BUTCHOFF VOL II

It is a truism to say that each year the quantity of fine quality pieces coming into the art and antiques market place shrinks.

At the same time, in the year since our last brochure went to press, we have seen a great upsurge in the quantity of increasingly knowledgeable buyers and new markets seek out the finest and the rarest that the marketplace has to offer. As ever, the rarest and the best are the most sought after, holding their value against more ephemeral investments.

For our part, our untiring and ceaseless efforts to present to you pieces that fulfil our criteria of excellence may be found within the pages of our latest brochure; for example, a French cannon, given to Admiral Richard ‘Black Dick’ Howe, after his sea victory at the Battle of Ushant, over the Napoleonic ships of line which were escorting an American grain shipment in the battle known as the ‘Glorious 1st June 1794’ as well as a Masterpiece of Victorian cabinet making, a bureau plat built by Morant Boyd and Blanford of ethereal beauty and exquisite execution; the model of a dining table by Samuel Hawkins shown at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, and illustrated in the catalogue; a seemingly unique terrestrial globe of great size, by Carys of London delineating the newly mapped ‘roof of Canada’, coming directly from the original buyer, Jesus College Oxford; a prize winning cabinet by Joseph Cremer, from the 1849 Paris Exhibition, of quite remarkable quality, as well as a selection of work by the greats, including a long set of dining chairs by Gillows of Lancaster, a bureau plat by Paul Sormani, and a neo-Renaissance cabinet by Collinson & Lock, amongst others.

We trust that our catalogue conveys to you a sense of the pleasure and excitement that we experienced when we discovered these pieces.

You will find many other pieces on our regularly updated website, and also situated close by in our secure storage facility.

We are always pleased to assist and advise on your especial requirements.

Ian Butchoff, Adam & James Kaye

Butchoff Antiques 154 Kensington Church Street, London W8 4BN Tel: +44 (0)20 7221 8174 Fax: +44 (0)20 7792 8923 Email: enquiries@butchoff.com Web: www.butchoff.com

A Magnificent Bonheur du Jour of Exhibition Quality, in the Louis XVth Manner, and Attributed to Holland & Sons Circa 1860

Lovingly constructed in bois citronnier, and purpleheart woods, with extensive usage of finely cast, planished and mercury gilded mounts, and ‘Sevres’ porcelain plaques.

Throughout the construction, the bois citronnier ground is cross banded with purpleheart. Rising from sabot shod cabriole legs, with pierced foliate mounts at the knees; the apron, of serpentine form houses three drawers, each faced with foliate form gilt bronze frames housing Sèvres plaques, a ‘fete galante’ to the centre, and the flanking drawers with ladies dressed in the style of the late ancien regime; all drawers accessed by concealed spring operated buttons: the writing surface edged with a gilt bronze guard cast with foliates and gadroons, having espagnolettes to the angles, and the superstructure having a central bank of four concave drawers, with mahogany linings, with a pierced and scrolled gallery over, which, when depressed, allows the drawers to be opened; the flanking cupboards, dressed with stiff leaf gilt bronze running bands, having elliptical gilt bronze plaques housing further Sèvres plaques of courting couples over drawers, which are accessed by use of a special tool: the tops of the cupboard are hinged, and are opened by means of concealed spring loaded clips, to reveal velvet lined compartments. The four canted angles of the superstructure, dressed with gilt bronze herms, house ‘pull-out’ secret document containers. A pierced and shaped gilt bronze gallery surmounts both cupboards.

Holland & Sons Founded in 1803 by Stephen Taprell and William Holland, a relation of the architect Henry Holland, the firm of Holland & Sons soon became one of the largest and most successful furniture making companies in the 19th Century. The firm worked extensively for the Royal Family, being granted the Royal Warrant early in the reign of Queen Victoria, hence taking a leading part in the decoration and furnishing of Osborne House, Sandringham, Balmoral, Windsor Castle and the apartments of the Prince and Princess of Wales at Marlborough House. Holland and Sons also worked extensively for the British Government, for whom they executed over three hundred separate commissions, including the Palace of Westminster, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and oversaw the State funeral of the Duke of Wellington. Among their private commissions the firm produced a celebrated suite of bedroom furniture for the late Sir Harold Wernher at Luton Hoo. Always at the forefront of fashion, Holland & Sons employed some of England’s leading designers and participated in all of the International Exhibitions of 1851, 1855, 1862, 1867, 1872 and 1878.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

52.5 in:

133 cm

W:

55 in:

140 cm

D:

27 in:

69 cm

7352

A Pier Glass of Substantial Size of the Italian Impero Period Circa 1810

Of rectangular form, the frame housing the mirror plate finished in ivory paintwork, with gilt and burnished gilt highlights; the everted cornice decorated with egg and dart mouldings, with a pediment above; the flanking shaped columns dressed with an overlapping stiff leaf decoration, and cannellure mouldings; the inner reserve with typical anthemions and Grecian interlacing, and with a running thorn pattern. Italian.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

69.5 in:

177 cm

W:

62 in:

157 cm

7279

A Magnificent Suite of Four Eighteenth Century ‘Singerie’ Panels of the Louis XIVth Period in the Manner of Christophe Huet Circa 1745

In-situ at Sala de Pranza

The panels, painted with oil on canvas depicting allegories of the Four Seasons, blended with the Four Continents, showing anthromorphic Regal monkeys with human attendants as handmaidens and pages, with human Queens attended by monkeys dressed in court finery; in the baroque chinoiserie style beloved of Huet. French.

Christophe Huet (c.1700-1759). Benezit records that little is known of Huet’s background, and he is known for his charming and witty paintings of ‘singeries’ at the Chantilly Palace, the Musee de Conde, and his decorative schemes at the Hotel de Rohan.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

91.5 in:

232 cm

W:

43.5 in:

110 cm

7378

THE MORANT DYNASTY ‘The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840’, published by the Furniture History Society informs that Morant Snr. was a maker of carved and gilded frames from early in the reign of George IVth, and his trade card describes the company as ‘Ornamental Painter & Paper Hanging Manufacturer to their Royal Highnesses’. Work was executed for Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Robert Peel, the Dukes of Sussex, Cambridge and Sutherland, inter alia. The company exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851, the New York International Exhibition of 1853, and the London International Exhibition of 1862. ‘Masterpieces of Industrial Art & Sculpture’, edited by J.B. Waring, published in 1862 illustrates a wonderful sideboard made for Lord Ellesmere, that was shown at this exhibition. A Royal Warrant was granted in 1840,

by Queen Victoria. Throughout the Nineteenth Century, they were recognised as one of England’s most eminent cabinet makers.

Founded by George Morant (1770-1849) the company went through the following incarnations; Johnson, Morant & Tootle c.1793-1795, as ‘Paper Hangers & Glass Manufacturers’ Johnson & Morant 41 Ludgate Hill, partnership dissolved 1808 Bowen & Morant 81 New Bond Street between 1808-1812 George Morant, 81 New Bond Street 1812-1827 G.Morant & Son 1828-1841 George John Morant 1842-1851 Morant & Boyd 1851-1859 Morant Boyd & Morant 1859-1867 Morant, Boyd & Morant & Co. 1868-1869 Morant Boyd & Blandford 1870-1884 Morant & Co 1885-1915, 7 Woodstock Street with Messrs Jeandon & Lengyon

Morant & Co.

An Exceptional Pair of Occasional Tables

by Morant & Company Circa 1850

Taking the Louis XVth Transitional form, of extremely graceful design, and wonderful execution, constructed in a finely patinated ‘plum pudding’ mahogany, with delicate gilt bronze trim and highlights; the swept legs with an undertier; the apron enclosing a single drawer, stamped to the edge with the makers mark ‘Morant and Company’ London.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

29 in:

74 cm

W:

14.5 in:

37 cm

D:

10.5 in:

27 cm

7350

An Exhibition Quality Library Table Stamped by the Maker, George John Morant of Bond Street London Circa 1845

Constructed in Ebony and cross banded in Kingwood, having many other specimen and stained woods used in the complex marquetry work. The table rises from quadrapartite feet of inwardly scrolling form, fitted with concealed brass castors, sweeping upwards into a tapering, and concave quadrilateral central column, inlaid with flower filled cartouches. The rotating top is of octagonal form, having a shaped foliate inlaid apron incorporating two long and two short drawers, and dressed with eight asymmetrical cartouches housing scenes of a bucolic nature, interspersed with bouquets of native wild flowers tied with blue ribbon bows in a ‘lovers’ knot’ and inset with a shaped tooled leather top.

Stamped with the makers name and address, ‘G.J. Morant, 81 New Bond Street London’, in use between 1842 and 1851, and ‘Edwards & Roberts’.

Our table was inspired by the 1838 publication by Richard Bridgens, ‘Furniture with Candelabra’ showing a ‘Marquetrie Centre Table’. Very similar tables are to be seen in Charlecote Park, Carlton Towers, Victoria & Albert Museum, the Indianappolis Museum of Fine Art and Temple Newsham.

Christopher Gilbert’s 3 volume exegesis, ‘Furniture at Temple Newsham House & Lotherton Hall’, published 1978, shows on pp 318/9 of Volume 2, an almost identical table supplied to the 5th Duke of Buccleuch by the mercier marchand, Edward Holmes Baldock.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

29 in:

79 cm

D:

56 in:

142 cm

1783

Edwards & Roberts The firm of Edwards & Roberts was founded in 1845, and had premises at 21 Wardour Street, London. By 1892 they occupied more than a dozen buildings in Wardour Street, where they continued to trade until the end of the century. They acted as makers, retailers and antique dealers.

Morant & Co.

A Splendid Pair of Console Tables Firmly Attributed to Thomas Fairs of 149 Bond Street, with a Provenance Circa

Of important size, of concave and shaped breakfront form, with a raised circular central dais, having exquisitely carved cherubs as end supports, amidst exuberantly carved foliage, decorated in gilt and ivory paintwork. The backs with mirror plates. The platforms tops are a substantial Antico Verde marble.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

36 in:

92 cm

W:

71 in:

180 cm

D:

35 in:

89 cm

6706

Morant & Company had supplied furniture to Shrublands Park through the marchand-mercier, Edward Holmes Baldock, as noted in the Lord de Saumarez archives. A comparable console to our pair was exhibited by Morant & Company at the Great Exhibition of 1851 held in the Crystal Palace, having been supplied to the Duke of Sutherland.

1849

Shrublands Park

Morant & Co.

Morant & Company of 81 Bond Street, decorated by from Shrublands Park, Coddenham, Suffolk

A Truly Magnificent Bureau Plat, a Masterpiece in Quality Circa

Of freestanding form, in a specifically English interpretation of the Louis XVIth Manner, constructed in thuya, kingwood, partridge, palm and other specimen woods, dressed with etched ivory pictorial inlays, and fitted with extensive gilt bronze accents of superb colour and quality: rising from tapering columnar ring turned castor shod legs, inset with stained sycamore panels, and bearing gilt bronze stiff leaf cast collars dressed with swags adorning the upper part, and bronze running pearl bands above and below; the apron having two lockable drawers, with hemispherical cast handles with circular backplates, with their bronze leaf cast frames housing complex marquetry arabesques in ivory, and specimen woods, and having finely cast gilt bronze musical trophy shield tablets to the centres, and elliptical paterea to the angles; the top of rectangular form, with everted corners, with a bronze exterior gadrooned guard strip, and to the centre seemingly on a cloud are two putti, seated on books of knowledge, bearing separate artistic attributes of an artist’s palette and a writing tablet, being guarded by Eros, with his bow and quiver to hand. At the angles,within inlaid foliage, pairs of love birds in etched ivory touch beaks; this contained within the exterior reserves, adorned with running Bellflower bands, another with geometric inlay, and a third with a running pearl design. Signed by the makers ‘Morant Boyd & Blanford’ 91 New Bond Street.

In our opinion, this table represents the ne plus ultra of Nineteenth century cabinet making. Its’ very theme, Love, as evinced in the pictorial inlays of Knowledge and the Arts, cared for by Eros, and framed within the Lovebirds at the quadrants, is mirrored by the truly remarkable design and execution of the piece. It is one of the greatest pieces we have had the privilege to own.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

28 in:

71 cm

W:

43 in:

109 cm

D:

24 in:

61 cm

7394

Morant & Co.

and Conception, by Morant, Boyd & Blanford of London 1875

Morant & Co.

A Very Fine and Rare Pair of Regency Period Circa

Constructed in Giltwood, the everted containers, of rectangular form having gadrooned edges to the top, and running pearls bands to the base,the reserves decorated with anthemions and stylised Roman foliates, and having replaced zinc liners: supported by quadrapartite shaped columnar legs having conjoining cross members with foliate bosses, upon bases of incurved form.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

31.5 in:

80 cm

W:

27 in:

69 cm

D:

16 in:

40 cm

7305

Jardinières in the Manner of Thomas Hope 1810

The Adrian John Hope Wedding Canteen A Unique Table Service of William IVth Silver Flatware made by the female silversmith, Mary Chawner and hallmarked for 1836

All with the Hope family crest, of a globe of the world with a rainbow corona, and comprising: seventy two table forks, sixty table spoons, thirty six silver-gilt dessert forks, thirty six silver-gilt dessert spoons, twenty four silver-gilt teaspoons, twenty-four silver-gilt dessert knives, with silver-gilt blades, twelve silver-gilt dessert knives, with steel blades, (marks indistinct, lion passant only), six silver-gilt fruit serving spoons, with shell bowls, two silver-gilt dessert spades, eight silver-gilt salt spoons, two cream ladles, two silvergilt sifter spoons, six egg spoons, with silver-gilt bowls, one mustard spoon, two fish slices, with pierced blades, a pair of asparagus tongs, a salad spoon and fork, two soup ladles, six basting spoons (one by William Chawner, London 1813), two smaller serving spoons, four sauce ladles, a stilton scoop, two pairs of sugar tongs, a silver-gilt marrow scoop, fifty seven Thread edge table knives, with steel blades, four carving knives, twenty three apparently unmarked silvergilt Thread and Shell pattern dessert knives, with French steel blades, twelve French oyster forks, Twelve French meat skewers, one French salt spoon, other items include six King’s pattern dessert fork, by Richard Pearce, London 1824, six teaspoons, by Richard Pearce, London 1819, and a plated chop handle, weight excluding knives 684oz.

Provenance: The family of Thomas Hope (1769-1831): Thomas Hope’s son Adrian John Hope (1811-1863) and thence by descent to his son: Adrian Elias Hope (1845-1919) and thence by descent to his daughter Mildred Astley Smith and thence by descent to her nephew: John de Lisle and thence by descent to his son: Everard de Lisle and thence by descent to the vendor.

REFERENCE: 7175

An Imposing Pair of French Louis Philippe Fauteuils Circa 1835

Constructed in Honduras mahogany, standing on swept lappeted gentle ‘S’ shaped legs to the front, and sabre shaped to the rear, the padded arms, leaf carved, terminate in Lions Heads. The balloon form of the back is crowned by facing eagles. The seat shape, an incurved undulate, is most unusual.

Upholstered in suede throughout.

The tablets, palmettes, lappeting, laurel wreathes, and Lions Heads were designs that were given prominence by Percier and Fontaine, the Emperor Napoleon’s decorators, and used extensively in the decorative scheme for the palace at Compiegne. The crisp carving, eclectic usage of motifs, and the tight design of this pair of chairs have strong affinities with the firm of Jeanselme Freres, who were working between 1824 until 1840.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

45 in:

114 cm

W:

25 in:

64 cm

D:

22.5 in:

57 cm

6074

A Fine Cartel Clock in the Louis XVIth Manner

by Millet of Paris Circa 1870

Constructed in Gilt Bronze, very well cast and planished, with its’ superb original gilding; the lyre form case having a lovers bow knot atop, with addorsed eagles heads above the circular enamel dial, signed ‘Millet, Paris’ with polychromed garlands, with pierced lyre form pointers, the hours in Roman and the minutes in Arabic numerals; the eight day striking movement signed ‘Vincenti et Cie Paris 1855’; the case profusely decorated with foliates, and terminating in a tied knot. French.

Millet et Cie Founded in 1853 at 11 rue Jacques-Coeur, and, after 1902, Boulevard Beaumarchais, and described themselves as furnishers of ‘meubles, bronzes d’art, genre ancien et moderne’, according to their trade card; winners of a Gold Medal at the 1889 l’Exposition Universelle, and at the 1900 show, a Grand Prix for their efforts. In Denise LedouxLebard’s ‘Mobilier Français du XIXe Siecle’ published 1989 records inter alia of the firm’s output, a cartel clock in the Louis XVIth manner.

Vincenti et Cie were winners of a Gold Medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1855, and supplied movements to many major furniture makers.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

34 in:

86 cm

W:

15 in:

38 cm

D:

4 in:

10 cm

7348

A Rare and Fine True Pair of Chaise Longues in the Circa

Constructed in rosewood, and drawing inspiration from the Grecian designs of Thomas King’s ‘Modern Style of Cabinet Work Exemplified’ of 1829, Plates 9-11, having the foliate carved legs supporting the thrysus carved lower frames, with cornucopia carved to the swept ends, and having serpentine back rails.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

36 in:

91 cm

W:

54 in:

167 cm

D:

26 in:

67 cm

7197

Manner of Thomas King, of the William IVth Period 1830

A Handsome Partners Library Writing Desk of the William IVth Period Circa 1830

Of pedestal form, constructed in mahogany: rising from a plinth base, with ring turned columns contained within radiused and everted corners; the pedestals having doors with escutcheon form mouldings; two pedestals containing banks of three drawers with swan neck brass pulls, and two pedestals with open shelves; three long drawers with internal quadrant mouldings fitted into the apron, with floral cast swan neck brasses. The thumbnail moulded edge to the top housing a gilt tooled writing surface.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

31 in:

79 cm

W:

69.5 in:

177 cm

D:

39.5 in:

100 cm

7222

A Good Late Georgian Breakfront Bookcase fitted with a Secretaire Circa 1830

Constructed in mahogany; rising from a plinth base, the cupboards having raised fielded panels, separated by flat stiles with carved capitols and bases, enclosing shelved interiors. The central drawer having a drop action brass support quadrant, and fitted with a writing surface, with drawers and pigeon holes. Above, simple astragals enclose the glazed doors, with conforming stiles, and over, an everted breakfront cornice. Bramah locks are fitted throughout.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

94.5 in:

240 cm

W:

102 in:

259 cm

D:

22.5 in:

57 cm

7178

A French Mantlepiece Clock of Important Size, in the Louis XIVth Manner Circa 1870

Constructed in fine quality gilt bronze and Carrara marble; six engine turned oblate feet support the rectangular body, dressed with addorsed Vitruvian scrolls, and channelled arcading, and above, a classically attired female, emblematic of the art of Literature female, in gilt bronze reclines against the clock housing, with its’ eight day chiming movement, a circular white enamel dial, with the hours in Roman, and the minutes in Arabic blue numerals, with pierced arrow hour/minute pointers. The dial signed ‘Vernet, 42 Rue du Bac, Paris, Fabt (fabricant) de bronzes’. French.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

21 in:

53 cm

W:

29 in:

74 cm

D:

11 in:

28 cm

7320

A Fine French Musical Automata Picture by Tharin of Paris Circa 1880

Tharin Tharin are recorded as Parisian makers of automata, and other examples are recorded of this popular subject, including one in the Utrecht Fine Art Museum. Charles Rivière (1848-1920) appears as an Orlèans born artist decorating some of these recorded pieces, as well as being a member of the Societaire des Artistes Français, and receiving an honourable mention at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, where he gained a bronze medal.

The Fine Art museums of Orléans and Roanne display many of his works.

Reference Benezit, Volume VIII, published by Grund, 1975.

The swept gilt frame with an arched top housing an eight day movement, porcelain circular faced clock; the picture painted in watercolour and bodycolour, signed ‘Riviere’, over a lithograph ground, depicting the interior of the village blacksmiths’, with six gentlemen, a horse being shod, and a dog, and a moving bellows over the forge, and the village square in the background, seen through a lancet arch, a church tower, with its’ clock signed ‘Tharin a Paris’. The musical and mechanical movement having two tunes, and operated by a pull to the right side. French.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

41 in:

104 cm

W:

37 in:

94 cm

D:

9 in:

23 cm

7310

A Striking Pair of Console Tables Circa

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

34.5 in:

88 cm

W:

59 in:

150 cm

D:

27 in:

69 cm

7333

in the Louis XIVth Manner 1870

Confidently executed in well carved giltwood, having Breccia Tavira platforms, with double thumbnail moulded edges; the shaped cabriole legs having square tapering lobed form feet, and boldly carved with foliates, and espagnolette masks; having shaped ‘c’ form stretchers emanating from central octagonal lower tablets, adorned with sunflower leaf carving; the shaped apron having raised trellis decoration issuing from central mascarons. French.

A Fine Commode in the Adam Manner Circa 1875

Constructed in a finely figured West Indian satinwood, with kingwood used in the crossbandings: rising from tapering spade legs, the body of arc-en-arbalette form, housing four lockable doors, which reveal shelved interiors, the centre section fitted with a reeded guard strip, a long centre, and two flanking short drawers, having chased loop handles with circular backplates; the top cross banded in kingwood, with a ‘barbers pole’ running band, and the sides conformingly inlaid.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

39 in:

99 cm

W:

54 in:

138 cm

D:

21 in:

54 cm

7344

A ‘cabinette’, the diminutive of the old French word for a private room, ‘cabine’, first appears as a descriptive title for a piece of furniture comprising a chest with fitted lockable drawers, and compartments in an inventory taken in 1528 of effects which belonged to King Francis I of France. This being so, the cabinet has enjoyed a special place in domestic life for thousands of years. Tutankhamun’s tomb contained over 30 containers for the pharoah’s valuables and there are many examples of early Christian and Byzantine cabinets in museums around the world.

It was in the 15th Century that Western Europe embraced the cabinet with Germany and Italy forging the way using carving, marquetry and painting techniques together with gold, ivory, amber and semi-precious stones to represent in exquisite microcosm elements of the known world. The storage chest or coffer was evolving to incorporate the owners’ desired and perceived attributes of knowledge, taste, wealth and piety. Exterior decorations of ivory, complexly tooled leather, semi precious stones, chinoiserie, tortoiseshell, and inlays of gold and silver reflected a period in history when the world was opening to the intrepid global explorers, and the rich bounty of exotic materials as well as the working practises of the Orient and the Americas.

A multiplicity of joinery techniques from the Orient now informed European carpentry, and the advent of exotic timbers from the newly discovered ends of the earth, included a remarkable dense hardwood, Ebony; a neologism was coined, ébéniste, a skilled worker in Ebony. The Dutch East India Company was the main importer of this wood to Europe, and Antwerp became a centre of these ébénistes, who began producing richly carved cabinets, whose creation required previously unknown techniques involving chamfers, dowelling, bevelling, and joints such as dovetails and mortoise & tenon. Carpenters were no longer journeymen artisans, but artists in their own right and their cabinets were soon positioned at the forefront of decorative arts innovation with every possible technique used to express the virtuosity of the cabinetmaker’s art. This gave cabinets an unrivalled status as the most highly prized pieces of furniture in europe by the 17th and 18th Centuries.

The Art of the Cabinet

Cabinets, From Macé to Maples

A Very Fine Cabinet on Stand of the Louis XIIIth Period, in the Manner of the Royal ébeniste, Jean Macé of Blois (c.1602-1672) Circa 1650 In remarkable original condition, being constructed in Ebony, with extensive use of ivory, cut brass, metal, tortoiseshell inlay and painting in the wonderful and complex interior.

Rising from oblate ball feet, the open platform base supported

by Solomonic twist columns, interspersed with pendant serpentine carved insets; over a ceinture carved with spandrels, leonine heads and foliates centred about a Ducal Crown over, the double doors, astonishingly, still with the original locks and keys, are adorned with superb carvings of scenes from mythology, set within squares having everted angles, of Dutch ripple carved fielding; carved figures and foliates decorate the reserves; opening the doors is a revelatory moment; the fine and complex inlaid views of châteaux in their grounds to the reverses, and the interior enclosing frame of Ebony faced drawers carved with cherubs and mythological sea creatures housing a sumptuous hall interior, with its’ painted ceiling, minature bronze statues, parquetry floor, and artfully housing ivory dressed drawers. French.

Jean Macé underwent his apprenticeship in Middelburg, the capital of Zeeland, Netherland circa 1620, and trained as a painter as well as an ébéniste, the title given to a qualified worker in Ebony, a wood, which due to its density and hardness required special abilities. Macé was appointed the Ébéniste du Roi to Louis the Thirteenth in 1644, and as such, resided at the Louvre, for his twenty eight year tenure, under the aegis of the King. His daughter married Andre-Charles Boulle, who, on Macé’s death in 1672, succeded to his father-in law’s appartment, and postion to the King. Cabinets by Macé are to be seen in the Victoria & Albert Museum London, Windsor Castle Royal Collection, San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, and the Los Angles Museum of Art, inter alia.

Provenance; private collection since 1975

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

104 in:

264 cm

W:

72 in:

183 cm

D:

24 in:

61 cm

7376

The Art of the Cabinet

The Art of the Cabinet

The Art of the Cabinet

A Magnificent Circa

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

17.5 in:

45 cm

W:

26 in:

66 cm

D:

17 in:

43 cm

7308

The Art of the Cabinet

Indian Table Cabinet 1670

Constructed in coromandel, with extensive ivory inlay, and possessing the original metalwork lock, key and carrying handles. The foliate ivory inlaid double doors open to reveal sumptuously inlaid reverses, and an arrangement of thirteen drawers, arranged symmetrically and conformingly inlaid. The sides, top and back have similar foliate ivory inlay bands. India, Gujarat or Sindh.

Closely related cabinets to ours are illustrated in Amin Jaffer’s, Luxury Goods from India, The Art of The Indian Cabinet-Maker, 2002, published by V&A Publications; vide pp. 18/19, 45, 62-65, as well as the development of this type of cabinet from circa 1550 is also illustrated throughout Mr Jaffer’s scholarly text.

The inlaid designs on the table cabinet, which was made in Western India, reflects the Mughal court style, which following its’ Islamic traditions, permits only abstract and floral decoration. It typifies the movement from earlier forms of decoration characterised by elaborate foliage and stylised trees

towards formalised single flowering plants. This ornament is a reflection of Mughal art ranging from architecture and metalwork to painting and textiles dating as early as the second quarter of the seventeenth century. In particular the arrangement of naturalistic flowers in formal groups is commonly associated with the culmination of Jahangir’s reign when he commissioned in 1620, Mansur, the court artist to illustrate flowers of the Kashmir region.

Opinion is divided as to whether European albums of flowers played any role in influencing Mansur’s depictions of flowers. Shah Jahan, who succeeded Jahangir, continued to promote the stylistic vogue for single flowering plants in the decorative arts and a Mughal embroidered silk wall hanging circa 1650-1700, is preserved in the Victoria and Albert museum. Textiles such as this would probably have been available in the adjacent trading centres of Sindh, (now situated in Pakistan), and Gujarat, which are the likely location of workshops producing ivory-inlaid cabinets of this kind. As both Sindh and Gujarat are on the Arabian Sea, the textiles and cabinets would have been sold to European traders.

A Magnificent Cabinet by Joseph Cremer of Paris, the Medal Winner at the Paris Exposition of 1849 Circa 1848/9

Of breakfront form, constructed with ebony, tulipwood and various fruitwoods, the whole being richly and profusely inlaid with pewter, cut brass, etched and stained ivory, tortoiseshell, tinted marquetry panels, and decorated with very finely cast, planished and gilt bronze mounts.

The frieze housing three long drawers, the central section having a drawer containing a writing slope with a tooled leather inset, and flanking, two small drawers to which access is concealed; below, the retractable central door dressed with a very fine marquetry panel depicting a ruined abbey, revealing five drawers when opened; the flanking doors housing shelved interiors, with marquetry panels, showing a bountiful display of flowers in urns to the reverses; and to the ends, doors with rich marquetry floral inlay revealing a miniscule shelved interior; below, the shaped apron has a pull out centre section which reveals an upholstered prieu-dieu, flanked by short drawers. Bearing the maker’s label to the reverse ‘Cremer/Fabrique de Marquetrie, Mosaique et Meubles de luxe’. Importantly, hidden in the construction of the central bank of drawers is a letter on Cremer’s notepaper, signed by Joseph Cremer, detailing his origins, the Exhibition, and the medal and reception the cabinet received; obviously intended to remain with the piece its’ whole life, as a permanent record of the importance Mr Cremer attached to the piece. French.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

46.5 in:

118 cm

W:

59 in:

160 cm

D:

24 in:

60.5 cm

7322

Denise LeDoux-LeBard’s ’Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siecle’ notes Joseph Cremer as being born of French parents in Luxembourg in 1811, and active in Paris between 1839 and 1878, when the business was given to his son Thomas. He is recorded as supplying in 1844 a cabinet to King Louis-Philippe for his Normandy summer residence, the Chateau d’Eu at a cost of 3500 francs. Louis Philippe’s second son, Louis d’Orleans purchased a Cremer cabinet with similarities to ours, which was sold in Sotheby’s in 1988. Cremer exhibited at the 1849 Paris exhibition, the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, the 1855 Paris Exposition, at which the jurors commented ‘In taste and design, he has achieved the impossible in balancing harmony with accuracy (of execution)’. He also exhibited at the 1862 London Exhibition.

The Art of the Cabinet

The Art of the Cabinet

An Exceptional Table Cabinet Firmly Attributed to Giovanni Battista Gatti Circa 1870

Constructed in ebony and walnut, with mother of pearl and ivory inlays; of rectangular form, with canted angles, rising from a plinth base, incorporating an ivory escutcheon, with two lockable doors decorated with depictions of Italian duennas in regional costume, within running borders of stylised cartouches, and enclosing a shelved interior; the sides and angles having a complex ivory inlay decoration in the neo-Renaissance manner; the gallery, of foliate arabesques, centred about a Ducal crown, enclosing the initials ‘LR’. Probably Faenza.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

26 in:

66 cm

W:

30.5 in:

78 cm

D:

11 in:

28 cm

7295

The Art of the Cabinet

Giovanni Battista Gatti (1816-1889) was one of the most distinguished European cabinet makers of the 19th century. Having studied in Rome and Florence, he worked as a journeyman cabinet-maker before establishing his own workshop at Faenza in the 1870’s specialising the Milanese intarsia manner with ivory on a background of ebony. Ill health saw him ceasing his craft in 1881.

Working in the Renaissance Revival manner pioneered in the first half of the century by craftsman such as Pietro Bertinetti, Gatti and his Italian contemporaries helped to establish this style as a dominant aesthetic mode in the 1860’s and 1870’s. He enjoyed the support of imperial, aristocratic and ecclesiastical patrons in Europe including the Austrian Emperor, the Duke of Hamilton and Cardinal Amant, and was also popular amongst American industrial collectors such as Wright E Post and William Gilstrap. Examples of his work are found not only in the Victorian and Albert Museum, but also in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Gatti’s spectacular inlaid exhibition pieces gained him numerous awards at Europe’s international industrial and cultural expositions: at the ‘Paris Expositions Universelles’ (First Class Medal 1855; diplome d’honneur, 1867; Gold Medal 1878) and at ‘Vienna’s Internationalische Ausstellung’ (1873) Gatti, whose name translates from the Italian as ‘cats’, occasionally incorporated a cat into his complex work.

A Rare Pair of French Display Cabinets in the Chinoiserie Manner Circa 1870

The wood frame ebonised, and paint decorated with Chinese motifs and trelliswork in polychrome and gilt; rising from cabriole legs with lions paw feet, having winged grotesque lion masks at the knees, the conjoining stretcher in a chinoiserie gilt highlighted lattice framework; the glazed doors with fitted interiors, and the angles issue pendant dragons; the roofs of stepped pagoda form, with imbricated ‘tiling’, decorated with addorsed finely carved gilt figures of pigtailed seated Chinese men in native costume. Capped by finialled towers with ‘shou’ life symbols inset into circular polychromed glass panels, and outswept tiling.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

85 in:

217 cm

W:

35 in:

89 cm

D:

17 in:

43 cm

7346

The Art of the Cabinet

An Imposing Display Cabinet Stamped Collinson & Lock of London Circa 1875 Constructed in rosewood, with precisely executed and extensive ivory figural, floral and arabesques, in the fashionable Italianate neo-Renaissance style inlay; rising from oblate bun feet, the ogee form demi lune plinth base having four shaped and moulded legs, supporting the conformingly shaped upper part, with its’ glazed upper section, and having a deep drawer below; the shaped cornice with a running dentil molding. Signed to the drawer edge, ‘Collinson & Lock London 580’.

Provenance: Property deaccessioned from the Centennial Museum at the University of Texas at El Paso to benefit the Museum Collections Fund (Accession #CF-172).

Collinson & Lock The firm of Collinson & Lock were successors to John Herring & Co, an upholder and cabinet maker of Fleet Street, est 1782, was established in London in the third quarter of the 19th century, firstly at their old master’s premises, and thereafter at the premises of the recently closed firm of Jackson and Graham.

They quickly achieved both commercial success and a leading position in the field of design. In 1871 the firm issued an impressive illustrated catalogue of ‘Artistic Furniture’, with plates by J. Moyr Smith, assistant to Christopher Dresser, and in 1873 was trading from extensive newly built premises in St Bride Street, designed

by T.E. Collcutt, who was retained as an advisor. E.W. Godwin was also employed, between 1872-1874.

The firm continued to produce very high quality items of furniture and soon began to experiment with new materials and designs, becoming especially renowned for their distinctive combinations of rosewood and ivory and their intricate Italianate arabesques, chimeric figures and scrolling foliage. This form of decoration clearly points to the involvement of Stephen Webb, Collinson & Lock’s chief designer who was later appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. The company was merged with Gillows in 1897, just prior to their own merger with S.J. Waring of Liverpool.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

52 in:

132 cm

W:

46 in:

117 cm

D:

14 in:

36 cm

7371

The Art of the Cabinet

A Rare Pair of Shaped Display Cabinets Circa 1880

Constructed in mahogany, of serpentine form, rising from tripartite collared tapering legs, with inset panels carved with overlapping concentric guilloche plates, ‘Y’ shaped stretchers conjoining the legs; the aprons with an arcaded blind fluting; each cabinet having a door to the rear with brass cast handles, enclosing triple plate glass shelves; the top, triple domed, with ogee cornices surmounted by carved crests.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

77 in:

196 cm

W:

25 in:

64 cm

D:

18 in:

46 cm

7263

Back of cabinet

The Art of the Cabinet

An Important Pair of Ebony, Ivory Inlaid and Attributable to Circa

Rising from oblate bun feet, the lower platform inlaid with a lozenge, two columns support the cabinet, which is of two door form, with a shelved interior, which are inlaid with well executed floral marquetry panels, in precious woods and ivory. The top having a conforming inlaid lozenge. Paris.

Charles Hunsinger (1823-1893) was first recorded as a cabinet maker specialising in ‘meuble de luxe et de fantasie’ in the Paris Almanac of 1859. Later he worked from 244 Rue Fabourg-Sainte-Antoine, settling in the Rue Des Pyramides in 1874, by which time he had acquired a partner, CharlesAdolphe-Frederic Wagner. The company participated in the Paris Exhibitions of 1865, 1867, 1878 and 1879. In the Brussels Exhibition of 1881 he was awarded the Gold Medal for excellence of craftsmanship. His work is shown in the Musee D’Orsay, and the Vienna Art Museum. He is recorded in Denise Ledoux-Lebard’s monumental ‘Le Mobilier Francais du XIXe Siecle, published

by Les Editions de L’Amateur, 1984, revised and expanded 1989, which shows pieces of comparable form and type as ours.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

55.5 in:

141 cm

W:

32 in:

82 cm

D:

24 in:

61 cm

6773

1870

The Art of the Cabinet

Marquetry Cabinets in the Louis XIIIth Manner Charles Hunsinger

A Fine Quality Pair of Display Cabinets Circa Constructed in finely figured mahogany and satinwood, with extensive used of exotic and stained woods in the foliate, arabesques and pictorial inlays; the whole of arc-en-arbalette form, rising from toupie feet, conjoined by a lower platform, and framed by inlaid half columns, housing the double doors, the lower section being inlaid with ellipses having putti representative of the Four Seasons, and the glazed upper section revealing plush lined shelves.

The cornice of ogee form, and signed by the makers, ‘Maple & Co.’ to the base of the interior.

Maple & Co. Founded in 1841 by John Maple, manufacturing and retailing from the hub of the furniture centre in London’s Tottenham Court Road, and through the founder & his son’s drive and excellence of the products of the company, expanded greatly, to have further workshops and points of sale in both Paris and Buenos Aires, and later, a shop in Smyrna. Clientele included Queen Victoria, King Edward VIIth, members of the Royal Household, the King of Siam, and Nicholas, the Tsar of Russia. Later, Maples would furnish the Royal yachts, the QE1, QE2 and the Queen Mary, as well as hotels in Nice, London, Paris and Siam.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

70 in:

178 cm

W:

60.5 in:

153 cm

D:

20 in:

51 cm

7397

1880

The Art of the Cabinet

in the Adam Manner By Maple & Co.

A Very Rare Monumental 36 inch Terraqueous Library Globe by John Addison and G. & J. Cary, Supplied to Jesus College Oxford Circa 1840 Provenance Jesus College Oxford, supplied to the Reverend Thomas Davies,

by G. & J. Cary on 21st July 1840. A copy of the original invoice is in our possession.

This globe, quite probably unique, includes details of the new mappings of the ‘roof of Canada’, including the newly discovered Victoria Land, undertaken by Dease and Simpson, at the behest of the Hudson’s Bay Company, between the years 1837-1839, and reported in the yearbooks of the Royal Geographical Society of 1838-1840, entitled, in chronological order, ‘An Account of the recent Arctic Discoveries of Messrs.

Dease and Simpson’, ‘An Account of Arctic discovery on the Northern Shore of America’ and ‘Narrative of the Progress of Arctic Discovery on the Northern Shore of America in the Summer of 1839’. The Royal Geographical Society yearbook for 1839, published 1840 records the Antarctic discoveries of Sir James Clark Ross, and these are not recorded on our globe.

John Addison and G. & J. Cary The cartography of our globe is based on the celebrated Addison’s Terraqueous globe dated 1825, and this model, to be seen in Kasteel Amerongen, The Netherlands gives the legend from the cartouche, ‘Drawn by J. Addison. Manufactured and sold by J. Addison, Globe Maker to the King, 275 Strand, near St Clements Church’, engraved by J. Archer. Another globe in the Netherlands at the Geografisch Institut Utrecht bears the legend, ‘’The Terraqueous Globe exhibiting the present state of the known world, by John Addison, Manufactured by Malby & Co. Globe Manufacturers & Publishers to the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Newcastle Street, Strand, London 1849’.

John Cary (1755-1835) commenced manufacturing and selling globes in 1792 from 181 Strand, moving in 1820 to 86 St James’s Street, and being joined by his two sons, George (1788-1859) and John Jnr (1791-1852). It may be deduced that Cary’s reissued Addison’s globe under license, since Addison had ceased manufacturing globes circa 1840. It is to be remembered that St Clements Church, Newcastle Street and St James’s Street are within five minute walk of each other.

Supported on a San Domingo mahogany stand, with curved scroll shaped legs, and a turned and spirally lobed central column, raised upon a concave sided trefoil platform: enclosed within a brass meridian ring graduated in four quadrants, and having an hour dial, marked twice I-XII, the twenty four hand coloured gores are laid onto the hollow sphere, which had been coated with prepared plaster, the equatorial both graduated in degrees and subdivided to two minutes; the Greenwich meridian ungraduated, with the equinoctal colure graduated in degrees, and subdivided into two minutes labelled every five degrees; the ecliptic graduated for individual days, and labelled with the months, five day intervals and the twelve Zodiacal sigils; having the engraved horizon paper graduated in degrees of amplitude and azimuth, and labelled with thirty two compass points. A cartouche on the globe proclaims ‘Published under the Immediate Patronage of, and dedicated by permission to His Most Gracious Majesty George IVth by John Addison, London; Manufactured and Sold by G. & J. Cary, 86 St James’s Street London’.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

54 in:

137 cm

D:

46 in:

117 cm

7268

Peter W. Dease (1788-1863) and Thomas Simpson (1808-1840) Both employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company, at the request of Governor Pelly of Canada, they made three voyages to the Arctic coastline between 1837-1839, surveying a great deal of the hithertofore unknown geography of Canada, discovering on their 1838 trip Victoria Land, named in honour of England’s new Queen.

Thomas Simpson (1808-1840)

The completed survey of the 1837-1839 expeditions, drawn by Thomas Simpson

‘The Glorious 1st of June 1794’ An 18th Century Bronze French Upper Deck Muzzle Loading One Pound Cannon, Inscribed ‘Taken By Earl Howe 1 June 1794’ Circa 1790

Provenance

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

23 in:

59 cm

W:

11 in:

28 cm

L:

35 in:

89 cm

7386

Purchased in Scotland prior to 1950 by William Lindsay Burns, and placed on his estate at Lundin Links, Fife. Upon his death in 1970, ownership passed to his daughter and son in law, Jackson and Rita Rolland, and thereafter to their daughter, Sheena, who duly married Merle Riley of Augusta, Georgia.

We wish to express our thanks to the Curator of Artillery, Philip A. Magrath of the Royal Armouries, Portsmouth, and Dr Quentin Colville of the National Maritme Museum, Greenwich for their invaluable assistance in our reasearches.

The Right Hon. Richard Earl Howe

It is recorded in Sir John Barrow’s biography ‘The Life of Richard, Earl Howe, K.G.’ that during the engagement, seven French Line-of-Battle ships were boarded, and six taken to Portsmouth (one sank en route); Lord Howe and his fleet were received, on the 20th June 1794 by a great deputation led by His Majesty King George the Third and his Queen, three princesses, as well as the Board of Admiralty, the Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, the Port Admiral, and the citizens of the town, and, during the ceremony held upon the ‘Queen Charlotte’ the King presented Lord Howe with a sword, richly set with diamonds costing £30,000, and honoured many of Lord Howe’s fellow officers. The Royal Family remained in Portsmouth for four days, and as is recorded ‘nothing but feasting and rejoicing, salutes, fireworks and illuminations prevailed’.

The Battle of the 1st of June 1794 The first great naval engagement between England and France during the French Revolutionary Wars was fought in the Atlantic Ocean, about 400 nautical miles off the Breton island of Ushant, in the Bay of Biscay, between the British forces, under Lord Howe, and the French Admiral Louis Villaret de Joyeuse, who was escorting a large shipment of grain from the Americas. Of the twenty six French ships involved in the action, seven were taken, one sank, seven were badly damaged and unseaworthy, and nine escaped, taking two of their own vessels under tow.

The Royal Armouries at Portsmouth exhibits today two twenty four pound cannons that came from French ships captured during the battle. Our cannon has been fired in anger, and we are advised it would most likely have been mounted in a swivel, and would have been a highly effective anti personnel device, firing lead shot over a range of some two hundred yards.

A Remarkable Model of a Radially Extending Table, Made and Exhibited by Samuel Hawkins of London, at the Great Exhibition 1851 Circa 1851

Constructed in a finely figured Cuban mahogany, with iron and steel used in the Patent cog wheel mechanism; rising from quadripartite swept scroll legs, with well defined leaf and berry carved decoration, fitted with castors, supporting a carved central bifurcating column with the date ‘1851’ in a cartouche; the circular top having a thumbnail edge moulding, and the apron incorporating the crank handle drive entrance. When operated, the screw mechanism expands, to permit two exterior rings of concentric leaves to be added, to increase the diameter, and thus, the seating capacity of the table.

The four volume ‘Official Descriptive & Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of 1851’ illustrates and discusses Mr Hawkin’s table’s mechanism in great detail. Mr Hawkins was recorded as having premises at 54 Bishopsgate Street Without, London.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

13 in:

33 cm

D:

24 in:

61 cm

7321

A Magnificent Regency Period Circa

Constructed in a beautifully patinated rosewood, dressed with a foliate inlaid tablet to the seat rail, cast bronze accents, and very fine carving; rising from swept legs terminating in spurred animal claw feet, conjoining the serpentine ends dressed with acanthus leaves and stylised foliates, the moulded seat rail having a central tablet of foliate Buhl work; re upholstered in silk velvet.

Provenance; Temple Williams, Haunch of Venison Yard, St James’ 1964.

The original invoice in our possession.

Private Collection.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

27 in:

69 cm

W:

55 in:

140 cm

D:

15 in:

38 cm

7338

This splendid piece is illustrated in the seminal study by Margaret Jourdain, ‘Regency Furniture’, first published 1934, and having four later revised edition by Country Life, Covent Garden London.

The design of our piece has consonances with a ‘causette’ (conversation sofa) illustrated in Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘Repository of the Arts’ Volume III.

Window Seat in the Roman Taste 1820

A Giltwood Mirror of Substantial Size in the Rococo Chippendale Manner Circa 1840

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

86 in:

219 cm

W:

67 in:

170 cm

7420

The well carved frame incorporating addorsed Ho Ho birds, ‘C’ scrolls, icicles, pierced trellising and foliates; of assymetrical form and housing a mercury backed mirror plate.

Mahogany Two Door Gothic Bookcase After a Design by George Smith Circa 1825 Constructed in beautifully figured Cuban mahogany, rising from an everted plinth base, the two base blind doors are decorated with carved quatrefoils, enclosed within a roundel, and having a knopped boss to the centre, blind lancet stiles flank the doors: above, two drawers are carved with lozenge form blind tracery: two glazed doors over, with panel tracery astragals of arched form, and foliated: flanking, ringed cluster columns. The everted crenellated cornice has crocketed finials.

George Smith Author of ‘A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration’ first published in 1808, and in a much modified and revised edition in 1826. The initial publication paid great heed to the ‘Gothick’, and citing ‘a more abundant variety of ornaments and forms than can be possibly obtained from any other style’; many illustrations show models of furniture then in vogue, adapted with ‘modern’ ‘Gothick’ ornamentation. Our bookcase takes plate 23, shown above, with enhancements.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

112 in: 284.5 cm

6738

W:

60.5 in: 153.5 cm

D:

18 in:

45 cm

A Good Pair of late Georgian Library Armchairs in the Grecian Taste Circa 1830

Rising from castor shod tapering, turned and lobed front legs, with sabre legs to the rear; the arms faced with fluted uprights terminating in Grecian rosaces; the backs of square form and the show wood frames having conforming fluting, decorated in an ebonised and gilt.

The armchairs have very marked affinities with designs shown in Peter & Michael Angelo Nicholson’s ‘Practical Cabinet Maker, Upholsterer and Complete Decorator’, the highly regarded 1827 publication, and also Plate 116, published 1821, and shown in ‘Ackermann’s Regency Furniture & Interiors’, edited

by Pauline Agius.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

34 in:

94 cm

W:

25 in:

64 cm

D:

24 in:

61 cm

7202

Gillows of Lancaster & London

GILLOWS OF LANCASTER & LONDON The founder of the Gillows dynasty, Robert (1704-1772) rose from humble beginnings as a provincial joiner, and evolved into a consummate businessman following a pursuit of excellence throughout his life.

Founding his business in 1730 he expanded his furniture making activities to include the direct import of quality West Indian timbers especially the finest mahogany. His talents as both a cabinetmaker as well as innovative designer brought him early success, and, bringing his two sons, Richard & Robert, into the business, he expanded his Lancaster showroom, to include another in London’s Oxford Street. The clientele now included the Government, the aristocracy and the burgeoning middle classes. His furniture had gained its’ reputation for excellence of workmanship, and materials employed, and coupled with his insistence on being at the cutting edge of design kept the company to the fore throughout its’ one hundred and seventy year history from 1730 until its’ amalgamation with Messrs S.J. Waring in 1900. Throughout this period it was the largest manufactory of furniture in England.

The fortuitous survival of the Gillows records in their Estimate Sketch Books show over 20,000 designs and are preserved in the City of Westminster Library. Furniture made by Gillows is to be found in Royal collections and museums throughout the world. The recent publication of Susan E. Stuart’s scholarly and invaluable study on the company, published by the Antique Collectors Club is a masterpiece of its’ type, and a wonderful exegesis of the company.

We are proud to present the following examples of their craftsmanship.

A Fine and Rare Pair of Regency Period Circa

Constructed in a finely figured mahogany, rising from tapering legs fitted with sleeve castors, the bases having blind cupboards, dressed with pleated silk, and flanked by tapered and reeded columns, with oblate knopped finials, and fitted with fine cast brass carrying handles: over, two deep shelves, and the platforms with three quarter shaped galleries.

‘Gillows of Lancaster & London’ by Susan E Stuart, and published by the Antique Collectors Club in 2008, illustrates under plate 492, p380, Volume I, a ‘Moving Library Bookcase’ of strikingly similar design, supplied by Gillows in 1813.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

42 in:

107 cm

W:

26 in:

66 cm

D:

16 in:

41 cm

7363

1815

Gillows of Lancaster & London

Bookcases Attributable to Gillows of Lancaster

A Very Fine Long Set of Regency Period Circa Constructed in a finely figured Cuban mahogany, and comprising two armchairs and eight side chairs; rising from ring turned and fluted legs, with moulded front and side seat rails, containg the overstuffed seats.

The backs of Montgolfier balloon form, with central reeded shaped tablets to the top rails, with anthemion carving to the angles, and parallel reeding to the side rails. The backs incorporate scrolled and tablet decorated braces, and the armchairs have sinuous reeded arms supported by turned uprights.

Nine of the chairs bear the makers stamped mark ‘Gillows Lancaster’, and two chairs have a workman’s signature, James Lawson, a recorded Gillows artisan.

The recently published two volume exegesis of Gillows by Susan E. Stewart, published by the Antique Collectors Club in 2008 records Lawson as apprenticed to Isaac Boulton, a chairmaker of Lancaster. Designs similar to our chairs may be seen on pp 219-223, Vol I, including a very similar chair recorded in the Gillows sketch book for 1823.

DIMENSIONS Carver:

DIMENSIONS Single:

REFERENCE:

H:

36 in:

92 cm

H:

35 in:

89 cm

7299

W:

22 in:

56 cm

W:

19 in:

48 cm

D:

24 in:

61 cm

D:

23 in:

59 cm

1825

Gillows of Lancaster & London

Dining Chairs by Gillows of Lancaster

A George IVth Imperial Extending Dining Table Provenanced to Whitestock Hall, Cumbria, Portrait Painter, Circa

Constructed in a particularly finely figured Cuban mahogany, rising from eight turned and tapering lappet carved legs, which terminate in brass caps and castors, with a demi lune moulding to the frieze; the top having a thumbnail moulded edge, with radiused corners, and housing the three original leaves when fully extended.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

29 in:

74 cm

W:

62.5 in:

159 cm

L:

137 in:

349 cm

7336

George Romney (1734-1802) George Romney was born in Beckside, Cumbria, and, aged eleven was apprenticed for a brief period to his father as a cabinet-maker, before finding his true métier, when, in 1755, he went to Kendal to learn painting from the Cumberland artist, Christopher Steele. It may be noted here, that Gillows of Lancaster had employed seven workmen named Romney between the1760s and the 1840s, and his father had purchased mahogany from Messrs Gillows in 1766 (pp 276, Vol II of Susan Stuart’s ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London’ published by the Antique Collectors Club in 2008). By 1757, Romney was becoming noted for his portraits. In 1762, married and went to London and his painting, The Death of General Wolfe, exhibited at the Royal Society of Arts was highly acclaimed, and Romney soon had a thriving portrait business in Long Acre, Covent Garden. He painted Emma Hamilton, the mistress of Admiral Nelson, and wife of Sir William Hamilton more than sixty times, and most famously, as a bacchante. Romney is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Parish Church, Dalton-in-Furness, having returned to his roots in 1799. In London, the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum and the Wallace Collection exhibit his works. His representations in museums world wide are too numerous to list.

Gillows of Lancaster & London

Firmly Attributed to Gillows of Lancaster, Family Home of the Descendants of the George Romney 1825

The Imperial Dining Table First manifests in the Gillows records of 1804, and was preceded by the ‘Gillows Patent Dining Table’ of 1800. Both were the results of the efforts of one William Barrow, and the Imperial table was recognised to be a wonderful refinement of its’ antecedent.

Gillows and George Romney In the last four decades of the eighteenth century, in Lancashire at least, both the above were regarded as the finest practioners of their trades, and both worked in the same milieu, the Lancashire aristocracy and the newly arisen monied classes; inter alia, Romney painted Richard Gillow’s mother-in-law, the wonderfully named Mrs. Haresnape, as well as an important Gillow’s client. William Bradshaw; Susan E. Stuart suggests that Romney’s portrait of Mary Hunter Rawlinson is housed in a Gillow’s carved frame (pp 366, Vol I).

Whitestock Hall

A Fine Long Set of Fourteen Dining Chairs of the Circa

Constructed in mahogany, comprising two Carvers, and twelve side chairs; rising from ring turned and lobed front legs shod with brass castors, with sabre legs to the rear; the front and side seat rails of moulded form, housing upholstered drop-in seats; the backs upholstered, housed in shaped and moulded frames, with serpentine top rails, dressed with palmettes to the centres and the angles.

Susan E.Stuart’s recent scholarly publication, ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840’ illustrates a chair of very similar form (Volume I, pp 221) on plate 204, which is recorded in the Gillows archives as dating to 1823, and can be seen opposite.

DIMENSIONS Carver:

DIMENSIONS Single:

REFERENCE:

H:

37.5 in:

95 cm

H:

32.5 in:

82 cm

7362

W:

24 in:

61 cm

W:

19 in:

48 cm

D:

28 in:

71 cm

D:

20 in:

51 cm

1825

Gillows of Lancaster & London

Georgian Period Attributable to Gillows of Lancaster

A Fine Writing Table Attributable to Gillows of Lancaster Circa 1825

Constructed in a very fine and distinctively marked Brazilian rosewood; of end support form, rising from a scrolled slab base, adorned with lapetting to the toes, lobed feet issuing the supports, which are of severe oblate form, with a double ended tapering ring turned central stretcher, with ring bosses. The ceinture, with paterae tablets, houses two lockable drawers with turned wood pulls, having internal quadrant beading, and a running egg and dart moulding and over, a top having radiused corners.

The combination of strong design, confident execution in the carving and cabinet work, and concordances with features of Gillows’ designs of this period, along with a drawing in the possession of Lancaster City Museum, for a library layout, number L.M. 55 20/26 executed by Gillows & Co design workshop of 176 Oxford Street, which shows two similar tables, lead to our ascribing the tables to Gillows.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

29 in:

74 cm

W:

49 in:

125 cm

D:

26 in:

66 cm

7298

Gillows of Lancaster & London

A Fine Sofa Table Attributable to Gillows of Lancaster Circa 1825

Constructed in a very fine and distinctively marked Brazilian rosewood; of end support form, rising from a scrolled slab base, adorned with lapetting to the toes, lobed feet issuing the supports, which are of severe oblate form, with a double ended tapering ring turned central stretcher, with ring bosses. The ceinture, with paterae tablets, houses two lockable drawers with turned wood pulls, having internal quadrant beading, and a running egg and dart moulding and over, a top having radiused corners.

DIMENSIONS (open):

DIMENSIONS (closed):

REFERENCE:

H:

29 in:

73 cm

H:

29 in:

73 cm

7297

W:

48 in:

122 cm

W:

37 in:

94 cm

D:

24 in:

61 cm

D:

24 in:

61 cm

A Good Pair of Bergère Armchairs of the French Empire Period Circa 1810

Constructed in a gently faded and well patinated San Domingo mahogany; supported upon outcurved front and rear legs of square section, the frames relief carved with stylised acanthus, the moulded arms with reeded chanelling, continuing onto swept backs; later upholstered in a close woven hessian fabric. French.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

36 in:

92 cm

W:

25 in:

64 cm

D:

23 in:

59 cm

1785

A Fine Quality Regulator Longcase Clock

by Hiatt of London Circa 1830

The case in a finely figured Cuban mahogany, rising from a plinth base, with applied angular mouldings to the basebox, the waisted centre having a glass inspection door, and above, the hood housing a circular enamel dial bearing the makers name with the hours, minutes and seconds indicated with blued steel pointers, with an addorsed swan neck cornice above a chip carved shuttered banding. The eight day movement, with maintaining power, deadbeat escapement has an invar rod, and a mercury filled pendulum. London.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

82.5 in:

210 cm

W:

19 in:

49 cm

D:

11 in:

28 cm

7027

An Important Royal Centre Table Made Windsor Castle by Circa

Constructed in amboyna, with giltwood accents, the tilt top of circular form, finished with a thumbnail moulded edge, with the apron having an interspersed decoration of carved and gilt rosettes, and a running carved pearl band: the base having a tapering and ring turned fluted centre column adorned with a collar bearing a Vitruvian scroll, and supported by tripartite swept legs, foliate carved, and bearing pendant carved and giltwood swags; with carved and scrolled toes, and having inset castors. Stamped with a marque de fer ‘Holland & Sons, VR (capped with the Royal Crown) Windsor Castle, Room 243, 1866’.

This table was deaccessioned from the Royal Collection circa 1953, and was originally in one of a suite of bedrooms in Windsor Castle.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

29 in:

74 cm

D:

42 in:

107 cm

7250

Windsor Castle is one of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s official Royal residences, and is the largest inhabited castle in the world. The original construction was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1070.

for Queen Victoria’s Royal Residence, Holland & Sons 1850

A Fine Occasional Table in the Louis XVth Circa

Constructed in kingwood, Circassian walnut, and using various specimen woods in the marquetry inlays, and having fine bronze mounts; rising from cabriole legs dressed with foliate sabots and chutes, the trellis decorated apron below the bronze guard banded lift top, with a central inlaid motif of musical attributes, with a foliate border; the interior having a cedar compartmentalised tray made with such astonishing accuracy as to create a virtual vacuum when it is removed; the English lock marked ‘VR’.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

28.5 in:

73.5 cm

W:

24 in:

61 cm

D:

16 in:

40 cm

7249

Manner Attributable to Holland & Sons 1850

Holland & Sons Originally founded in 1803 by Stephen Taprell and William Holland, a relation of the architect Henry Holland, the firm of Holland & Sons soon became one of the largest and most successful furniture making companies in the 19th Century.

The firm worked extensively for the Royal Family, being granted the Royal Warrant early in the reign of Queen Victoria, hence taking a leading part in the decoration and furnishing of Osborne House, Sandringham, Balmoral, Windsor Castle and the apartments of the Prince and Princess of Wales at Marlborough House. Holland and Sons also worked extensively for the British Government, for whom they executed over three hundred separate commissions, including the Palace of Westminster, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and oversaw the State funeral of the Duke of Wellington. Among their private commissions the firm produced a celebrated suite of bedroom furniture for the late Sir Harold Wernher at Luton Hoo. Always at the forefront of fashion, Holland & Sons employed some of England’s leading designers and participated in all of the International Exhibitions of 1851, 1855, 1862, 1867, 1872 and 1878.

A Fine Pair of Writing Tables

by Bertram & Sons Circa

Of freestanding form, designed in the Sheraton manner, and constructed in a finely figured West Indian satinwood, with cross banding in tulip wood; rising from tapering turned and reeded circular legs, the ceinture housing two drawers with brass swan neck handles, and having tops with everted radiused angles. Stamped to the drawers by the makers. London.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

30 in:

76 cm

W:

30 in:

76 cm

D:

19 in:

48 cm

7115

Bertram & Sons are recorded in Beard & Gilbert’s ‘Dictionary of Furniture Makers 1660-1840’, published by the Furniture History Society in 1986, as being situated at 100 & 101 Dean Street, Soho, London.

This pair of tables came from the Savoy Hotel, generally known as the most famous hotel in the world.Opening in 1889 it has been hotelier to many luminaries, including Claude Monet, Oscar Wilde & Lord Alfred Douglas, James McNeill Whistler, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

from the Savoy Hotel London, of 100 Dean Street, Soho 1890

A Highly Decorative Pair of Demi Lune Circa

Constructed in satinwood, with ebony & line inlays, and having extensive use of polychromatic decoration: rising from vasiform turned legs dressed with stiff leaf carving, each cabinet with a central concave door, painted with a cartouche showing Arcadian scenes with nymphs and putti, and revealing a shelved interior, and the sides painted with large scale vases in the Neo-Classical manner of Pergolesi.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

35 in:

89 cm

W:

43 in:

109 cm

D:

21.5 in:

55 cm

6674

Commodes in the Adam Manner 1890

A Fine Quality Five Fold Screen of Substantial Size Circa 1870

The framework in Giltwood, in the Louis XIVth manner, well carved, and supported on short cabriole legs, boldly carved with floral attributes, and carrying hand painted oil on canvas shaped panels in the manner of Fragonard, with Fete Galante scenes in pastel tones on an ivory ground.

French.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

79.5 in:

202 cm

W:

135 in:

343 cm

7326

A Very Fine Bureau Plat Circa

Constructed in kingwood, with bois violette cross banding, in the Louis XVth manner, the serpentine top having a bronze guard frame, the top profusely inlaid with stemmed flowers: three drawers in the frieze, and document slides to each end: the gentle cabriole legs terminating in bronze sabots.

Extensively mounted with particularly good chased and chiselled mounts retaining the original ormolu finish. Signed to the central drawer lock Sormani, 10 Rue Charlot, Paris.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

29 in:

73 cm

W:

42 in:

107 cm

D:

22 in:

56 cm

6709

Paul Sormani (1817-1877) was Italian born, setting up his first workshops in Paris in 1847, finally settling in Rue Charlot in 1867, offering works of ‘a quality of execution of the first order’.

The speciality was copies of furniture in the style of the ancien regime. They exhibited at the Universelle Expositions of 1855 and 1867, as well as London in 1862 and were awarded medals for their work.

by Paul Sormani of Paris 1870

A Good Giltwood Conversation Settee in the Louis XVIth Manner Circa 1870

Rising from cannellure and collared toupie feet, the frame well carved with Vitruvian scrolls and overlaid demi lune plates issuing from a central design of a bound quiver, capped with a blue and white jasper elliptical porcelain plaque in the Wedgwood manner, the serpentine back and incurving ends adorned with garlands of roses and ribbands. French.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

36 in:

92 cm

W:

58 in:

148 cm

D:

27 in:

69 cm

7407

A Fine Quality Clock & Barometer Set by Carcany & Robin, After Models on Exhibition in the Louvre Museum, Paris Circa 1875 In the Louis XVIth manner, of banjo form, the cases being in crisply cast bronze, with ormolu gilding, with Wedgwood type jasperware plaques having designs by John Flaxman within neo-classical frames dressed with addorsed gryphons; the putti capped columns representative of zephyrs above the stiff leaf framed circular dials house Reamur mercury thermometers; the surmounts being laurel wreaths, and the lower parts having a triangular pendant of foliate form with inverted pineapples: draped swags adorn the cases; the barometer of aneroid type, with the climate gradations betwixt ‘Very Dry’ and ‘Tempest’; the dial signed ‘Carcany’ above a fleur-de lys: the clock having an eight day striking Marti movement, with a lever platform escapement, signed ‘Robin’, the hours and minutes delineated in Arabic numerals, enamelled on a porcelain face. French.

Originals from the eighteenth century are to be seen in the Louvre, and the the Museé Nissim de Camonda, near the Parc Monceau, Paris.

DIMENSIONS: H:

34 in:

REFERENCE: 94 cm

7353

‘The Rehearsal’ Raimundo de Madrazo y Garretta (1841-1920)

Oil on Panel, signed lower right.

SIGHT SIZE:

REFERENCE:

H:

12 in:

30 cm

W:

7 in:

18 cm

7342

Born in Rome of Spanish parentage, becoming a French citizen, and being made a member of the Légion d’Honneur in 1878, France’s highest honour. Gold medallist at the Paris Exhibitions of 1878 & 1889. His works are to be seen in the Prado, Madrid, Louvre & Baltimore.

Reference; Benezit, Volume VII, published Gründ 1975

Fine Art

‘St Anne’s Square, Manchester’ John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893)

Oil on a photographic base, laid on panel; signed lower right, ‘Atkinson Grimshaw F31’; bearing an old gallery ticket to the back ‘Manchester Exchange F31’.

SIGHT SIZE:

REFERENCE:

H:

11.5 in:

29 cm

W:

17 in:

43 cm

7377

John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893) Leeds born, and to his parents horror, left his secure job as a railway clerk to become an artist. Grimshaw’s primary influences were drawn from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and, true to the Pre-Raphaelite style, he painted landscapes in accurate colour, lighting, and vivid detail. His landscapes typified nightfall and night, seasons or a type of weather; city and suburban street scenes and moonlit views of the docks in London, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, and Glasgow also figured largely in his art. By applying his skill in lighting effects, and unusually careful attention to detail, he was often capable of intricately describing a scene, while strongly conveying its mood. His paintings of dampened gas-lit streets and misty waterfronts conveyed an eerie warmth as well as alienation in the urban scene.

Fine Art

‘Off to School’ Pierre-Edouard Frère (1819-1886)

Oil on Panel, signed lower left.

SIGHT SIZE:

REFERENCE:

H:

16 in:

41.5 cm

W:

13 in:

32.5 cm

7343

Becoming a pupil of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1836, under the tutelage of Delaroche, and recipient of many awards for his contribution to French art, being made a Knight of the Légion d’Honneur aged 36; a considerable achievement for one so young. He exhibited at the Paris Salon betwen 1842, and his death. Represented in the museums of Chartres, Cluny, Louviers, Bernay, Hamburg, Cardiff inter alia.

Reference: Benezit, Volume IV, published Gründ 1975

Fine Art

‘Motherhood’ William Powell Frith (1819-1909)

Oil on canvas; signed & dated 1884, lower centre.

William Powell Frith was born in Studley, Yorkshire in 1819.

Frith’s artistic talent was encouraged by his father, and in 1835 he enrolled in the Henry Sass Academy in London. In 1837 he attended the Royal Academy School, first exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1838, becoming an associate member in 1845, and a full member in 1853, continuing to exhibit until his 83rd year, in 1902. An exhibitor at the Paris Exhibitions Universelle of 1885 and 1889, he was awarded medals of merit for his exhibits, and made a member of the French Legion d’Honneur in 1878.

SIGHT SIZE:

REFERENCE:

H:

35 in:

89 cm

W:

27 in:

69 cm

7380

His best known painting, at present in the Tate Gallery, ‘Derby Day’, a witty depiction of an annual day out for all members of the stratified Victorian class system at Epsom Racecourse, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1858 proved so popular, that a rail was erected to hold back the crowds who flocked to view the picture.

Queen Victoria chose him to paint the Marriage of the Prince of Wales, executed in 1865. His friend and confidante, Charles Dickens, assisted with advice in his two autobiographical works. As with Dickens, Frith responded to the zeitgeist, encompassing all people, from the lowly chimney sweeper, to royalty, and was at home with all.

Fine Art

‘Cityscape’ Sadanand Bakre (1920- )

Oil on Board, signed lower left.

Sadanand Bakre (1920- ) Born in 1920 in Baroda, Sadanand Bakre joined the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai in 1939, and began his experiments with sculpture simply because he could not afford the materials needed for the painting course at the time. Apart from the principal and staff of the Sir J.J. School, there were others who encouraged Bakre in his work, including Phadke, the sculptor. Rudi von Leyden introduced him to the modernist movements in America, evolve into the artist we recognize today. Also Wayne Hartwell, at that time attached to the United States Information Service in Mumbai, who offered Bakre a place to live and work in his own apartment. In each of Bakre’s portraits and sculptures the character of the subject, more than his or her physiognomy, finds expression. Amongst the busts he has sculpted are those of the critic Rudi von Leyden, Sir Cowasji Jehangir, founder of the Jehangir Art Gallery, and one of K.H. Ara.

SIGHT SIZE:

REFERENCE:

H:

24 in:

61 cm

W:

30 in:

76 cm

6938

In 1965, Bakre wrote an essay for the Free Press Bulletin, titled ‘All Art Is Either Good or Bad,’ in which he said, “I am traditionally trained and perfectly capable of accomplishing completely realistic work. But my interest in forms has gone far beyond the dull imitations of subject matter, which to me is almost unimportant.” Bakre was also one of the founder members of the Progressive Artists’ Group, which helped in projecting his talent and acted as a catalyst for his work. Soon Bakre, through the sale of and commissions for his works, had made enough money to travel to England. There he met a German nurse (he was working as an orderly in a hospital to earn his daily meals), Dorothy, who became his wife. Now Bakre concentrated on painting having several one man exhibitions in England and the States. In the mid 60s, he returned to India, and he now lives on the Konkan coast of Maharashtra at Murud-Harnai. Although he gave up working several years ago (except for the occasional clay figurine or wood carving he works on for himself), he is still active in several other ways. He makes his own tools and instruments for tending his populous fruit and vegetable gardens, for brick laying and working on the upkeep of his quaint house.

Fine Art

A Garden Urn of Substantial Size Circa 1860

Of cast iron, after the antique, the square base supports a fluted waisted socle; masks of Pan adorn each side, issuing swags and garlands of dog roses, conjoining handles modelled as figures of fauns the classical attendants to the god. French.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

44 in:

112 cm

D:

47 in:

120 cm

7357

A Stupendous ‘Grand Tour’ Centre Circa

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

29.5 in:

75 cm

W:

52.5 in:

133 cm

D:

27.5 in:

70 cm

7293

Table of the late Regency Period 1820

The ebonised mahogany and giltwork frame incorporating an Italian scagliola tablet depicting Guido Reni’s ‘Aurora’ painting on the ceiling of the Casino dell’Aurora, in the Palazzo Pallavinci-Rospigliosi in Rome, executed in 1614, is widely regarded as his masterpiece. An Englishman making the ‘Grand Tour’, an essential element of a gentleman’s education in the late Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries would have viewed this work as part of the prerequisites of a journey to Rome, and this memorable image would have returned as one of his Grand Tour Souveniers. England/Roma.

A Fine Occasional Table by Giovanni Battista Gatti Circa 1860

Constructed in ebony and etched ivory in the neo-Renaissance taste; rising from tripartite hipped legs with hoof feet, in the Pompeiian style, supporting a lobed and reeded column; the circular top having as the central tondo a copy of Raphael’s painting in the papal chambers in the Vatican, the allegorical figure of Theology flanked by two putti, holding tablets with the legend ‘Divinar rer Notitia’ (Knowledge of Divine Things). The outer reserve has four profile portraits of Italian poets, Dante Alighieri, Torquato Tasso, Ludovico Ariosto, and Francesco Petrach, interspersed with four panels of complex arabesques, and mascarons: the inner reserve contains eight cartouches with views of notable Roman monuments, including the Pantheon, St Peter’s Square, The Arch of Constantine, the Piazza del Popolo, inter alia. Signed by Gatti with his pictogram, four cats in the outer reserve, Gatti in Italian translating as ‘cats’. Italian.

Giovanni Battista Gatti (1816-1889) was one of the most distinguished European ebenistes of the 19th century. Having studied in Rome and Florence, he worked as a journey-man cabinet-maker before establishing his own workshop at Faenza in the 1870’s specialising the Milanese intarsia manner with ivory on a background of ebony. Ill health saw him ceasing work in 1881.

Working in the Renaissance Revival manner pioneered in the first half of the century by craftsman such as Pietro Bertinetti, Gatti and his Italian contemporaries helped to establish this style as a dominant aesthetic mode in the 1860’s and 1870’s. He enjoyed the support of imperial, aristocratic and ecclesiastical patrons in Europe including the Austrian Emperor, the Duke of Hamilton and Cardinal Amant, and was also popular amongst American industrial collectors such as Wright E Post and William Gilstrap. Examples of his work are found not only in the Victorian and Albert Museum, but also in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Gatti’s spectacular inlaid exhibition pieces gained him numerous awards at Europe’s international industrial and cultural expositions: at the ‘Paris Expositions Universelles’ (First Class Medal 1855; diplome d’honneur, 1867; Gold Medal 1878) and at ‘Vienna’s Internationalische Ausstellung’ (1873).

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

30 in:

76 cm

D:

23.5 in:

59 cm

7403

A Fine Centre Table in the Roman Manner Circa 1840

The base in carved wood, gilded, and depicting addorsed figures of draped female Manticores, dressed with garlands of flowering roses, supporting the upper frame, which has a running egg and dart moulding, and set upon a lobed cruciform base. The platform is in white Carrara marble. Italian.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

36 in:

92 cm

W:

50 in:

127 cm

D:

27 in:

69 cm

7252

A Fine & Rare Pair of Chandeliers in Circa

Constructed in bronze, which has been cast with extraordinary attention to detail, and conformingly excellent planishing and two colour mercury gilding; the central waisted columns, capped by flambeaux above, and berried finials below, are part wrythen, and part fluted, and overlaid with leaf motifs; the eight ‘S’ shaped arms, of square form, cast with foliate motifs, have circular drip pans and bulbous candle nozzles, issue from octagonal collars with lion’s head mascarons protrusions, interspersed with addorsed heads of Roman emperors. French.

DIMENSIONS:

REFERENCE:

H:

33 in:

84 cm

D:

30 in:

76 cm

7351

the Manner of André-Charles Boulle 1880

André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) André-Charles Boulle’s name is synonymous with the practice of veneering furniture with marquetry work using tortoiseshell, pewter, and brass. Although he did not invent the technique, Boulle was its greatest practitioner and lent his name to its common name: ‘boulle’ or ‘buhl’ work. Boulle also specialised in floral marquetry in both stained and naturally coloured wood. Many of his designs for furniture and chandeliers are illustrated in a book of engravings published in 1720, and similar examples to our pair of chandeliers may be seen therein.

In 1666 Boulle was awarded the title of master cabinetmaker; in 1672 the king granted him the Royal privilege of lodging in the Palais du Louvre, and appointed him ‘sole cabinetmaker and sculptor to Louis XIVth’. This privileged position permitted him to override the Guild system, which insisted craftsmen work either in wood, or bronze but not both. The Royal patronage also protected Boulle from the financial scrapes in which he all too frequently became embroiled. He was lauded by his contemporaries, who named him ‘the most skilful artisan in Paris, which means, the world’.

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