331-333, figs. 332-333) N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, Pg 156, fig 121 Matthew Boulton, Selling What all the World Desires. Pg 169, fig 160

Page 29 A George I Lacquer Bureau Bookcase 51261 The broken arched pediment has three gadrooned and foliate urn finials above a pair of arched doors with beveled mirror plates. Inside the cabinet is an elaborately fitted interior with pigeonholes above a central arched mirrored door flanked by marbleised fluted pilasters, document slides, folio compartments and small drawers. The fall encloses a similarly fitted interior with a central door, pigeonholes and small drawers above a well. Below, are two short over two long drawers on bun feet. The bookcase is japanned in black and gilt and highlighted with silver and raised and flat

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decoration depicting Chinese figures and birds in extensive landscape settings. A rather nice feature of this bookcase is that there is an easily recognizable theme. On nearly every surface one will find birds and figures hunting with birds. English, Circa 1720

ill.112, one bergère in 1926 in the Music Room, and p.272, ill.240, one bergère in 1926 in Lady Spencer’s Dressing Room S. Weber Soros, ed., James “Athenian” Stuart; The Rediscovery of Antiquity, New Haven and London, 2006, p.439, fig.10-40

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Width: 42” (107cm) Depth: 25” (63.5cm) Height: 96” (244cm)

An Extending Regency Period Dining Table

LITERATURE Brackett, English Furniture Illustrated, p. 136 Hans Huth, Lacquer of the West, fig. 59 & 60 Inside the bookcase A Famille Rose Canton Enamel Tea Service 50921 Chinese, Circa 1730 An Eighteenth Century Chinese Export ‘Phoenix’ Wine Ewer 50724 Qianlong Period (1736-1795) Height: 7⅛” (18cm)

Page 32 Lord Spencer’s Bergère Chairs

51353 The cross-banded, rounded cornered and rectangular top has two drop leaves and two integral folding central leaves which may be lowered into the body of the table. The base with two end supports united by a stretcher and with down-swept legs and original brass lion paw castors. English, Circa 1810 Lengths flaps down: 38” (97cm) flaps up: 64” (163cm) one leaf: 78½” (199.5cm) two leaves: 93” (236cm) Width: 42” (106cm) Height: 27” (69cm)

51311 Page 36 The chairs with husk and guilloche carved head-rails, padded arms supported on scrolling ‘C’ scroll uprights carved with trailing bell flowers. The seat rail centred by fluted tablets flanked by roundels on tapering turned and fluted legs with toupie feet.

A Collector’s Cabinet 51355

English, Circa 1791 Width: 29” (74cm) Depth: 29” (74cm) Height: 37½” (95cm) ATTRIBUTION It is possible that the chairs were designed by the Panton Street marchand mercier Guillaume Gaubert, who served as a designer of ‘Ornamental Furniture’ to George, Prince of Wales (later George IV) in the contemporary embellishment of his Piccadilly mansion Carlton House. The latter’s furnishings were described at the time by Horace Walpole, as being ‘delicate and new’ and ‘rather classic than French’ (See D. Stroud, Henry Holland, 1966 p.64). In particular, Gaubert supplied designs to be executed by the émigré menuisier François Hervé (d.1796) of John Street, who advertised himself as a ‘cabriole chair-maker’. He is also documented in the early 1780s as being employed by John Spencer’s sister Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (d.1806) and her husband William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (d.1811). PROVENANCE Supplied to George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834) either for Spencer House, London, or Althorp, Northamptonshire. Thence by descent to John Poyntz, 5th Earl Spencer (1835-1910) at Althorp, where they are recorded in the Red Drawing Room in 1902, and in 1909. Thence by descent to Albert Edward John, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975) at Spencer House, where they are recorded in the Rubens Room and Ante Room, before being returned to Althorp circa 1926 and thence by descent. LITERATURE H. Avray Tipping, Althorp II, Country Life, 18 June 1921, p. 756, fig. 2, one bergère photographed in the Sir Joshua Reynolds Room Albert Edward John, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975), Althorp, Furniture, Vol. I, circa 1937 J. Friedman, Spencer House, Chronicle of a Great London Mansion, London, 1993, p.138,

This exceptional cabinet is veneered in rosewood which has been inlaid with a variety of motifs and framed with chequer banding. Inside the cabinet is a selection of drawers which are veneered in padouk, retain their original axe-head handles and are separated by harewood divides. The cabinet stands on four square legs inlaid with husks, tapering to spade toes and united by a high arched platform stretcher. As yet, it has not been possible to establish the maker. The quality of the materials used and the work carried out would suggest a London cabinet maker. English, Circa 1780 Width: 25½” (63.5cm) Depth: 16½” (42cm) Height: 56¼” (143cm) ON THE STRETCHER One from a pair of Kangxi Dynasty Chinese porcelain blue and white bottle vases (S2402) Full description may be found with the pieces on the table attributed to William Vile (51280)

Page 38 The Bishop of Gloucester’s Set of Six Side Chairs Attributed to Thomas Chippendale 51377 Three exceptional pairs of chairs from the rococo period with scrolling head-rail, an acanthus leaf carved splat with gothic arcading and adorsed ‘C’ scrolls above four cabriole legs with carved decoration to the knees and acanthus carved feet. English, Circa 1760

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Width: 24½” (62cm) Depth: 24” (61cm) Height: 39” (99cm) ATTRIBUTION The design for these chairs is based on plate XIV of the first edition of Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director. The original manuscript drawing from which this plate was engraved was formerly in the library of Lord Foley and is now in the collection of the Chippendale Society, Leeds, Yorkshire. The plate, which also includes two other related chairs is inscribed ‘Chairs’, Chippendale, remarking in the text ‘these’, together with several other plates ‘are various Designs of Chairs for Patterns. The front feet are mostly different, for the greater Choice. Care must be taken in drawing system at large. The seats look best when stuffed-over the Rails, and have a brass border neatly chased; but are most commonly done with Brass Nails, in one or two R. They are usually covered with the same stuff as the Window-Curtains.’ The chairs are of exceptional quality. The timber is very tightly grained which, in the right hands, has allowed the carver to achieve the very best results with a great deal of undercutting. This is certainly the opinion of the celebrated historian R.W. Symonds. In his book Masterpieces of English Furniture and Clocks, he discusses these chairs and says; ‘The quality of the workmanship is too good for this set to be the work of a provincial chairmaker’. He reiterates this opinion in an article entitled The Books of Eighteenth Century Cabinet Makers. ‘This set of chairs is of the highest quality workmanship, the carving being of the finest execution and the mahogany of the hardest Cuban variety.’ He goes on to say that ‘if this set of chairs had been made by a provincial chair-maker, it is unlikely he would have given the chair the same elegant form and graceful curve to the back and stance to the legs.’ Interestingly, Sheraton remarks ‘It is very remarkable, the difference of some chairs of precisely the same pattern, when executed by different chair makers, arising chiefly in the want of taste concerning the beauty of an outline, of which we judge by the eye, more than the rigid rules of geometry.’ PROVENANCE The Bishop of Gloucester The Collection of the late Francis P. Garvan, Esq. The celebrated American Lawyer Francis Patrick Garvan died in 1937. His widow Mabel later left a remarkable collection of American Arts and Crafts to Yale. LITERATURE Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 1st edition, pl. XIV, and 3rd edition, pl. XI The Chippendale Society, Catalogue of the Collections, 2000, pp. 16-17, no. 10 R.W. Symonds, Masterpieces of English Furniture and Clocks, Fig. 11 R.W. Symonds, The Books of Eighteenth Century Cabinet Makers.

Page 42 The Ditchley Park Mirror by John Linnell 51340 Conceived as a Chinese landscape, the mirror plates are intended to represent water and be framed by twisting trees that hang over the water’s edge, with cascading water and a bridge with a pagoda sitting above. English, Circa 1755 Width: 57½” (146cm) Height: 66¾” (179.5cm)

PROVENANCE Possibly commissioned by Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth and 1st Marquess of Bath (d. 1796) for his London house in Hill Street, Berkeley Square. Thence by descent, where it first appears in an 1896 inventory at 48 Berkeley Square following the death of the 4th Marquess of Bath. The mirror was subsequently moved to 29 Grosvenor Square, a house purchased by the 5th Marquess in 1903. Removed from 29 Grosvenor Square; sold Sotheby’s, London, 22 November 1940, lot 81. Ronald and Marietta Tree, The Tapestry Drawing Room (Mrs Tree’s Sitting Room), Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire. This mirror became a prized possession of the celebrated Virginian hostess Nancy Tree, later Lancaster, who became famed for her ‘impeccable taste’ as a London decorator through ownership of Sybil Colefax Ltd. and her partnership with John Fowler. It was following the Trees’ 1933 acquisition of the Georgian mansion of Ditchley Park, Oxford that the mirror was purchased for Mrs Tree’s Sitting Room, where it appeared in a watercolour made by Alexandre Serbriakoff. The following year it travelled to New York with Ronald Tree (d.1976) and his second wife Marietta (d. 1991) and featured in the latter’s New York apartment illustrated in Arthur Schlesinger, Junior’s profile of her as ‘Chair’ of the Citizens Committee for New York City published in the Architectural Digest of March 1984. REFERENCE The mid-Eighteenth century cult of beauty, as promoted by the artist William Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty (1753), brought about a revolution in English furniture design and this was demonstrated in the cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale’s Gentleman and CabinetMaker’s Director (1754). While Hogarth’s serpentined ‘line of Beauty’ replaced the earlier ‘unnatural’ straight lines favoured by Rome-driven architects, it was later mocked by the actor David Garrick, when describing fashionable ‘picturesque’ landscapes in The Clandestine Marriage (1768):- ‘Ay, there’s none of your straight lines here – but all taste – zig-zag – crinkum-crankum –in and out-right and left – so and again – twisting and turning like a worm’. Garrick’s twisting line is well represented by this over-mantel mirror. LITERATURE Alexander Serebriakoff, ‘Ditchley Chinese Room’, a watercolor dated 1750 (the mirror shown in situ in the Drawing Room [Mrs Tree’s Sitting Room] at Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire). ‘The English Overmantel Looking Glass’, The Magazine Antiques, October 2005, p. 153, pl. IV. Hayward & Kirkham, William & John Linnell. ON THE MIRROR M9904 A Chinese late Ming Blanc de Chine Guanyin seated on a pierced rockwork base, with right hand resting on her raised knee exposing her foot, wearing long flowing robes and a jewelled necklace, looking down at a standing boy with his arms concealed beneath long robes, covered in a cream glaze. 9⅝ inch, 24.4 cm high Circa 1640 Condition: perfect. • Formerly in a private collection, South of France. • A Guanyin and child of similar style was included by S. Marchant & Son in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, June 1994, no.9, p.23, another from the H.M. Knight collection was included by P. J. Donnelly in Blanc de Chine plate 72A. • Another similar group with a boy at her feet with a gourd mark in the Musée Guimet, Paris is illustrated by P. J. Donnelly in Blanc de Chine, plate 145 C. • Published by S. Marchant & Son in their exhibition catalogue Blanc de Chine, 2006, no.16. R7349 A Chinese late Ming Blanc de Chine Guanyin seated on rockwork holding a boy on her lap, wearing long flowing robes extending to a cowl, with detailed hair and ornament, covered in a cream glaze. 7⅛ Inches, 18.1 cm high. Circa 1650 Condition: perfect. • Formerly in a French collection. • A similar larger Guanyin in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, bequest of the widow of H. K. Westendorp, 1968, on long term loan from the Society of Friends of Asiatic Art is illustrated by Christian J. A. Jörg in Chinese Ceramics no.282, p.245.

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• Published by S. Marchant & Son in their exhibition catalogue Blanc de Chine, 2006, no.28.

by his successor William Vile and who succeeded the partnership of Vile & Cobb as ‘Upholsterer to his Majesty and Cabinet-Maker to the Great Wardrobe’’.

M1474 A pair of Chinese Blanc de Chine standing figures of a man and woman, draped in a cloth and bare from the waist up, wearing bracelets, on rockwork bases, covered in a creamy white glaze. 9⅛ inches, 23.2 cm high. Kangxi, circa 1690 Condition: perfect. • Formerly in the Arens collection, France. • Traditionally these figures are known as Adam and Eve. Usually the female figure is depicted with the same hairstyle as the male; in this case the female has a European style high piled coiffure. • A similar pair from the Koger Collection, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the State Art Museum of Florida, are illustrated by John Ayers in Blanc de Chine, Divine Images in Porcelain, no.55, p.104, another pair with Chinese hairstyles from the collection of John T. Dorrance Jr, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania were included by S. Marchant & Son in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, June 1994, no.20, p.30, another pair are illustrated by David Howard and John Ayers in China for the West, Volume One, no.54, p.93 where the author states ‘Two sizes of the female figure are recorded in the first year of the Dresden Inventory, 1721’. • Published by S. Marchant & Son in their exhibition catalogue Blanc de Chine, 2006, no.40.

The other possible contender is the carver Sefferin Alken (1744-1783) who was working for Sir Richard Colt Hoare at Stourhead as early as 1744. He is recorded as working for John Cobb (Vile’s partner) and was responsible for carving much of the furniture designed by Robert Adam for the Earl of Coventry at Croome Court.

Page 43 An Exceptional Table by William Vile 51280 This outstanding table employs the very best mahogany to create a most imposing side table for the display of important silver plate. To reflect the importance of the silver, no expense was spared in the treatment of the table. It has a deep mahogany top which is veneered on the leading edge and breaks forward over each leg. The frieze is extensively carved with scrolling foliage with a carved cartouche to the top of each leg. The shape of the cartouche is echoed in the carved brackets flanking each leg. The carving continues down each tapered leg before terminating in block feet. English, Circa 1760 Width: 72” (183cm) Depth: 33¾” (86cm) Height: 36¾” (93cm) ATTRIBUTION The attribution of this table to the firm of William Vile is supported by a number of comparisons set out below. A trade advertisement for a pair of side tables en suite with the present table is illustrated, Country Life, July 12, 1919, p. LXXVII. Subsequently in the collection of Joseph Widener, Philadelphia and then the Walter P. Chrysler Jr. collection. A table with a pierced frieze with carving that is almost certainly by the same hand as that of the present table is illustrated, The Antique Collector, December 1955. There is a striking similarity to the carving on the legs of this table and that of a library bookcase attributed to William Vile and sold in Sothebys, April 4-5, 2007, lot 160. This bookcase is one of a small, closely related group of similarly veneered and carved mahogany pieces, some of which are documented as having been commissioned in the 1750s and 1760s by the Royal Household of George II and that of George III and Queen Charlotte. The quality of the table and its carving, and the similarity to the documented work for the Royal Family carried out by William Vile, make it likely that the carving was carried out by one of two carvers who worked for Vile. Firstly, John Bradburne (fl. 1750-d.1781), who was originally employed within Hallett’s workshop, continuing to be employed

LITERATURE The Connoisseur, November, 1930, ‘Old Labelled Furniture’, R. W. Symonds, pp. 279-287, figs. 283, 284 R. W. Symonds, Masterpieces of English Furniture and Clocks, London, 1940, Chapter III, ‘A Royal Cabinet by William Vile’, pp. 50-56, figs. 33, 34. 35 Country Life, April 29, 1949, Margaret Jourdain, ‘A Pair of Royal Medal Cabinets’, p. 983 The Magazine Antiques, January 1959, Edward H Pinto, ‘The Furniture of William Vile and John Cobb’, pp. 104-107 John Harris et al., Buckingham Palace, 1968 Burlington Magazine, July 1977, Geoffrey Beard, ‘Three Eighteenth-century cabinetmakers: Moore, Goodison and Vile’, pp. 479-486 Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1976 Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 16601840, Leeds, 1986 The Magazine Antiques, June, 1990, Geoffrey Beard, ‘Vile and Cobb Eighteenth-Century London Furniture Makers’, pp. 1394-1405 A Royal Miscellany from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, 1990, no. 2, pp. 12-14 Jane Roberts, ed., George III & Queen Charlotte, London, 2004, no. 264, pp. 250, 258-260, no. 267, pp. 262, 263 The Catalogue of Antiques & Fine Art, 2004, Vol. IV, issue 6, Geoffrey Beard, The Mystery of the Foliated Ovals’, pp. 254-258 ON THE TABLE M717 A pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white baluster vases and covers, each with moulded panels with a central band of qilin amongst rockwork between bands of pairs of birds amongst rockwork and flowering plants, all beneath a panelled band with rabbits at the shoulder, on a geometric key-fret ground, all on a stepped raised foot with ruyi heads, the covers with panels of birds. The base with leaf mark within a double ring. 50 cm high Kangxi, 1662-1722 Condition: perfect • Formerly in the Buisman family collection, a well-known Dutch trading family in the 17th & 18th centuries • Published by S. Marchant & Son in their exhibition catalogue Recent Acquisitions, 2005, no.24. S2410 A Chinese porcelain blue and white fluted and ribbed deep bowl with lobed petal shaped rim, painted on the exterior with eight panels of flowering chrysanthemum, hydrangea, peony and camellia alternating with panels of a winged deer looking up at a crane in the clouds; a Buddhist lion looking up at a flying bird; an open mouthed Buddhist lion looking up at a flying bird amongst rocks and plantain; a Kylin looking up at a flying phoenix bird, the interior well with a medallion of flowering peonies beside rockwork with a bird flying above, the inner rim also with eight panels of various flowering plants. 21.5cm diameter, 11.5cm high Seal mark within a double ring, Kangxi 1662-1722 Condition: perfect Fitted Chinese wood stand • Formerly in a Dutch private collection S2402 A pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white bottle vases with globular bodies, tall flared slender necks on splayed feet, the body painted with six panels, four of which enclose vases, bronze vessels, weiqi board, and books known as the ‘100 antiques’ Paqua, divided by two panels enclosing a lady seated at a table with vase of flowering plants, all within a fan shape above bronze vessels, the neck with stiff leaves some enclosing stylised flowers, the foot with leaf shaped panels. Double ring mark, Kangxi, 1662-1722 24.8cm high Condition: one perfect, one with small rim chip restored • Formerly in a Dutch private collection

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Page 47

A Pair of Walnut Armchairs

A Pair of Regency Period Temple Lights

51327

51325

These most unusual chairs have book-matched veneered splat backs with out-scrolling arms supported by square-cut uprights with carved flower-heads to the top. Having dropin seats, a serpentine shaped seat-rail and five cabriole legs. English, Circa 1720

The crisply chased ormolu bases with four blue cut glass columns. These support a similarly chased ormolu domed canopy beneath a diamond cut glass stem supporting Van Dyck drip pans and nozzles. The candelabra hung with chain pear drops and cushion cut and floral finials. English, Circa 1800

Width: 32” (81.5cm) Depth: 23” (58.5cm) Height: 36½” (93cm)

Height: 15½” (39.5cm) Width: 5” (13cm)

LITERATURE Francis Lenygon, Furniture in England, 1660 - 1760, P. 48, Fig. 57 P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, Dictionary of English Furniture, Volume 1, P. 264, Fig. 118

Page 48 The Harvey Armchairs from Ickwell Bury House

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51319

A Rare George I Burr Walnut Side Table 90002 The table has a quartered top above a single drawer which is supported on four faceted cabriole legs with carved foliage to the top and bottom of each. The shaped apron also superbly carved with foliage and a central carved shell. English, Circa 1725 Width: 34” (87cm) Depth: 21” (51cm) Height: 28¼” (72cm) REFERENCE Illustrated in the Grosvenor House Fair Handbook, 2002

Page 46 A George III Sheraton Period Satinwood Flower Stand or Bough Pot 51004 When the craze for tulips had spread from Holland to England, bough pots were designed to allow for the growing of bulbs inside the house. This example is most unusual having three tiers on a stand. (Glass vials replaced). English, Circa 1790 Width: 20½” (52cm) Depth: 14¾” (37.5cm) at centre Height: 45¾” (119cm) ATTRIBUTION The stand is almost certainly by Henry Kettle based on the use of the same satinwood ‘banner’ motif used here and on the pembroke table attributed to Henry Kettle which is illustrated on page 51. LITERATURE Comparison may also be made to a single bough pot illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, Dictionary of English Furniture Vol.II, p.238, fig.2 and another from the Leisdorf Collection 1974, lot 93

The shield shaped backs crisply carved to the top with a wheat sheaf motif above a pierced palmette, with carved trailing foliage and a paterae to the sides, tapering into carved foliage, a paterae and a fan motif. The down-swept arms above a caned seat with a squab cushion, on moulded square tapering legs, surmounted by carved paterae and terminating in spade feet. The chairs stamped RE. English, Circa 1780 Width: 23” (59cm) Depth: 21” (53cm) Height: 37” (94cm) PROVENANCE The Harvey Family, Ickwell Bury, Bedfordshire These chairs are believed to have been made for lckwell Bury, Bedfordshire, the home of the Harvey family. Originally built in 1680 for John Harvey, the house remained in the family ownership until it was sold by John Audley Harvey in 1924. The chairs are recorded in an inventory of the contents of lckwell Bury in 1819. D.K.F. Heathcote Esq., Badlingham Manor,Cambs. ATTRIBUTION The Gillows Estimate sketch books for the period 1788 to 1797 illustrate designs for various chairs which incorporate elements seen in these chairs. The fine quality of the carving and timber used, typical of the firm, would also support the attribution. Further support for a Gillows attribution lies in the RE stamp. The stamp can be found on an armchair which is identical to a set of chairs known to have been supplied by Gillows for the dining room of Workington Hall, Cumberland for the Curwen family. The design for this armchair appears in the Gillows sketch books dated 19th January 1788 and intended for N. Crompton, Esq., Manchester. The identity of RE is not conclusive, but the firm of Richard and Robert Edmundson or Edmondson, who were Freemen of Lancaster and had a cabinet-making business in Liverpool which started in 1781, is a possibility. They are recorded on a number of occasions as working for Gillows and set up an upholstery branch to their cabinet-making business in 1788. They could well have been subcontracted to do this work. LITERATURE C. Claxton Stevens ‘A Group of Seat Furniture stamped RE’, The Journal of the Regional Furniture Society, Vol. XII, 1998, pp.1 56-1 59 For comparison, another related pair is illustrated in Lanto Synge, Great English Furniture, London, 1991, pl.143, p.126

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Country Life, May 5th 1955, p.1177 L. Boynton, Gillows Furniture Designs, no. 272,273,275 Susan E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840

Page 49 A Dutch Cabinet with Oriental Lacquer Panels 51374 An exceptional example with carefully selected satinwood veneers combined with three oriental lacquer panels of the very best quality to the front and two western ‘japanned’ panels to the sides. The cabinet retains its original marble top.

The scales veneered in satinwood with tulipwood bandings. The column has a sliding height adjustment and recessed folding brass height marker with a suspended copper weight bowl. Below, are two hinged weight trays. The box below with a leather inset platform which is counter-balanced. The scales retaining their original cased set of graduated brass weights and stamped Made at Week’s R’L Museum, Tichborne Street. Height: 53” (135cms) The Personal Weighing Machine was invented by John Joseph Merlin. Although the mechanism itself was invented by Wyatt, albeit on a grander scale, for the weighing of vehicles after the enactment of the Turnpike Act of 1741, it was Merlin who was responsible for scaling it down. A small number of weighing machines are known and some are stamped Merlin. Others, like this one, were sold by Thomas Weeks from his museum in Tichborne Street. The idea of weighing one’s body seems to have been due to the Italian Physician Santorio Santorio (‘Sanctorius’) 1561 - 1626, who used a large steelyard for the purpose. In Paris, in the mid-Eighteenth century, a public weighing machine was maintained for people to weigh themselves and it was likely that Merlin knew of it from his time spent in Paris. Sanctorius’ work was known in England, but the use of a convenient weighing machine suitable for household use was novel.

Holland, Circa 1790 Width: 55½” (141cm) Depth: 22½” (57cm) Height: 37” (94cm)

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A George III Pembroke Table Attributed to Henry Kettle

A Drinking Table Attributed to Gillows

51329 The harewood, yew-wood and satinwood pembroke table has a yew-wood oval inset into the middle of the top and each flap. The ovals framed by a particularly intricate inlaid border which is further framed by an entwined string of pearls. To the edge of each of the flaps and the top is a border which can best be described as satinwood banners and seems to be a motif used exclusively by Henry Kettle. The table has a deep frieze drawer which contains a small nécessaire with fitted compartments, and stands on four square tapering legs terminating in brass castors. English, Circa 1780 Width: 32” (82cm) Depth: 26” (66cm) Height: 28” (71.5cm)

9F804

The semi-circular top has a reeded edge and sits above a banded frieze supported on four turned and reeded tapering legs terminating in brass cap castors. The top with an inset semi-circular panel which may be removed allowing for a pivoted brass rod to be attached at the back of the table and a twin red lacquer tole coaster to be rotated at the front. English, Circa 1800 Diameter: 59½” (151cm) Height: 28” (71cm) Radius: 29¾” (75cm)

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ATTRIBUTION This table is one of a number of tables with certain idiosyncrasies that are seen on the work of the cabinet maker Henry Kettle. Other similar examples are illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, Vol. III, P. 267, fig. 6 The Leisdorf Collection, lot 152 The Furniture History Society, 1966, Pl. XIXA Henry Kettle is recorded as partner to William Henshaw from circa 1770 before taking over the business and trading from premises at 18 St. Paul’s Churchyard, London. In 1774 Kettle took on Philip Bell’s business at 23 St. Paul’s Churchyard which was to remain his main trading address.

Page 52 Merlin’s Weighing Scales 50798

The Gargrave House Curricle Chairs 51361

Each chair has a concave and scrolling head-rail carved with anthemion decoration above down-swept reeded arms and supported on similarly reeded sabre legs and seat-rail. The chairs retain their original brass castors. English, Circa 1810 Width: 22” (56cm) Depth: 29 ½” (76cm) Height: 36” (91cm) PROVENANCE Mrs J.B. Coulthurst, O.B.E., Gargrave House, Yorkshire Exhibited by Apter-Fredericks at The Grosvenor House Fine Art & Antiques Fair, 1983

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Page 56 A Pair of George III Gilt-wood Settees in the Manner of Thomas Chippendale the Younger 51312 A highly refined pair of gilt-wood settees with serpentine shaped backs finely carved with a running guilloche pattern and an anthemion crest. The seat frames carved with fluting, patarae and ribbons above each leg and a central tablet with a rosette and swag. The turned and tapering legs terminating in gilt metal sockets.

The firm described to a customer the practical advantages of this form of table as . . .so constructed that the boards may be moved in 2 or 3 minutes to dine from 6 persons to 26 and are not more likely to be injured or out of order by common usage than other dining tables. The leaves on this table, which slide on brass ‘T’ shaped plates, are secured by brass clips that resemble those used on suitcases or briefcases now. These were highly innovative at the time, still work perfectly today, which testifies to the quality of the material used, and reduced the cost of manufacture by 5s. LITERATURE Susan E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, p. 240-242, p1. 234- 239

English, Circa 1775

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Length: 76½” (194 cm) Depth: 27½” (70 cm) Height: 46½” (118 cm)

Colonel Barham’s 18 Chippendale Dining Chairs

ATTRIBUTION Chippendale supplied a pair of settees of similar outline and configuration for William Weddell’s Tapestry Room at Newby Hall, Yorkshire, circa 1775. They also feature related swag-decorated tablets centreing the front seat-rails. Another stylistic comparison can be made with a celebrated group of seat furniture supplied by the same maker under the direction of Robert Adam for Sir Lawrence Dundas’s London house, No. 19 Arlington Street, London, in the 1760s. This comprises two suites which share closely related anthemion crestings. The anthemion crest motif is also repeated on another of Chippendale’s commissions including sofas and armchairs for John Parker, 1st Lord Boringdon, circa 1772 at Saltram House, Devon Related ornament later featured in the pattern-book, entitled Sketches of [Antique] Ornament (1779) that advertised Chippendale the Younger’s succession to his father’s St. Martin’s Lane workshops. Apart from stylistic similarities, this pair of gilt-wood settees also have V-shaped glue-cramp notches to the under-frames which are often cited as a particular trait of Chippendale’s. LITERATURE Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, 1978, 2 Vols., Vol. II, p.202, pls. 368-369 and pp. 196-197, ps. 356-359)

50696 The chairs with an undulating head-rail centred by a foliate spray, with a pierced rocaille scroll and Gothic-arched splat flanked by stop-fluted uprights with crisply carved foliage. The close-nailed padded seat on square chamfered legs joined by H-stretchers. The moulded arms have scroll detail with in-swept arm-supports. English, Circa 1760 Width: 25½” (65cm) Depth: 24” (61cm) Height: 38” (96.5cm) PROVENANCE Colonel Barham, Hole Park, Rolvenden, Cranbrook, Kent and by descent. LITERATURE The parlour chairs, with their scalloped and Gothic-fretted splats, correspond to a pattern discussed by J. Kirk in American Furniture and the British Tradition to 1830, New York, 1982, fig. 932. Another four chairs of this pattern, but with different legs, were in the possession of Elson of London in 1934 P. Brown, The Noel Terry Collection: Fairfax House, York, 1987, no.56

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A Gillows Extending Dining Table Patent Number 2396

A Matched Pair of Hepplewhite Period Commodes

51244

51295

The table has a well figured faded golden mahogany top with reeded edge and rounded corners supported on eight reeded legs with original brass castors. The table has a central fixed leaf attached to a base which may be extended to accommodate the six removable leaves. English, Circa 1800 Length: 184½” (469cm) Width: 59¾” (152cm) each leaf: 26½” (67cm) Height: 28¾” (73cm) ATTRIBUTION Richard Gillow registered his patent, no. 2396, for this form of table in 1800 and Gillows Lancaster Estimate Sketch Books include drawings dated June 1801 for a similar table ordered by Lord Strathmore; while in 1802 another was ordered by Mrs Richard Oswald of Auchincruvie, Ayrshire.

The mahogany commodes have fluted and stop fluted pilasters framing the serpentine sides and fronts. The drawers are graduated and retain their original swan neck handles and the colour of both has developed to become warm and rich. Commodes intended for bedroom apartments such as this pair, were often supplied in a series, with one placed in each of the apartment’s rooms. Therefore, because they might be for different places, the sizes and veneer used often varied slightly, as is the case here. English, Circa 1780 Width: 50½” (128cm) & 51½” (130cm) Depth: 24½” (62cm) Height: 35” (89cm) PROVENANCE Sir John and Lady Thouron, Doe Run Farm, Pennsylvania, USA

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ON THE COMMODES A Pair of Chinese Qing Dynasty Cloisonné Enamel Elephants 51228 The ivory coloured elephants richly caparisoned with multi-colored trappings to the head and draped over the back with tasseled blankets and with baluster vases atop the howdah. Chinese, Qing Dynasty, First half of 19th century Width: 11½” (29cm) Depth: 7” (18cm) Height: 13¼” (34cm) A Pair of Eighteenth Century Coalport Lustres (on left hand commode) 50538 Having Van Dyke pans and nozzles hung with chains of two and three chain drops respectively. These supported on a cut glass ovular column above a Coalport porcelain base standing on gilt-metal plinths. English, Circa 1780 Height: 13” (33cm) A Pair of George III Ormolu Jasperware Lustres (on right hand commode) 50837 Each with baluster shaft and Van Dyke pan hung with droplets and tulip-shaped nozzle hung with droplets, the drum pedestal with classical scenes, on a moulded foot and three ball feet. English, Circa 1790 Height: 13” (33cm)

Page 66 A George III Satinwood Bookcase 51098 The bookcase has a cabinet lower section with two silk lined grille doors flanked by satinwood pilasters and with a white marble table section. Above, the bookcase has two banks of adjustable shelving flanked by satinwood pilasters and surmounted by a decorated cornice and an arched pediment with leaf-painted satinwood finials. English, Circa 1800

PROVENANCE Lord Astor, Cliveden, Buckinghamshire. This superb mirror formed part of the collection of the New York born Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (19 May 1879 – 30 September 1952) and his wife Nancy Astor, also of American descent, who inherited the family estate at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire as an extravagant wedding gift from his father. The house which was purchased by William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor, from Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster in 1893, underwent significant restoration and re-decoration under the direction of Nancy Astor, and was acclaimed and revered for the couple’s fine and exquisite entertaining, known as ‘the Golden Period’ amongst the wealthy elite. The couple held a strong interest in British Politics that dominated most of their lives. Nancy Astor, with the influence of her husband, became the first female in Parliament, taking her seat on 1st December 1919 as a Conservative Member, serving the Sutton division in Plymouth, until her retirement in 1945. During her period of office, Lady Astor championed numerous causes, such as State Health Care, Town Planning, votes for women at twenty-one and various other issues that advocated equality between men and women. The connection between Cliveden, politics and entertainment continued to grow. The famous comedienne, who became such a hit in New York, Joyce Grenfell was a frequent visitor, and indeed was Nancy Astor’s niece. Winston Churchill was a guest during the earlier days of entertaining and party to many a heated political debate with Nancy. On one known visit to nearby Blenheim, Lady Astor was prompted to say, ‘Winston, if I were your wife I’d put poison in your coffee.’ to which Winston responded, ‘Nancy if I were your husband I’d drink it’. Other prominent visitors included the artist John Singer Sargent, who painted portraits of several family members, and George Bernard Shaw, with whom Lady Astor enjoyed a close friendship and correspondence, and was once addressed by him as ‘Dearest Fancy Nancy’. During the 1960’s the house became linked with the infamous ‘Profumo Affair’, where John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War met the call girl, Christine Keeler at a party hosted by Lord Astor in July 1961. It was this scandalous affair coupled with her illicit liaison with a soviet naval attaché that outraged parliament and in 1963, as the Cold War began to challenge Britain’s political system, led to his resignation from office. During this so called ‘Golden Period’ one can imagine (though with regard to the Profumo scandal one doesn’t have to imagine!) all the amazing goings on that would have been reflected in this wonderful mirror. Framed by its foliate borders, cluster columns and gothic arches, would have been some of the most prominent artistic and political figures of the early Twentieth century.

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Width: 56¼” (143cm) Depth: 12¾” (32.5cm) Height: 95” (241cm)

A Pair of George III White Marble & Ormolu Candle Vases by Matthew Boulton 51305

Page 67 The Cliveden Rococo Mirror 50718 The pagoda-form arched cresting above split and marginal mirror plates within rocaille rockwork and foliate borders, with cluster-columns, gothic arches and ho-ho birds with a shaped and pierced apron. English, Circa 1765 Width: 44” (112cm) Height: 94” (239cm) ATTRIBUTION A number of design details are to be found in drawings by Mayhew & Ince in their book, ‘Universal System of Household Furniture’. Most notably, Pl. LXXXV & LXXXV.

Each candle vase has a reversible finial above a guilloche band, with foliate handles and laurel-wrapped socle and circular pedestal with egg and dart upper edge and acanthus leaf to the plinth. English, Circa 1770 Height: 8¾” (22cm) These candle-vases follow the sketch in Boulton’s factory pattern book numbered ‘859’. The finials are reversible and are a popular Boulton feature that appear on other candle-vases. A pair of these vases based on sketch ‘859’ was in stock at Richard Bentley’s workshop in Soho in 1782, listed as ‘1 pair vases 859 blue john bodies ready to gild £2 3s Od’ (ibid., p. 184). Richard Bentley was noted as being of the ‘management’ of the ormolu department in 1770 and by 1782 was clearly the chief craftsman at Soho (ibid., p. 150). LITERATURE N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, 2002, p. 304, p1. 275

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Page 74

A Russian Basket

A Burr-Ash, Burr-Yew & Marquetry Centre Table Attributed to George Blake & Co

51345 The mahogany and brass mounted and inlaid waste paper basket is an extremely stylish example of Russian cabinet making from the latter part of the Eighteenth century. Russian, Circa 1790

51290 The circular burr-ash tilt-top has a band of trailing flowers and foliage on an ebony ground above a triangular tapering pedestal and scrolled tripod base inlaid with floral marquetry and with inset brass castors. English, Circa 1850

Height: 28” (71cm) Diameter: 21” (53.5cm) A similar example is illustrated in a watercolour of the Lantern Study at Pavlovsk Palace, Antoine Cheneviere, Russian Furniture, p. 111

Page 70 A George I Walnut Chest on Chest otherwise known as a Tallboy 51395 The tallboy is a particularly detailed example where no expense has been spared. Each drawer retains its original handle and escutcheon and is inlaid with herring-bone and cross-banded to frame well chosen panels of highly figured walnut veneer. The inlay and banding are repeated on the sides of the chest which is unusual.

Height: 28½” (73cm) Diameter: 26” (66cm) PROVENANCE Sir James Stirling ATTRIBUTION The pattern for this table with hollow-sided and Vitruvian wave-scrolled pedestal appears to have been invented in the early 1830s by the architect Richard Hicks Bridgens, formerly Superintendent of Public Works in the West Indies, and featured in his ‘Furniture with Candelabra and Interior Decoration’, 1st ed. 1825 & 1838. This style of marquetry on an ebony ground was adopted in the 1820s by the cabinet-maker Robert Blake who traded as George Blake & Brothers of Tottenham Court Road. LITERATURE C. Gilbert, ‘Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture’, Leeds, 1996, p.18; M.P. Levy, ‘Furniture History Society Newsletter’, no. 158, May 2005

On the lower section, there is a brushing slide and on the bottom drawer, a sunburst flanked by pilasters. The sunburst motif, which in this case has an inlaid face, is only seen in a small number of the finest examples. The chest stands on its original bracket feet.

Page 75 A Chippendale Wine Cooler

English, Circa 1730

50951

Width: 45” (114.5cm) Depth: 22¼” (57 cm) Height: 78” (198cm)

Page 72

This exceptional wine cooler, which is in the manner of Thomas Chippendale, is of superb quality and has faded to a golden colour. The top with carved gadrooned edge and carved scroll handles. The tapered sides have two brass bands and stand on carved cabriole legs with a serpentine apron.

A Set of Four Wall Lights by Moses Lafount

English, Circa 1765

51348

Width: 29½” (75cm) Depth: 19¾” (50cm) Height: 24” (61cm)

Each rosette cast back-plate issuing two ribbed curved candle-arms hung with rope prisms and ending with scalloped urn form sockets hung with drop prisms and flanking a central scroll. Stamped Lafount Patent and the numbers 735,736,737,738 respectively. English, Circa 1800 Height: 21” (53.5cm) Width: 16”(40.5cm) Moses Lafount took out a patent in 1796 for his method of attaching glass candle branches to a small brass loop, giving the impression that the entire branch was formed from one long curve of glass. Some of the branches were drawn while hot through a six-lobed opening to give them a subtle ribbed or fluted effect. An almost identical example is in the Corning Museum of Glass. LITERATURE Martin Mortimer ,The English Glass Chandelier

LITERATURE Illustrated in The Connoisseur Magazine, Vol. 171, May-August 1969, p. 121 Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director of 1762, 3rd edition pl. CLI Exhibited at The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair , 1969

Page 76 A Superb Walnut Kidney Desk by Gillows 51207 The desk with Morocco leather inset top above three frieze drawers and two paneled cupboard doors which enclose a further eight short drawers. To the back of the desk are three small shelves. The wonderfully figured walnut veneers have mellowed to a highly prized golden colour.

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English, Circa 1840

XIII

These chairs are superbly drawn and fashioned out of the very finest quality mahogany. The slimness of the legs and narrow seat-rail are testament to the designer’s skill. The mahogany has faded to a rich golden colour and the condition is excellent.

Width: 50½” (129cm) Depth: 27” (69cm) Height: 28¾” (73cm)

English, Circa 1790

ATTRIBUTION The desk relates to a design by Gillows, recorded in their Estimate Sketch Book of 1840. The desk is very similar to another, which we held some years ago, and for which the original design and bill survived in Gillows’ Cost Book at the princely sum of £25 8s 1d. Another desk, illustrated in Susan Stuart’s two volume book entitled Gillows of Lancaster & London, Vol.1, p. 339 is almost identical.

Width: 16¼” (41cm) Depth: 18” (46cm) Height: 37” (94cm)

Page 81 A Commode by Henry Hill

WITH THE DESK A Nineteenth Century Bronze Elephant 50304 French, Circa 1840 Height: 3½” (9cm) A Fine Pair of Late Eighteenth Century Cloisonné Enamel Quails 50690 Chinese, Circa 1770

51336

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In the French taste and drawing inspiration from the designs for commode tables in Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 1754 (pls. XLIII and XLV), the commode has a serpentine top above three drawers, all retaining their original handles, and a scalloped waved apron. The angles with ormolu foliate chutes trailing to scrolling sabots.

A Pair of Regency Period Candelabra

English, Circa 1760

51352

Width: 48” (122cm) Depth: 25” (63.5cm) Height: 33¼” (84.5cm)

Highly likely to be by William Bullock, these outstanding candelabra are conceived in the Neo-Classical tradition and are of the very best quality. Having female figures wearing flowing robes held by an ormolu waistband, each holding aloft a pair of ceremonial spears draped with material and supporting a pair of candleholders flanking a classical urn. The figures standing on concave sided and ormolu mounted triangular bronze pedestals, in turn supported by ormolu lion paw feet on ormolu plinths.

ATTRIBUTION The identification of this commode as being by Henry Hill is based on certain design and construction features that appear on documented and attributed pieces by him. Included amongst these features are the shaped apron, book matched veneers and the use of a continuous ormolu mount on the corner angles. Henry Hill of Marlborough, Wiltshire, was active as a cabinet-maker from circa 1740 until his death in 1778. His work is discussed by Lucy Wood in her book ‘Catalogue of Commodes’, London, 1994, no. 4, pp. 64-73. Some, including the present commode, also share identical constructional features such as the use of pine bottomed drawers as well as the more unusual continuation of the cock-beading on the drawer sides to cover the dovetails (op. cit., p. 66, fig. VI).

English, Circa 1815 Width: 11½” (29cm) Depth: 5½” (14cm) Height: 24¼” (62cm)

Page 79 A George I Elm Stool 51351

Although some of Hill’s work was for the London homes of his patrons, his core business was supplying some of the most important houses in the West Country. The 9th Duke of Somerset made payments amounting to £227.10s.3d in 1770-7. Paul Methuen of Corsham Court was another patron whose purchases from 1764 and 1771 included 2 Mahogany French Commodes banded with Rose Wood and wrought brass Corners at £13 13s.’

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The drop-in seat covered in gros and petit point needlework, above a shaped frieze, on moulded cabriole legs with scroll carved ears. The legs with carved hocks to the reverse and with hoof pad feet.

A Pair of Blue-John & Ormolu Baccanalian Vases

English, Circa 1725

51356

Width: 34½” (88cm) Depth: 21” (54cm) Height: 15” (38.5cm)

Each of ovoid form with a lid with pearled foliate finial above a foliate rim, to either side of the body are ‘Pan’ masks and floral swags above a leaf and berry socle and a pink marble square plinth with ormolu pearl beeding.

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French, Circa 1820

A Pair of George III Hall Chairs

Height: 12” (30.5 cm)

51368

PROVENANCE From the collection formed by Enrico Fattorini and by descent to his daughter Mrs. E. Roach.

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Page 83 An Exceptional Urn Stand 51402

LITERATURE The design of these tables is almost identical to one supplied by Gillow of Lancaster November 8th 1818 to Ferguson & Co at a cost of £5 15s 41/2d Illustrated by Wills in ‘Craftsmen & Cabinet makers of Classic English Furniture’, Edinburgh 1974 pp118. 122 figs. 109 110

Page 86

The urn stand in fiddle-back mahogany which has various motifs inlaid with a number of different woods. The table still retains its original gallery and slide and is in very good condition.

The Weald Hall Satinwood Breakfront Bookcase Attributed to Mayhew & Ince

English, Circa 1780

51243

Width: 11” (28cm) Depth: 11” (28cm) Height: 27¼” (69cm) LITERATURE 18th Century English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection, P. 328 Possibly, this is the same table as was sold from Godmersham Park, Kent, 1983

Page 84 The Penfold Letter Box by Walter Thornhill 51375 The postbox with acorn finial and domed top with carved acanthus leaf decoration and fringed with turned oak spheres. The front with brass edged letter aperture with white and black enamel flap lettered ‘letters’. The hinged door, which is inset with a brass framed card detailing collection time and postal rates, opens to a leather interior. The drawer in the plinth has a plate stamped with registration diamond and lettered’ registered post box WT No. 320. The WT stands for Walter Thornhill of 144 New Bond Street. English, Circa 1880 Diameter: 11” (28cm) Height: 23” (58cm) This box is based on the full size street pillar box and named after its architect designer, J.W. Penfold. First erected in 1866, the original pillar Penfold box was hexagonal in shape with the top decorated by acanthus leaves and balls. It was manufactured by Cochrane, Grove and Company in three different sizes. The Penfold pillar box continued to be manufactured for thirteen years, but with fifteen modifications to the design.

The bookcase, which employs the finest veneers, has a moulded and dentil cornice with an arched central pediment inlaid with Erato and ribbon-tied swags above a frieze with simulated stop-fluting and roundels. Below, are four cross-banded and astragal glazed doors to the cabinet section and four solid doors inlaid with husk- wreathed oval panels of yew wood to the base. English, Circa 1790 Width: 81½” (207cm) Depth: 24” (61cm) Height: 100” (254 cm) PROVENANCE Christopher Tower (d. 1810), Weald Hall, Brentwood, Essex and by descent. The bookcase is inscribed in pencil with the family name ‘Tower’ and is likely to have been commissioned by Christopher Tower (d.1810) for his wife Elizabeth (née Baker of Elmore Hall, Durham) at the time of his inheritance in 1778 of Weald Hall, Essex. The bookcase was offered in the Alfred Savill & Sons house sale, Weald Hall, 1-13 July 1946, lot 431 and retained by the family following the sale. ATTRIBUTION This bookcase has a number of characteristic features closely associated with Mayhew & Ince of the Golden Square, Soho. However, the most telling feature is the inclusion of the same image of the muse Erato, as may be seen in a painted medallion embellishing a tambour writing-table attributed to them, which was formerly at Durdans, Epsom. ICONOGRAPHY The bookcase celebrates lyric-poetry and is designed in the elegant George III Roman fashion of the 1770s. Its triumphal-arched temple pediment is inlaid with a beribboned medallion of Erato, the lyre-playing Muse of Love Poetry and Mount Parnassus companion of Apollo as leader of Artistic Inspiration. LITERATURE L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, p. 229, fig. 215 Thomas Chippendale’s Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director. Pl. XC

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A Pair of Regency Tables Attributable to Gillows

A Charming Occasional Table 51394

51005 The rectangular tops are a golden colour, have re-entrant corners and are supported on end-supports. These end-supports have ‘hockey stick’ legs with beaded detailing and turned spindles. The legs terminate in their original chased brass castors.

A Hepplewhite period occasional table with a patarae inlaid into the lift up top above a fluted frieze with hidden drawer and a scalloped apron. The table standing on four tapering legs on spade toes.

English, Circa 1820

English, Circa 1780

Depth: 24½” (62cm) Height: 28½” (72cm) Length: 41” (104cm)

Width: 20” (51cm) Depth: 16” (41cm) Height: 27¾” (70.5cm)

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A George III Marquetry Inlaid Box Attributed to Thomas Chippendale

A George III Mirror 50922

50662 This exceptional harewood box has a hinged lid with a satinwood oval patarae to the centre and satinwood fan medallions at each corner. The sides decorated with a variety of neo-classical motifs so typical of the work of Robert Adam. When the box is open a catch may be released to allow the ‘secret’ drawer to slide out on the right hand side.

The carved frame with an outer beaded border and a bold gadrooned moulding. The inner glass border overlaid with delicately carved foliate scrolls and tendrils with an inner pear-beaded ornament encircling the central mirror plate. English, Circa 1770

English, Circa 1780

Width: 42” (106.7cm) Height: 57” (144.8cm)

Width: 12¾” (32.5cm) Depth: 9 ½” (24cm) Height: 4½” (11.5cm) ATTRIBUTION This magnificent dressing-box is richly inlaid in the George III ‘Roman’ fashion. The reed-banded top is ebonised black in the ‘Etruscan’ manner popularised by the Works in Architecture (1773) issued by the court architect Robert Adam (d.1792). An oval medallion of golden satinwood embellishes the top and is rayed from a sunflower which indicates that this box was almost certainly executed by the celebrated St. Martin’s Lane cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale (d.1779), as he introduced the same motif on a dressing-table supplied to the Lascelles family of Harewood House, Yorkshire. (Now in the Victoria & Albert Museum) LITERATURE C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1978, p.198 and fig. 430 M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture in the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1972, no. U/19

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LITERATURE For a very similar example see Graham Child, World Mirrors 1690 - 1900, pl. 222a Ward Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century, Pl. 246

Page 93 A George III Commode Attributed to John Cobb 50808 Of bold form, the commode is veneered in harewood with inlaid classical motifs. The top is cross- banded with rosewood and inlaid with a classical urn to the centre surrounded by sprays of flowers. Each side is similarly inlaid with a ribbon-tied spray of flowers. The inlaid decoration, which is repeated on the top, would have originally been stained a number of different bold colours but they have now faded.

A Victorian Octagonal Caddy

The wonderful shape of the commode, coupled with the warm colour of the harewood veneers and the gold of the ormolu mounts, produce a most attractive piece of furniture.

51341

English, Circa 1780

The octagonal caddy is of particularly fine quality with a knop finial to the top, silver plated band to the edge, repeated below and standing on bun feet. Having a porcelain container inside.

Width: 54½” (138.5cm) Depth: 23¾” (60cm) Height: 35” (89cm)

English, Circa 1870

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Height: 8½” (22cm)

A Chippendale Armchair Page 91

51284

Regency Chic; A Pair of Corner Shelves

This unusual pair of corner shelves have white marble tops with gilt-metal gallery, gilded pilasters and mirror-backed shelves. They stand on gilded feet.

The chair having a serpentine shaped head-rail above a pierced splat with out-swept arms and standing on carved cabriole legs. The head-rail carved with foliage and rockwork above the splat which is formed from carved scrolling foliage. The serpentine seat-rail similarly carved and supported by cabriole legs, with carved knees protruding upwards into the seat, and terminating in French scroll feet.

English, Circa 1820

English, Circa 1765

Width: 21½” (54.5cm) Depth: 14½” (37cm) Height: 33” (84cm)

Width: 24” (61cm) Depth: 21” (53.5cm) Height: 35½” (90cm)

51317

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Acknowledgements

Colonel Mulliner’s Extraordinary Tray

The photograph of Beningborough Hall (p12) is reproduced with the kind permission of Country Life.

51383 The satinwood and tulipwood banded tray, inlaid with a central fan, pearls and honeysuckle ornament and in the broad rosewood border, swags of husks tied with ribbons. The tray retains its original carrying handles and is one of the finest examples we have ever seen. English, Circa 1780 Width: 31½” (80cm) Depth: 23¼” (59cm) ATTRIBUTION The design of the inlay on this tray is almost identical to a number of other pieces attributed to Mayhew & Ince including; a pair of card tables, a pembroke from Ham House, London and another pembroke, formerly in the Price Collection. LITERATURE H.H. Mulliner, The Decorative Arts in England, 1660-1780 fig. 55 R. Edwards, Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture p. 621, fig. 5 P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, Vol. 3, p. 348, fig. 8 Colonel Mulliner & Collecting. A contributor to the Connoisseur Magazine in 1905 recorded that the English taste for antiques was largely on the increase and that ‘no home, however unassuming, having any pretensions to refinement is nowadays without some indication of the owner’s love of beautiful old things in the shape of an antique or a few pieces of Eighteenth century furniture’. The following year the competition for such antiques was to be greatly enhanced with the passing of the J. Pierrepont Morgan Act, which allowed the duty free entry to the United States of America of English antiques that were at least 100 years old. Amongst the earliest to benefit from this Morgan Act was Judge Untermeyer, whose celebrated furniture collection was later acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme is recognised as the greatest of all collectors of English antique furniture, a particularly select collection was made by one of his contemporaries, Colonel Herbert H. Mulliner (d.1924), the Managing Director of the Coventry Works established in 1905 as coach builders for Rolls Royce and Bentley. The quality of Mulliner’s collection was lauded by H. Avray Tipping in Country Life shortly before its removal from Clifton Court, Rugby and The Albany, Piccadilly and appearance in Messrs. Christie’s Rooms in July 1924. It was Mulliner’s ownership of the London firm of interior decorators Messrs Lenygon & Morant that assisted him in the furnishing of his properties as well as in his attempt to launch an appreciation of the work of the ‘Burlingtonian’ school as focused around the Rome-trained artist/architect William Kent and his contribution to the furnishing of houses such as Houghton and Holkham Hall in Norfolk. A catalogue raisonné of his collection was published in 1924 and included a photograph of this tray. Entitled, The Late Stuart and Early Georgian Periods. The Decorative Arts in England 1660-1780, it was written by the scholar Margaret Jourdain (d.1951), who also wrote under the name Francis Lenygon for the firm of Lenygon and Morant.

In addition we would like to thank the following companies for their kind assistance:Marchant Asian Art, for the Chinese porcelain displayed on the Ditchley Park mirror, the Vile table and the collector’s cabinet. Hallidays, for the supply of paneled interiors. Vitruvius, for the supply of marble flooring. Daniel Brooke for photography. P.J. Gates for photography. Jason Hopper from District-6.com for the design and production of this brochure. © 2011 Apter-Fredericks Ltd.

265-267 Fulham Road, London SW3 6HY, United Kingdom Tel: +44 20 7352 2188 Fax: +44 20 7376 5619 Email: antiques@apter-fredericks.com www.apter-fredericks.com