MALLETT & SON (ANTIQUES) LTD, ELY HOUSE, 37 DOVER STREET, LONDON W1S 4NJ TEL: +44 (0)20 7499 7411 FAX: +44 (0)20 7495 3179 info@mallettantiques.com ALSO IN NEW YORK AT 929 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK NY 10021 TEL: 001 212 249 8783 FAX: 001 212 249 8784
www.mallettantiques.com
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Introduction The start of this year has been one of momentous change for Mallett as we re-locate to an extraordinary new building, Ely House, in the heart of London’s art market on Dover Street, in Mayfair. 37 Dover Street is well known to all students of the architecture of London as the Palace built by the distinguished architect Robert Taylor in 1770, for Robert Keene, the Bishop of Ely. The splendid interiors retain much of their original detail and are on a large scale over six floors, which allows for showing the finest furniture and works of art in a setting for which so many of our great pieces were originally designed. The building maintains Mallett's position as the leading dealer in European decorative arts in London. We hope you will enjoy some photographs of the interiors illustrated in this catalogue; however, in order to feel the elegance and grandeur of Ely House, we invite you to visit us and experience this great building firsthand. The market for the finest European decorative arts has maintained its status quo over the last year, with the United States and Europe still being pre-eminent in this field of collecting. However, we have seen increased interest from Asia in the last year and had some real success in helping new collectors from China and the Far East start to build their portfolios of fine furniture and rare objects with an eye for luxury and quality. As always, we look forward to meeting you in our galleries both in London, on Dover Street and on Madison Avenue in New York, as well as at the many fairs where we exhibit during the year.
Giles Hutchinson Smith Chief Executive
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AN EARLY 18TH CENTURY ARTE POVERA BUREAU BOOKCASE An important early 18th century Venetian arte povera bureau bookcase, profusely decorated with elaborate découpage vignettes on every surface. Each panel on the exterior cream ground is enclosed by running floral and foliate designs. The slope front has fantasy carriages drawn by various horses and surrounded by various beasts. Opening to reveal a fitted interior of scarlet lacquer with pigeon holes, small drawers and a fully decorated writing surface. The three lower drawers are decorated with figures in period dress and romanticised pastoral landscapes. The whole surface is in extraordinary original condition. The découpage retains good colour and engraved detail. The antique mirror plates etched with dancing classical figures. Italy, circa 1740 Height: 208cm/82in Width: 115.5cm/45½in Depth: 61cm/24in F3B0237
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Since as far back as the late 16th century, lacquered objects from the Far East had been shipped to Europe, in relatively small numbers at first, though subsequently in constantly increasing quantities to meet the burgeoning demand. The relative scarcity of lacquered objects combined with the immense demand meant they commanded high prices, a fact that drove European craftsmen to discover the process of lacquering for themselves or at least a method of imitating it convincingly.
throughout the period. It became a fashionable past time for young ladies throughout Europe, particularly in France (here called découpage, from découper- to cut) where it probably became fashionable around 1720. In 1727, Sieur Crépy, fils, advertised engravings done after a screen painted by Watteau, with compositions suitable “aux découpures dont les dames font aujourd’hui de si jolies meubles”. However, despite the universal amateur appeal of Arte Povera, Venice remained the centre of professional production.
Lacquer centres thus appeared throughout Europe, with Venice becoming one of the most significant of all. As early as the mid 17th century there existed an extremely active trade in Venetian lacquer, which suggests that it had been going on for some time previously. As with all lacquer centres during the period, Venice had its own recipes for the necessary varnish, but it seems the favoured type was that invented by Father Coronelli (1659-1702), the official cosmographer of ‘La Serenissima’, who made globes that he protected with layers of varnish. Coronelli stated that its main ingredient was sandarac, known for its durability and hardness, and this remained one of the chief ingredients of Venetian lacquer. Initially, again like elsewhere in Europe, Venetian artisans would imitate Oriental styles and models in an attempt to give their work the exotic appearance that was favoured at the time. However, as the 18th century progressed, Venetian lacquered objects would become less dependent stylistically on imported Far Eastern models and follow more closely the general trend of contemporary European fashion.
Arte Povera work is most commonly found on a red ground while examples with a cream ground are extremely rare.
Arte Povera (also lacca povera or lacca contrafatta), particularly in Venice, developed alongside traditional lacquer as what was initially regarded to have been a cheaper alternative. Surviving examples today, however, are considered equally as rare and as important as conventionally lacquered pieces. The technique was not uncommon elsewhere in Italy and Europe but found particular favour in Venice. The process involves the use of motifs and scenes cut from prints especially prepared for this purpose by firms of printers such as Remondini in nearby Bassano. Once applied to the piece they would be painted and subsequently varnished. The relative ease of the process attracted a number of dilettantes as well as professionals, lacquered objects remaining in vogue
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Naples.
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A PAIR OF CHARLES II SURREY ENAMEL ANDIRONS A rare pair of Charles II cast brass andirons decorated with dense patterns of highly stylised flower heads and leaves in brass, highlighted with enamel decoration in red, white, blue and green, with male figures holding aloft the Royal coat of arms of the House of Stuart, raised on circular shield supports with central, raised bosses. Attributed to the London workshop of Anthony Hatch (active from 1632, died possibly in London, 1689) and Stephen Pilchard. England, circa 1670 Height: 61cm/24in Width: 31cm/12in Depth 53cm/21in O3C0012
This rare pair of andirons belong to a group of cast and enamelled brass wares that include stirrups, mirror-frames, fire-dogs, sconces, badges and sword-hilts. They are distinguished by their method of production: the fields to be enamelled were cast in the original moulds and not, as was more common, engraved (champlévé) or enclosed (cloisonné). They were for a long time referred to as Surrey Enamels after the author Charles R. Beard ascribed their manufacture to a factory in Esher, Surrey, but documentary evidence makes a strong case for their reattribution to the London workshops of Anthony Hatch and Stephen Pilchard. Hatch, a prominent member of the Armourers and Braziers Company, supplied an enamelled brass chimney piece to the Company, which was placed in the Court Room. This was presumably similar in style to the other enamelled wares from this group, which of course included other wares associated with fireplaces. Hatch worked with Pilchard, another member of the Armourers and Braziers Company.
LITERATURE
Blair, Claude Surrey Enamels Reattributed: Part 1, Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, Volume 13, June 2005, pp. 2-9, illus. on cover and on p. 5, Fig. 6 Blair, Claude and Patterson, Angus Surrey Enamels Reattributed: Part 2, An Illustrated List of Known Types, The Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, June 2006, vol. 14, pp. 10-21
Few examples of these enamelled wares survive and along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London has the largest holding in the world at around a dozen examples. The comparatively small output of work and the repeated use of identical moulds for the stems of candlesticks, firedogs and cups suggest these objects are the products of one workshop. Even domestic wares decorated with enamel would have been expensive, which implies that the workshop that produced them would have had a small but comparatively wealthy clientele.
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A REGENCY PERIOD CONVEX MIRROR
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› A VERY FINE PAIR OF GEORGE III
MAHOGANY COMMODES An unusual Regency period convex giltwood mirror with ebonised moulding and four candle sconces, the carved frame with fish scale ornament, in the form of two entwined sea serpents. England, circa 1820 Height: 100cm/39½in Width: 100cm/39½in Depth: 44.5cm/17½in
A pair of exceptional George III figured mahogany serpentine commodes attributed to William Hallett (1707-1781). The graduated drawers retaining their original mercury gilded lions head handles. England, circa 1760 Height: 86cm/34in Width: 111cm/43½in Depth: 59cm/23in
F3C0011 F3C0002
William Hallett was the most fashionable cabinet-maker of the George II period, supplying furniture to great English houses, most notably Holkham Hall, Norfolk, Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire and St Giles’s House, Dorset, as well as to the great arbiter of aristocratic taste, the 2nd Earl of Burlington, for Chiswick House. The only known piece of furniture signed by William Hallett was sold at Sotheby’s New York, Important English Furniture sale, 21-22 October, 1999. Currently no other pieces have come to light that can be firmly catalogued as by this great maker. The finely cast handles on these mahogany commodes are identical to those used on the cabinet. A number of cabinet-makers in the 18th century employed metal workers to design handles and pulls specific to that workshop, this can be seen in comparisons with the work of Giles Grendey, Vile and Cobb and Thomas Chippendale.
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A VERY FINE MID 18TH CENTURY MAHOGANY CABINET A very rare mid 18th century mahogany breakfront cabinet attributed to William Hallett, of exceptional proportion and colour, the top enriched with a triangular pediment and cornice carved with dentil moulding, above finely moulded doors with plain astragals, the base with panelled doors revealing further shelf storage, having the original locks and escutcheons and resting on a moulded plinth with stepped edge. England, circa 1745 Height: 248cm/97½in Width: 184cm/72½in Depth: 43cm/17in F3B0298
The grand proportions and the sophisticated design typify the period of English furniture making when the nature and strength of mahogany allowed the cabinet-maker to experiment with complicated designs which earlier woods such as walnut did not. Hallett’s furniture may be characterised by its strong curvilinear forms and boldly carved mahogany of the highest quality. He enjoyed considerable commercial success and became the financial backer of the new partnership of William Vile and John Cobb, who were in turn to rank among the greatest English cabinet-makers of the latter half of the eighteenth century.
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› A PAIR OF SONGBIRD DIORAMAS A charming and highly unusual group of Austrian provincial carved and naturalistically painted wooden models of songbirds. Each bird is shown attached to a twig perch that is in turn mounted on a carved plinth. They are now framed as a pair of dioramas with a background of branches. Austria, circa 1850 Height: 114cm/45in Width: 86.5cm/34in O3B0110
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A CHARLES X TOLE LANTERN A 19th century parcel gilt tôle neo-classical lantern having a scaled dome canopy with red glazed windows supported by free standing simulated marble columns. France, circa 1825 Height: 75cm/29½in Width: 37.5cm/15in Depth: 37.5cm/15in L3B0081
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› THE DARTMOUTH DINING CHAIRS A fine set of twelve mid 18th century mahogany dining chairs comprising two armchairs and ten side chairs, all with upholstered backs and shaped top rail, raised on square chamfered legs joined by stretchers, the armchairs with padded arm rests leading to elegantly downswept arms; the chairs upholstered in yellow silk damask. England, circa 1760 Height: 105cm/41½in Width: 68cm/27in Depth: 78cm/30½in F3B0198
PROVENANCE
The Earls of Dartmouth The Legge’s are an old Yorkshire family who were raised to the peerage in 1682 when George Legge became Baron Dartmouth, of Dartmouth in the County of Devon. William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth became the first Earl in 1711. An influential politician, he also held the position of Lord Privy Seal from 1713-1714. He was succeeded by his grandson, also William Legge, in 1750 who went on to serve as Secretary of State for the Colonies and First Lord of Trade both between 1772-1775, paving the way for an illustrious line of politically active and esteemed members of British society. The 10th Earl of Dartmouth is currently a Member of the European Parliament for South West England.
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A NEO-CLASSICAL TWENTY LIGHT CHANDELIER ATTRIBUTED TO PERRY & CO. A Perry & Co. type ‘Classic’ neo-classical twenty light chandelier with three tiers of hollow rope-twist arms to a silvered central core with festooned gilt metal water-leaf corona above an urn, having loop handles to a band of cast interlaced ornament. The candle arms springing from an elaborate cut glass receiver bowl, each supporting festoons of multi gem cut drops, paterae and drip pans. England, circa 1850
Perry & Co. was one of the most celebrated and inventive chandelier designers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They supplied lighting for The Prince Regent at Carlton House and the Brighton Pavilion, as well as the nobility from their premises at Fleet Street, Bond Street and Grafton Street, from the 1770’s to the early 20th century. An example with a similar corona attributed to Perry can be seen at The Bath Preservation Trust, No 1 Royal Crescent, Bath.
Height: 160cm/63in Width: 110cm/43¼in LITERATURE
Martin Mortimer, The English Chandelier, plates 50, 52, 79 and 90. L3B0408
A drawing room at the Bath Preservation Trust, No. 1 Royal Crescent, Bath displaying a chandelier with a similar corona attributed to Perry
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AN OPALINE AND EGLOMISE SIDE CABINET A very unusual 1940’s side cabinet with ebonised panels inset with raised elements set with black glass. The centre corners are mounted with gilt solomonic pilasters, the whole standing on a gilt iron base. France, circa 1940 Height: 96cm/38in Width: 156cm/61½in Depth: 46cm/18in F3A0385
LITERATURE
Illustrated in Jean-Louis Gaillemin, Les Décorateurs des Années 40, Norma, 1999, p. 34.
Felix Davin was best known for his confident and original Spanish revival designs that took elements of Spanish Renaissance furniture and, as with the Louis XVI revival at the time, paired them down to their essential elements; the spiral column legs on this piece were especially associated with him. He did not produce many pieces but his work reflects the inventions of renowned metal craftsman Gilbert Poillerat, and also Robert Pansart, a master craftsman in the art of verre églomisé.
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DIANA RETURNING FROM THE CHASE A finely figured statue of the young Roman goddess Diana, depicted in robes with a staff in her left hand and her catch in her right. Carved in marble, signed and inscribed ‘R.J. Wyatt Fecit ROME’ England, circa 1830 Height: 138.5cm/54½in Width: 47cm/18½in O3C0049
Richard James Wyatt (1795-1850), along with his great friend John Gibson, is perhaps the most famous English neo-classical sculptor of the first half of the 19th century. The grandson of the architect James Wyatt, he won several prizes as a student at the Royal Academy in London and, on his graduation, was introduced to Antonio Canova by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Canova, then the most famous sculptor of his time, invited Wyatt to study with him in Rome. After a period in Paris working with François Joseph Bosio he joined Canova in his studio in 1821 where Gibson was also a pupil, moving briefly to work with Bertel Thorwaldsen before setting up his own studio, opposite that of Gibson, in Via della Fontanella Barberini. Wyatt’s success began with a commission from the Duchess of Devonshire in 1822 and, despite living in Rome until his death in 1850, he remained a frequent and lauded exhibitor at the Royal Academy in London. He returned only once, in 1841, at the request of Queen Victoria, for whom he carved several pieces including The Huntress, Penelope and a portrait bust of the Queen herself. He was a highly accomplished artist whose style remained consistently classical, and highly sought after, throughout his career. He excelled in portraying the female figure and which were seen to rival his late master Canova’s. His importance lies not only in his own work, created for an international clientele from his base in Rome, but also in the profound influence that he and Gibson exercised over domestic English art of the first half of the 19th century. Examples of his work can be seen in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and in England at Chatsworth ( Musidora ), the British Museum, London (bust of Philip Henry, 4th Earl Stanhope) the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (The Nymph Ino and the Infant Bacchus ), Nostell Priory (Flora and Zephyr ), and, most extensively, in the Royal Collection. LITERATURE
R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, London, 1951, pp. 448-90 B. Read, Victorian Sculpture, London, 1982, pp. 37, 132-133, 141 J. M. Robinson, The Wyatts: an architectural dynasty, Oxford, 1979
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THE SPENCER ARMCHAIRS ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCOIS HERVE Each with oval husk and guilloche-carved padded back above padded leaf-carved arms with scrolled terminals and a serpentine seat, the rails centred by fluted tablets flanked by roundels on tapering turned and fluted legs with stiff-leaf ball toupie feet. Attributed to François Hervé and supplied by Henry Holland and Dominique Daguerre. England, circa 1790 Height: 96cm/38in Width: 61cm/24in Depth: 70cm/27½in
PROVENANCE
Supplied to George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834) either for Spencer House, London or Althorp, Northamptonshire, where they are recorded by 1814. Thence by descent to John Poyntz, 5th Earl Spencer (18351910) at Althorp where they are recorded in the Sir Joshua Reynolds Room and Red Drawing Room in 1902. Thence by descent to Albert Edward John, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975) in Spencer House, where some are recorded in the Rubens Room and Ante Room in 1926, before being returned to Althorp circa 1926 and thence by descent. LITERATURE
F3A0256
Schedule of Furniture at Althorp 1814-1819, ‘No. 68 – Drawing Room – 14 Circular Elbow Chairs Striped Covers’. H. Avray Tipping, Althorp, II, Country Life, 18 June 1921, pp. 765, 767, and 768, figs. 2, 4, 5 and 7, photographed in the Sir Joshua Reynolds Room and in the Red Drawing Room. Albert Edward John, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1972), Althorp, Furniture, Vol. I, circa 1937 and later N. Cooper, The Opulent Eye, Late Victorian and Edwardian Taste in Interior Design, London, 1976, p. 111, pl. 59, the suite photographed in 1892 in The Drawing Room, Althorp. J. Friedman, Spencer House, Chronicle of a Great London Mansion, London, 1993, p. 138, ill. 112, two armchairs in 1926 in the Music Room, and p. 272, ill. 240, three armchairs 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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These golden French ‘cabriolet’ chairs, with their distinctive step-down seat-rail, can confidently be attributed to François Hervé (d.1796). They originally formed part of an extensive suite of at least three bergères, a sofa, fourteen armchairs and seventeen side chairs supplied to Althorp around 1791, where the rest of the suite remains. François Hervé was a French furniture maker, employed initially by the 5th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire in the 1770’s at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. Both the Duke and Duchess were Francophile’s and appreciated good quality furniture and neo-classical styles. It was the Devonshires who first employed the group of Anglo-French craftsmen such as Nelson and Hervé who later became prominent under Henry Holland, an architect to the English nobility. Interestingly, a directly related suite to these was commissioned in 1782 by George John, 2nd Earl Spencer’s sister Georgiana and her husband William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1811) for Chatsworth, Derbyshire (I. Hall, ‘A Neo-Classical Episode at Chatsworth’, The Burlington Magazine, vol. 122, June 1980, pp. 400-414). These are likely to have been designed by the Prince of Wales’s Panton Street marchand-mercier William (or Guillaume) Gaubert, who advertised himself as ‘Maker of Ornamental furniture’ and preceded Dominique Daguerre as ‘Clerk of Works’ in the decoration of Carlton House. Hervé, no doubt, was amongst those to whom Gaubert referred, when he wrote in 1786 of others having, ‘workd after my drawings’. These chairs would also fit Horace Walpole’s description of his work for the Prince in 1785, as being ‘delicate and new’ and ‘rather classic than French’ (D. Stroud, Henry Holland: His Life and Architecture, London, 1966, pp. 64 and 73). Henry Holland trained under Capability Brown and later married his daughter. Sir John Soane became one of his students. Holland was probably best remembered for the celebrated remodelling of Carlton House, London, in 1783, which exemplified his dignified neo-classicism, and contrasted with the more lavish style of his great contemporary Robert Adam.
Hervé also designed furniture for Carlton House. He was willing to supply chairs with backs wholly in the Louis XV manner as part of a major commission and his furniture is more easily identifiable than some chair makers. Hervé described himself as a “cabriolet chairframe maker”. His style was closer to that of the Paris styles than those of his English rivals, although Hervé sometimes adopted the English habit of splaying the back legs of chairs. He also supplied chairs with caned backs and seats, a fashion that English chair makers generally ignored. Carving was generally kept to a minimum by Hervé; he liked to step down his seat rails at the centre and at the junction with the legs. Paterae at the junction of the seat rail and the leg are a characteristically French ornament, as is fluting and counter fluting. Though some of Hervé’s seat furniture is clearly transitional in style, having a mixture of rococo and neo-classical motifs, there are other suites that are neo-classical throughout.
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A LOUIS PHILIPPE MANTEL CLOCK A Louis Philippe ormolu mounted porcelain mantel clock having an architectural pediment in gilt bronze with simulated tiles and neo-classical scrolls. The enamel is decorated with polychrome floral swags of ‘Porcelaine de Paris’ and framed in gilt bronze. Throughout, the clock is mounted with panels of elaborately gilded and painted porcelain. France, circa 1835 Height: 49.5cm/19½in Width: 15cm/6in Depth: 17cm/6½in O3B0246
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› A PAIR OF GILT METAL LANTERNS A pair of late 19th century circular rococo revival lanterns of large-scale, the ‘C’ and ‘S’ scroll-shaped canopy supporting five glass panels each of serpentine form, bordered by decorative foliate scroll gilt frames with a central motif, each with a five branch chandelier. France, circa 1880 Height: 89cm/35in Diameter: 50cm/19½in L3B0317
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AN UNUSUAL CINNABAR VASE A large scale high fired stoneware Chinese cinnabar lacquer vase with deeply incised carving revealing bold peonies and foliage between geometric borders, the whole with a rich red glaze. Probably China, circa 1880 Height: 58cm/23in Diameter: 38cm/15in O3B0238
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› A SICILIAN PARCEL GILT SIDE TABLE A late 18th century Sicilian carved and parcel gilt side table, the frieze is decorated with a central oval cartouche of figures within a band of ribbon tied laurel leaves, flanked with carved giltwood scrolling acanthus and classical urns against a white painted ground, the sides are similarly decorated and there are elaborate carved giltwood masks on each corner. The table stands on turned, tapering, and fluted legs with a collar of bound leaves and swags of laurel leaves, all terminating in toupie feet. The table retains its original marble top. Italy, circa 1780 Height: 93cm/36½in Width: 137cm/54in Depth: 68cm/27in F2G0406
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AN EMPIRE CENTRE TABLE BY MOLITOR An outstanding Empire centre table having a grey marble top bordered in finely chased gilt bronze. The top is supported on a triangular stem inlaid with brass flutes and ebony stringing, which stands on three scroll legs each terminating in unusual castors that echo the line of stringing with a chevron on the front face. By Bernard Molitor. France, circa 1785 Height: 71cm/28in Diameter: 94cm/37in F3B0287
Bernard Molitor, born in Betzdorf, Luxembourg in 1755 went on to become one of the few ébénistes whose furnituremaking business prospered both before and after the French Revolution. He moved to Paris in 1778 where he leased a successful workshop at L’Arsenal, however, it was not until 1787 that he became a ‘maître ébéniste’. In 1788 he married the daughter of the ‘charpentier du roi’, Julie-Elisabeth Fessard. Having already taken an earlier Royal commission to construct a mahogany floor for Queen MarieAntoinette’s boudoir at Fontainebleau; he then received subsequent commissions from within the Queen’s circle. Although the Revolution forced him to close his workshop for a period of time. He opened it again with even greater success, honoured with commissions from the Emperor Napoleon, King Jerome of Westphalia and many private noble collectors including the duc de Choiseul-Praslin. Molitor’s remarkable success owes most to the fact that he managed to create a style that was both simple and original and reliably of the finest quality. By 1800 he purchased a house on the exclusive rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where he died at seventy-eight, a wealthy man. LITERATURE
Reference item no. 1096 to be included in the upcoming catalogue raisonné by Ulrich Leben.
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A MAGNIFICENT GILT BRONZE LOUIS XVI CLOCK A highly unusual gilt bronze and rouge griotte clock in the early neo-classical style. The clock face flanked by fluted and reeded pilasters with foliate enriched scrolls and surmounted by an elaborate pomegranate finial. The whole stands on a rouge griotte plinth enriched with foliate swags and terminating in the original gilt domed feet. The movement, signed by Roque. France, circa 1770 Height: 41.5cm/16in Width: 45cm/17½in Depth: 19cm/7½in O3B0101
The maker of the clock Jean Léonard Roque (d. after 1789), who was appointed Horloger du Roi and was an ingenious mechanic, specialised in the production of luxury clocks. He installed high quality movements housed in highly decorative cases such as a remarkable pair of matching gilt bronze and marble clock and calendar vases, (made for the marquis de Brunoy 1774, now Rothschild Collection Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire). Other luxury clocks also incorporated revolving bands, for instance one showing full calendar indications and signs of the zodiac within a clock representing ‘Great Britain and Mars Reposing’ (illustrated in Augarde, op. cit. p. 237; Madame Lelong sale May 1903). Roque’s ingenuity owed much to his early training; he was firstly a pupil of the mechanical expert Alexis Magny (1712d. after 1793) and then worked as an assistant to ClaudeSiméon Passemant (1702-69). During this period Roque made the mechanisms for Passemant’s pair of moving globes (1759, supplied to the marquis de Marigny who offered them to the King); he also made the mechanisms for Passemant’s extraordinary ‘Creation of the World’ clock, with case by François-Thomas Germain (1754, Musée du Château de Versailles). Roque worked for Passemant until the latter’s death in 1769; a few months later he was received as a maître-horloger, having already obtained lodgings, thanks to Passemant, in the Vieux Louvre within the Colonnades building. He was later in the Passage du Saumon, 1772-89. As Horloger du Roi, Roque supplied clocks to Louis XV and his daughters Mesdames Victoire and Adelaïde as well as Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. He was also patronised by the comte de Provence, the duc de Polignac, the marquis de Brunoy, MM. Beaujon and de Boulogne. All would have delighted in his ingenious mechanisms as well as his fine cases, which were supplied by such brilliant masters as JeanJoseph de Saint-Germain, François Vion, Jean-Louis Prieur, Nicolas Bonnet, François Rémond and Beaucourt. Despite his illustrious patronage Roque appears to have gone bankrupt c. 1785-6, but probably through the intervention of the Châtelet and his appointment as pensionnaire du Roi in 1786 he continued working up until the beginning of the Revolution. His work can be found in many fine collections including the Musée du Louvre and National des Techniques in Paris, Musée Paul Dupuy in Toulouse, the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Huntingdon Collection in San Marino, California and in the Swedish Royal Collections.
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A SET OF TWELVE WATERCOLOURS OF CHINESE COURTIERS A rare set of individual portraits of Chinese courtiers in ceremonial dress of exceptional colour and condition, each shown standing on a terrace in front of ornamental fretwork balustrading. Each with an inscription in English depicting their rank and social status. 1. A Mandarin’s wife; 2. A Mandarin bearing an Imperial letter which is conveyed in a silk case across the shoulders; 3. A nobleman in his costume preparatory to commencing his studies; 4. A Chinese lady of rank; 5. A military Mandarin of the first rank; 6. A Mandarin’s daughter; 7. A Mandarin’s wife (of the first rank); 8. A Mandarin (of rank); 9. A Chinese lady of rank in her ordinary dress; 10. A civil Mandarin of the first rank; 11. A Mandarin (with a red hat on); 12. A Tartar lady of rank. China, circa 1790 Height: 46cm/18in Width: 37cm/14½in P3B0347
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A PAIR OF BISCUIT PORCELAIN BONBON DISHES
A SET OF SIX EMPIRE ORMOLU MOUNTED CHAIRS
A pair of early 19th century bonbon dishes each sculpted as a flaired basket, carried by three draped caryatids in biscuit porcelain acting as supporting columns, standing on glazed porcelain bases, having blue glass liners. France, circa 1815
A set of six Empire mahogany occasional chairs each having a domed back with scroll corners and richly mounted in finely chased gilt bronze. The back panel has a scallop shaped lower edge and is mounted with a gilt bronze harp framed with a foliate wreath. The chairs are supported on sabre legs front and back, mounted at the front with further neo-classical gilt bronze enrichments and terminating in claw feet. France, circa 1810
Height: 31.5cm/12½in Diameter: 15.5cm/6in O3B0448
Height: 85cm/33½in Width: 49cm/19¼in Depth: 48cm/19in F3B0166
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A PAIR OF GILT BRONZE EMPIRE VASES
› TWO LATE 18TH CENTURY CARVED
AND PAINTED ELEPHANT STOOLS A pair of monumental scale gilt bronze Empire vases with winged putti on the shoulders bearing swags above a frieze of neo-classical figures. The whole standing on a block plinth enriched with bejewelled bulls heads and laurel wreaths. Attributed to Claude Galle. France, circa 1810 Height: 60.5cm/24in O3B0254
Claude Galle (1759-1815) was one of the most prominent ‘bronziers’ of the early Empire. His work was widely praised for its precision and elegance. He supplied many pieces for both the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon at Versailles. He is also known to have provided work for the Palais de Compiegne, the Palais de Fontainebleu, the Palais de Rambouillet, and the Palais de Saint-Cloud. He sold to Italian clients and his work is well-represented at the Hunting Lodge at Stupinigi outside Turin and the Palazzo Monte Cavallo in Rome.
These very rare temple stools are stylistically carved in the form of elephants, retaining their original painted surface. Their backs with painted stylised silk embroidery covers, all in the chinoiserie taste. Continental, circa 1795 Height: 50cm/19¾in Width: 45cm/17¾in Depth: 70cm/27½in F3C0076
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A REGENCY AMBOYNA AND EBONY WRITING TABLE A superbly modelled Regency amboyna, ebony and gilt brass writing table based on the designs of Thomas Hope, with Grecian inspired motifs inlaid within an ebony banding. The edge of the slim top is further inlaid with a running alternating brass and ebony pattern of tiny dots. The carved upright end supports lead directly into the table top, which has no frieze, but boldly carved volutes above the vertical rectangular supports inlaid with brass and ebony. Ebonised acanthus leaves on a gilt ground lie between the volutes and the rectangular framework of the centre section with its delicately carved metal strung lyre motif. The rectangular end supports rest upon slim ebonised platform sections with gilt decorated moulded edges, the oblong bases beneath have forcefully carved ebonised anthemion motifs leading to the boldly carved lions paw feet. England, circa 1810 Height: 71.5cm/28in Width: 107cm/42in Depth: 68cm/27in F3B0178
This magnificent table reflects the love for the ‘antique’ that was driven by connoisseurs such as George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (d. 1830). Its ornamental origins can be traced in part to the Borghese family’s ancient porphyry ‘Bathing Vase’ and, in particular, to a drawing made of it in Rome in the 1790’s by the Prince’s architect Charles Tatham (d. 1842) and engraved in his Etchings of Ancient Ornamental Architecture, published in London in 1799 (pl. 4). The antiquity’s plinthsupported griffin pilasters provided appropriate inspiration for the design of a sofa-table invented, with Tatham’s assistance, for the Duchess Street mansion established in London’s Portland Place by Thomas Hope (d.1831). Hope’s sofa-table pattern was to be popularised by an engraving issued in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807 (pl. 26), which served as a celebrated guide to his romantic classical style of home embellishment inspired by a close examination of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities. Indeed the guide to the Sir John Soane Museum entitled The Union of Architecture, Sculpting and Painting (1827) praised Hope’s contribution to furniture design as expressed by its author John Britton: “To Mr. Hope we are indebted, in an eminent degree, for the classical and appropriate style which now generally characterises our furniture and ornamental utensils... Household Furniture and Interior Decoration has not only improved the taste of cabinet-makers and upholsterers but also that of their employers.” Hope’s sofa-table later appeared in a watercolour of his Duchess Street gallery executed by the artist Robert Billings (d. 1874). His handsome mahogany table, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, provided the precursor for Mallett’s robustly sculpted table.
A watercolour by Robert Billings of Thomas Hope’s gallery at his Duchess Street Mansion, with the comparable table in situ
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AN IMPORTANT THIRTY LIGHT GLASS CHANDELIER An important thirty light cut and moulded glass chandelier, the main receiver plate supporting twenty four slip over candle arms arranged on two tiers, these with drop hung drip pans, the down arms separated by twisted crooks. Below the receiver bowl there is a drop hung canopy and baluster shaped finial, the main baluster shaped shaft supporting gilt glass receiver bowls from which there are double kick arms with drop hung drip pans and finials separated by shepherd’s crooks, the next tier with six slip over candle arms and drop hung pans separated by twisted down crooks and double kick shepherd’s crooks, the chandelier terminating with another gilt glass bowl and shepherd’s crooks, the entire piece hung with eight sided half back spangles and finely cut flake drops. La Real Fabrica de la Granja. Spain, circa 1870 Height: 234cm/92in Diameter: 162cm/64in L3C0057
La Real Fabrica de la Granja, founded on Crown land at the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso in the region of Segovia near Madrid, was granted its first royal license in 1727. In 1736 it was then put under royal protection due to the need for glass in various palaces that were being constructed, but it was King Felipe IV who, inspired by the royal factories founded by his grandfather King Louis XIV of France, decided to increase the range and quality of production. He travelled to France in 1745 in search of master glass makers to bring back to Spain to launch new projects at the foundry. These artisans brought a French influence to the style of pieces being produced, which had previously been influenced almost exclusively by Venetian glass. In the last quarter of the 18th century, the emphasis shifted to a more English style. English and Irish glass makers had proven themselves to be superior and through the Principe de Asturias, later to be Carlos IV, and indeed the Duque de Fernán Núñez, ambassador to London, the workers at La Granja began to adopt a more English style. Joshua Ketilby was known to have visited the factory at this time to advise on the composition of crystal glass and stayed for four years, although the Spanish masters claimed that he taught them “nothing new”. Amongst the wide and varied production at La Granja, that of chandeliers was considered amongst the most important. Examples of other types of glasswork from La Real Fabrica de la Granja can be found at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The Royal Palace, Madrid, the Prado, Madrid and the Hermitage, Moscow. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Paloma Pastor Rey de Vinas, Andres Velasco Pilar, Las Aranas de la Granja: procesos de deterio y metodos de intervencion, Jornadas Nacionales sobre Restauracion y Conservacion de Vidrios, pp. 199-204 shows an analysis of the chandelier at the Cathedral of Burgo de Osma, which is of similar scale and style to this one.
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TSAR ALEXANDER’S MALACHITE AND ORMOLU CENTRE TABLE A highly important Russian Imperial guéridon table attributed to Heinrich Gambs after a design of Andrej Voronikhin. The table features an inset circular Russian malachite top framed within an exceptionally drawn gilt-bronze guilloche decorated with intertwined flowers and foliage, the whole above an eggand-dart border. The tripod base supports constructed of mahogany veneered wood with a lioness mask in drapery with surrounding scrolling foliage at the apex, the inward curved legs are mounted with a gilt-bronze female mask with patinated bronze bat wings, while the rear of the legs are applied with brass strips, the whole standing on elaborately fashioned leaf-cast claw and ball feet. This table remains the only table to retain its original condition and finishes. Russia, circa 1803 Height: 80cm/31½in Diameter: 55cm/21½in F3B0297
This style of guéridon table was particularly revered among the aristocracy due to the marriage of the revival of the Antique with a utilisation of precious materials, of which malachite is an example. The table is one of a pair which formed part of an opulent collection of state gifts following the first meeting between Tsar Alexander I and King Friedrich Wilhelm III and Queen Luise of Prussia in June 1802. The Russian Tsar was so enchanted with the Prussian Queen that upon his return he instructed his vice-chancellor, Graf Victor Pavlovitch Kotschubej, to commission gifts for her. Documents in the Saint Petersburg state archives support the delivery of a number of gifts on the 12th of October 1803 from St Petersburg to the Königlichen Palace in Berlin, the most magnificent of which was a full length Psyche mirror with a pair of matching splay-legged tripod tables. Although the original Palace does not survive today, the lavish ensemble was clearly recorded in a watercolour by Leopold Zielke (d. 1861) entitled A View of King Friedrich Wilhelm III’s Study in the Königlichen Palais, Unter den Linden. The pair of tables are clearly visible on each side of the room framing the mirror.
PROVENANCE
This table was one of a pair presented in 1803 by Tsar Alexander I as a state gift to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III and Queen Luise for the Königlichen Palace on Unter den Linden in Berlin. Thence inherited by descent around 1840 by Princess Luise of the Netherlands. Private European Collection.
A View of King Friedrich Wilhelm III’s Study in the Königlichen Palais, Unter Den Linden, by Leopold Zielke.
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Burkhardt Göres’ article for Apollo magazine, Russian Furniture for the Prussian Court: A Present of Imperial Friendship states that two designs by the Russian architect Andrej Voronikhin were formally identified with the gift at Königlichen Palace; one of the drawings clearly depicts a side view of the mirror with the splay-legged tripod table, bearing the monogram of the architect and the date 19 January 1803.
Andrej Voronikhin (1759-1814) was the son of a serf belonging to Count Alexander Sergeievich Stroganov, although it is generally accepted he was the illegitimate son of Stroganov. In 1777 he was sent to Moscow where he studied architecture, painting and perspective before accompanying the youngest son of Count Stroganov, Pavel Alexandrovich in a ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe in 1785, to widen his knowledge and build on his already exceptional talents, resulting in his ‘freedom’ from serfdom in 1786. Having been recalled to St Petersburg by Count Stroganov in 1790 and subsequently elected to the Academy of Arts, he spent the rest of his life involved in the construction of many Imperial palaces and grand residences including the rebuilding of the Kasan Cathedral, alongside producing many drawings for objects d’art and furniture most notably for Pavlovsk Palace. Heinrich Gambs (1765-1831) was a pupil of the great German Master, David Roentgen, who made furniture for most of the crowned heads of Europe. By the late 1780’s Gambs was established in St Petersburg , his first workshop, with Jonathan Ott was in the area of the Kalinkin Bridge, and in 1795 he opened another workshop on Nevsky Prospect. Gambs was appointed Court cabinet-maker in 1810, he made furniture for Catherine the Great and, after her death, for Alexander I, both of whom commissioned pieces often designed by Andrej Voronikhin, for all the Imperial residences. LITERATURE
One of two drawings for the mirror and side-tables by architect Andrej Voronikhin, dated 19 January 1803
Having received the commission by Royal Command of the Tsar, Voronikhin would have dedicated all of his time and energy into seeing the ensemble completed to the highest standard, thus demonstrating the quality of Russian materials and craftsmanship. For example, the splay-legged tripod base is very delicately executed, able to support the contrasting heavy malachite top through a series of expertly applied brass strips extending along the inside leg. The patinated bronze wings of the chased female heads also provide additional support by channelling the weight further down the legs towards the feet.
Antoine Chenevière, Russian Furniture: The Golden Age 17801840, London, 1988. Burkhardt Göres, Russian Furniture for the Prussian Court: A Present of Imperial Friendship, Apollo Magazine, February, 1992.
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A MID 19TH CENTURY BELL PULL
A PAIR OF KANGXI TRUMPET VASES
A mid 19th century needlework bell pull, decorated with flowers and foliage on a cream ground, the handle of elaborately carved ivory. England, circa 1850
A fine pair of late 17th century Kangxi trumpet vases each with a highly decorative blue pattern of stylised peonies within a foliate setting, on a white ground within a stylised lattice framework. China, circa 1670
Length: 204cm/80½in Height: 53.5cm/21in T3B0183 O3B0253
The most frequently depicted peony on Chinese porcelain is the herbaceous P. Lactiflora (Shao-Yao in Chinese), often illustrated in the full exuberance of bloom. Representing the Spring, peonies have been grown in Imperial gardens since the Sui dynasty (581-618) and as such have long been symbolic of royalty, wealth and social honour.
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THE EASTON NESTON TEA CADDY An exceptional English neo-classical tea caddy of elegant oval form veneered in finely figured satinwood with rosewood cross-banding and inlaid with matching fruitwood marquetry on both the front and the back in the form of delicately twisting and scrolling branches issuing from a central harebell, surmounted by an anthemion with traces of original colour staining and enhanced with engraving. The domed top inlaid with a swirling patera centred on an engraved silver plaque with its original cast silver scrolling handle. The interior of the lid inlaid with a scalloped edge fan-shaped patera from which issue further stylised harebells, upon the original and well preserved green stained background. The box retains its original fitted tôle caddies and central lidded mixing bowl, the whole rests on four very finely cast silver ball and claw feet. In the manner of John Cobb. England, circa 1770 Height: 16.5cm/6½in Width: 27cm/10½in Depth: 15cm/6in O3B0379
PROVENANCE
Probably acquired by Sir Robert Hesketh, 2nd Baron (1728 1798), thence by descent, Easton Neston, Northamptonshire. Commissioned at the end of the 17th century, Easton Neston is the only country house that survives built by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.
John Cobb held the Royal Warrant from 1761 until 1764 with his partner, Vile and created works in a rococo style. After the retirement of William Vile in 1764, the style of Cobb’s work changed to embrace the emerging movement of neoclassicism where he gained a reputation for producing furniture and objects with exquisite marquetry inlaid into satinwood. Dr Johnson, his good friend remarked that his work ‘captivated the eyes of his customers.’
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AN EARLY 18TH CENTURY TWO-TIER BRASS CHANDELIER An unusual large scale Dutch early 18th century two-tier brass chandelier of traditional form. Each tier having six branches, the elaborately scrolled arms supported on a turned stem terminating in a ball finial. The Netherlands, circa 1720 Height: 110cm/43½in Diameter: 105cm/41½in L3B0109
› THE KING’S CARLTON HOUSE DESK A very rare example of a George III Carlton House writing table after the original design as supplied to HRH the Prince Regent, later George IV for Carlton House. The curved upper section is fitted with drawers and a pair of concave doors and the flat top has a pierced brass gallery, the writing surface with an adjustable writing slope above three drawers across the frieze supported on angled square section tapered legs. The top veneered with beautifully figured mahogany and satinwood ovals all embellished with fine banding, all a rich colour with excellent patina. England, circa 1795 Height: 104cm/41in Width: 139.5cm/55in Depth: 81.5cm/32in F3B0229
LITERATURE
Christie’s Review of the Year, 1977 Exhibited at Somerset House Art Treasures Exhibition, 1977
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This table was made for the brother of the Prince Regent, HRH the Duke of Clarence, and was presented to his Chaplain, the Rev William Ellis in 1797. The Duke subsequently became HRH King William IV on the death of his brother in 1830. During the early 1790’s, the Duke of Clarence lived at Bushy House with his mistress the Irish actress Mrs. Jordan by whom he had ten illegitimate children. All the children were baptized at birth by the King’s private Chaplain in discrete circumstance which probably gave rise to this gift.
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A GEORGE III BLACK LACQUER TRIPOD A particularly fine Chinese export lacquered tripod table, the top with elaborate giltwork banding is richly decorated with a gilt chinoiserie picture of an elaborate lake palace, with trees and rocky islands surrounding. The simple turned stem beneath birdcage support stands on tripod base with pad feet, all decorated with gilt foliage and lines. China, circa 1750 Height: 71cm/28in Diameter: 79cm/31in PROVENANCE
By repute Lady Tollemache, Ham House Hotspur Private American Collection F3C0022
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A SET OF FIVE CHINOISERIE PANELS Five very fine Chinese wallpaper panels, the tobacco ground with elaborate flowering chrysanthemum and peony trees growing out of rocky outcrops, with exotic birds and butterflies flying amongst the branches. Each panel retaining its strong original fresh colouring. One of larger scale. China, circa 1880 Height: 234cm/92in Width: 118cm/46½in P3B0360
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AN EARLY 18TH CENTURY JAPANNED BUREAU CABINET An early 18th century black and gilt japanned bureau cabinet. The arched upper section with a pair of mirrored doors with replaced plates, enclosing a fitted interior of doors and simulated nashiji-lined drawers between painted pilasters, the bureau section with a flap enclosing a fitted interior of pigeon holes and drawers around a reversible section with an arch flanked by pilasters and with chequered parquet floor, the reverse of this section with a japanned panel flanked by three drawers on each side, above two oak secret drawers. The central gilded medallion depicting Diana and Actaeon stands above a bombé base with three graduated drawers, on replacement claw and ball feet, the sides of the upper and lower sections with carrying handles, minor restorations to decoration. The cresting is original at the front with replacement sides. Germany, circa 1720 Height: 250cm/98½in Width: 110cm/43½in Depth: 59cm/23in F3A0486
This superb black and gilt japanned bureau cabinet is part of a group traditionally thought to be German, based on one red and gilt japanned cabinet formerly at Schloss Pillnitz, Dresden, that has been attributed to the Dresden workshops of Martin Schnell. The latter was responsible for the embellishment of Dresden’s Hollandischen (Dutch) Palais and Schloss Pillnitz’s Wasserpalais (Water Palace) (G. Hasse, Dresdner Mobel, Leipzig, 1983, no. 141). That another cabinet of exactly the same type was sold at Christie’s Madrid, 16 May 1974 (illustrated in Christie’s Review, 1974, p. 415) suggests the possibility of an Iberian commission, if not manufacture. To further confirm this theory, the magnificent gilt gesso bureau cabinet that until recently had remained in Portugal with an unproven Royal Portuguese provenance shares many similarities of construction with the present cabinet: the same feet (its pair, sold anonymously, Sotheby’s, London, 3 June 1977, lot 93) was fitted with the original pattern of foot, four sided rebates on the underside of the drawers, a brass lock plate on the left door to receive the locking bolts, a four prong lock in the flap, similar ogival pediment profile, the same handles on the drawer fronts (again, the handles on the gilt gesso cabinet were replaced following the original pattern also found on its pair), the same pattern of handles at the sides.
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AN EQUESTRIAN BRONZE OF LOUIS XIV BY BOSIO A fine early 19th century bronze equestrian model of Louis XIV dressed as a Roman riding a rearing horse. Signed Baron Bosio (1768-1845) France, circa 1835 Height: 53cm/21in Width: 47cm/18½in Depth: 22cm/8½in O2E0599
The original is in the Place des Victoires, Paris. Baron François Joseph Bosio was born in Monaco in 1768 and died in Paris in 1845. He was an accomplished and successful sculptor of both monumental and intimate subjects. He arrived in Paris as a young man and was soon taken under the wing of the renowned sculptor Pajou. However, he was fascinated by antiquity and moved to Italy where he attached himself to the studio of Canova. He did not return to Paris for nineteen years but once back he never left again. Back in Paris, success came quickly and he was dubbed the French Canova. He received commissions from Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis-Philippe. Bosio seems to be one of those extraordinary artists honoured by each reigning monarch. Napoleon made him an officer of the ‘legion d’honneur’. Louis XVIII made him a knight of the royal order of ‘Saint-Michel’, Charles X confered on him the title of baron. In 1816 he became a member of the ‘Institut’ where he occupied the seventh chair, some time later he was named professor of the ‘Academie des Beaux Arts’. The main focus of Bosio’s oeuvre is in his historical portraiture and he depicted French Royalty both current and past. He also specialised in mythological subjects and collaborated in the decoration of most of the important monuments of his era. If there is one work for which he is most remembered it is his bronze of Henry IV as a child executed in 1824, which is today in the Louvre. The illustrated model is taken from the early 18th century model attributed to Guillaume de Groff at Versailles. The Bosio example was created for the ‘Place des Victoires’ in 1822. He himself considered it to be one of the works he was most proud of and he produced a few bronze reductions.
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A COLLECTION OF BOHEMIAN GLASS VASES BY OLRICH LIPSKY Born in 1922, Oldrich Lipsky began his career by studying at glass school, after which he became a cutter and engraver working at Lobmeyr until 1950. He then studied at the Academy of Applied Art in Prague until 1955, subsequently being appointed as head of glass cutting at the Kamenicky Senov glass school from 1958-1965. Lipsky’s work is known for his unique interpretation of decorative cut glass and tableware design. O3B0028
(left) A blue and ruby cased and cut glass vase designed by Olrich Lipsky. Bohemia, circa 1960 Height: 25cm/10in O3B0029
(centre) A green and grey cased and cut glass vase designed by Oldrich Lipsky. Bohemia, circa 1960 Height: 21cm/8½in
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› A FINE QUALITY GEORGE III
GILTWOOD SETTEE The frame is carved throughout with a neo-classical foliate motif, the arms further enriched with a line of beading flanked by further leaf ornament. The settee stands on turned fluted legs. In the manner of John Linnell. England, circa 1775 Height: 95cm/37½in Width: 203cm/80in Depth: 85cm/33½in F3B0085
This archetypal late eighteenth century model of a settee was popularised by the neo-classical architect Robert Adam for his affluent clients. The model, with sweeping moulded back rail and down swept arms supported on a shallow curved apron and four fluted front legs has similarities with a number of documented works by the London cabinet-maker John Linnell and currently exhibited at Osterly Park, Middlesex.
O3B0027
(right) A ruby and grey cased and cut glass vase designed by Oldrich Lipsky. Bohemia, circa 1960 Height: 27cm/10½in
Another similar settee, probably commissioned by the 2nd Earl of Halifax for his stately mansion Stansted Park, Sussex was also attributed to John Linnell and sold at Christies on 23 November 2010.
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THE PICTON CASTLE SIDE TABLE A William & Mary giltwood side table having a carved acanthus frieze with a female mask at the centre of an open scrolling apron below. The table is supported on shaped and carved rectangular square tapering column legs richly carved with further foliate ornament and reeding. The legs are joined by a boldly modelled scrolling stretcher with a giltwood vase at the centre and a veined jasper top. Attributed to Jean Pelletier. England, circa 1700
Jean Pelletier (fl. circa 1681-1704) brought his family to England towards the end of the 17th century, like so many Huguenots who sought refuge after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict had been issued by Henry IV in 1598 to give certain rights to French Protestants, the Huguenots, in what was a largely Catholic country. This was later renounced by Louis XIV in 1685, bringing about an exodus from France to escape religious persecution. Many craftsmen came to England at that time.
Height: 79cm/31in Width: 130cm/51in Depth: 58cm/23in
Pelletier took English citizenship in 1681 and he and his sons who followed him became established as carvers and gilders. Over the years he acquired a clientele of prestigious patrons, notably the Duke of Montagu who was Ambassador to the Court of Louis XIV and Master of the Bedroom to William III. Through this connection, Pelletier went on to supply giltwood furniture to the King at Hampton Court. At a cost of some six hundred pounds, the commission included six tables with giltwood frames supporting marble slabs flanked by pairs of large giltwood candle stands.
F3B0376 PROVENANCE
Acquired from John Cragg of Tenby, Pembrokeshire before 1958 and by repute from the Philipps family whose principal family seat is Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire. LITERATURE
T. Murdoch, Jean, René and Thomas Pelletier, A Huguenot Family of Carvers and Gilders in England; 1682-1726. Part II. The Burlington Magazine, No. 1143, June 1998, pp. 363-374.
Picton Castle in Pembrokeshire dates back to the 13th century and came into the Philipps family in the 15th century. They were a highly important family in Wales and held great power and influence over four centuries in Pembrokeshire. They were landed with large estates and were to become politicians, philanthropists and leaders of society and cultural life. Picton Castle has undergone considerable alterations over the centuries, not least under the ownership of Sir John Philipps, 4th Baronet (1660-1736). An important pair of carved giltwood chandeliers were probably commissioned by Sir John during these developments and are also currently for sale with Mallett. The style and construction of these outstanding chandeliers corresponds very closely to Pelletier’s work on candle stands for the King at Hampton Court Palace and it is likely that he was commissioned to provide further pieces for the rooms at Picton, including this table. His son, the 6th Baronet, made further renovations in the mid 18th century and further additions were made in the early part of the 19th century. It is therefore most likely, given the date of the table coinciding with the contemporary improvements and changes made at Picton in the late 17th century by the 4th Baronet, that it was commissioned by him at that time as part of these developments at his ancient family home.
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THE BROWNLOW HALL CHAIRS A fine and rare pair of George III mahogany hall chairs having pierced scroll backs with a painted armorial cartouche at the centre. The dished and shaped seats are supported by cabriole legs terminating in scroll toes. One chair later inscribed to the reverse ‘Home, Sweet Home, 30 Hill Street London’ and with the dates 1785 and 1858, corresponding to the term of the leased London residence of Lord and Lady Brownlow. England, circa 1765 Height: 95cm/37½in Width: 48cm/19in Depth: 44cm/17½in F3B0318
These elegant Georgian chairs bear the patriotic inscription ‘Home! Sweet Home!’ from Sigismond Thalberg’s 1857 composition that was much favoured at President Abraham Lincoln’s White House and derived from the words of John Payne’s 1823 Opera, “Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” The inscription was added in 1858 to the back of the chairs, which belonged to the Hon. John William Spencer Home-Cust, later 2nd Earl Brownlow (d. 1867). The chairs, with their rich ribbon-fretted backs displaying the Cust family crest on an azure blue shield, had served in the hall of his Mayfair home since 1785, when they were commissioned by Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow (d. 1808). Their backs derive in particular from a 1759 ‘Hall Chair’ pattern issued in the Third Edition of the St. Martin’s Lane cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale’s, Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1762). LITERATURE
Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker’s Director, plate 17. London, 1762. (A Re-Print of the Third Edition. Dover Publications, New York, 1966.)
Plate 17, a design for a ‘Hall Chair’ from Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 1762.
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A PAIR OF BLACK GLASS VASES MOUNTED AS LAMPS
A SILVER TORTOISESHELL FRAME MIRROR
A fine pair of black glass vases mounted as lamps, each gilt-decorated with flying cranes in pagoda landscapes, on a turned giltwood base. France, circa 1900
A fine quality large scale Edwardian silver mounted tortoiseshell dressing table mirror. The silver, dated 1904, is in the rococo revival style, with putti supported by silver foliate scrolls. The mirror retains its original bevelled plate. England, 1904
Height: 62.5cm/24½in Diameter of vase: 19cm/7½in
Height: 56.5cm/22in Width: 41cm/16in
L3B0186 O3C0077
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AN OCTAGONAL KINGWOOD CENTRE TABLE A Regency octagonal kingwood library table veneered with finely figured narrow bands of kingwood, with rosewood and walnut crossbanding separated by stringing, the inner edge is further enhanced by an elegantly rendered scalloped motif. The column stem is turned and has brass cabled collars, the whole table standing on a concave sided quatrefoil plinth terminating in machine turned brass domed feet. England, circa. 1815 Height: 72cm/28in Diameter: 113cm/44½in F3C0078
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A FINE BACCARAT LAMP An exceptional large scale Baccarat table lamp with a spiral cut column above a fluted and diamond cut plinth, mounted in gilt bronze with neo-classical decoration. The gilt bronze is of exceptional quality. France, circa 1820 Height: 82cm/32in Diameter: 24.5cm/9¾in L3B0395
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› A SET OF SIX SIDE CHAIRS An unusual set of six early 19th century side chairs in kyrelian birch each having a coved back inlaid with a stringing fan, the chairs are supported on sabre front and back legs each with a delicate line of stringing. This set of chairs utilise the rare highly figured indigenous blond wood that is so typical of Russian furniture from this period. The design of the chairs, however, looks very much to Vienna for inspiration and the work of Joseph Danhauser who is known for his broadly classical style but fanciful chair backs including interlocking scrolls and fan shapes, as can be observed in these chairs. Russia, circa 1825 Height: 90cm/35½in Width: 42cm/16½in Depth: 45cm/17½in F3B0252
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A RED LACQUER MANTEL CLOCK A fine quality red japanned George III mantel clock having an eight bell quarter musical chime. The elaborately engraved back plate contains its original verge escapement and the case is mounted with lacquered brass enrichments and the chinoiserie decoration is in a good state of conservation. By James Smith of London. England, circa 1770
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› A PAIR OF GILT BRONZE MIRRORS A rare pair of mid 20th century mirrors having finely wrought gilt and silvered bronze borders framing original mirror plates. Each cresting is surmounted by a gilt acanthus frond flanked by swags of flowers, the borders flanked by further floral swags above a facing ‘S’ scroll pendant which frames a shaped mirror plate. Attributed to Maison Jansen. France, circa 1950
Height: 73.5cm/29in Width: 37cm/14½in Depth: 21.5cm/8½in
Height: 130cm/51in Width: 69cm/27in
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James Smith of Jermyn Street, London (fl. 1776-1794), maker to George III, who became an honorary freeman of the Clock Maker’s Company in 1781.
Founded by Dutchman Jean-Henri Jansen in 1880 in Paris, Maison Jansen was one of the most famous and influential interior decorating houses of the 20th century.
Another musical bracket clock of similar proportions with verge escapement and an identical face (excluding the secondary dial) is presently in the National Trust Collection at Mompesson House, Wiltshire.
In it’s one hundred and nine year history the firm was patronised by the British and Iranian royal families, countless household names, the occasional dictator and most famously redecorated the White House for the Kennedys. Jansen eventually opened offices in Buenos Aires, London, Cairo, Alexandria, Havana, and New York as well as, Rome, Milan and Geneva. Although Jansen initially promoted modernist design when it was founded – which it continued to do throughout its existence – the firm became renowned for its adoption of the 18th century neo-classical styles associated with the last French Bourbon kings. This regal taste would become a hallmark of the firm. The designer Stephane Boudin (18881967), who led Jansen from 1936 to 1961 as its president, and whose name was virtually interchangeable with that of the firm, established what became the internationally recognised Jansen look: a skilful mix of 18th century classicism, 1920’s Hollywood glamour and country house details.
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A COLLECTION OF BOHEMIAN GLASS BY PAVEL HLAVA (from left to right) O3B0020
A mono-stem prism vase with a two-toned purple heart encased in turquoise overtones, designed by Pavel Hlava. Bohemia, circa 1960 Height: 25cm/10in O3B0021
A mono-stem prism vase with a two-toned green heart encased in amber overtones, designed by Pavel Hlava. Bohemia, circa 1960 Height: 20.5cm/8in O3B0019
A mono-stem prism vase with a green heart encased in yellow and gold overtones, designed by Pavel Hlava. Bohemia, circa 1960 Height: 27.5cm/11in O3B0023
A four sided blue and pink cased glass vase the flared sides tapering towards the top, designed by Pavel Hlava. Bohemia, circa 1960 Height: 10.5cm/4in O3B0373
A mono-stem prism vase with a two-toned green heart encased in yellow overtones, designed by Pavel Hlava. Bohemia, circa 1960 Height: 22cm/8½in
Pavel Hlava (1924-2003) was one of the pioneers of Czech contemporary glass work. Born in Semily, northern Bohemia he trained at the State Glass-Making School before graduating from the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague in 1948. Primarily inspired by nature, his designs feature in many leading modern art museums around the world, including the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. The International Exhibition of Glass in Kanazawa, Japan also awards a prize in his name.
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A PAIR OF GLASS AND ORMOLU CANDELABRA
A PAIR OF BRONZE TORCHERES
An unusual pair of early 19th century candelabra, the gilt bronze arms attach to a central column below a diamond cut green glass pineapple adorned with gilded leaves and finial. All supported on a corresponding circular glass and ormolu base. France, circa 1810.
A rare pair of neo-classical parcel gilt torchères after the Antique. Each has a dished capital enriched with low relief classical motif of anthemions and a foliate border to the top edge, above a fluted column and terminating in a tripod of animal feet spaced with open anthemion and classical scrolls. After designs by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Germany, circa 1820
Height: 36cm/14in Width: 30cm/12in
Height: 142cm/56in
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The design for these unusual torchères is drawn from discoveries made at Herculaneum in the early 19th century and illustrated by visitors to the site. Johan Mathaus Mauch redrew these with the express intention of his work being used by craftsmen as models. A page of his work is in the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, and is illustrated in K.F. Schinkel, Möbel und Interieur, page 214.
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A BRONZE MODEL OF THE MEDICI VASE
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› A PAIR OF TORTOISESHELL
FRAMED MIRRORS A very fine Italian Grand Tour patinated bronze model of the Medici vase by Benedetto Boschetti after the 1st century AD Greek marble now in the Uffizi, Florence. Signed “B. Boschetti/Roma” at the edge of the base, with a finely articulated frieze of gods and heroes, standing on a black marble plinth. Italy, circa 1850 Height: 38cm/15in Width: 22cm/8½in
A pair of large mid 17th century tortoiseshell rectangular frames. Each frame of unusual geometric outline with ebony bolection and ogee mouldings, interspersed with panels of red tortoiseshell and pyramids marking the borders. Each with a period mirror plate. Low Countries, circa 1660 Height: 129cm/51in Width: 108cm/42½in Depth: 8.5cm/3½in
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Benedetto Boschetti (circa 1820-1879) was a skilled craftsman and mosaicist first recorded living in Rome at via Condotti, 74 in 1845. Although little beyond this date has been recorded, we do know he exhibited at the Great Exhibition of London in 1851 where he won a medal for a pair of tables in the Byzantine style. Boschetti was particularly noted, however, for the quality and fine rendering of his bronze casts of sculpture, plaques, bas-reliefs and medallions in the antique taste, of which our Medici bronze vase is an excellent example. The Medici Vase is a monumental marble krater sculpted in Athens in the second half of the 1st century AD as a garden ornament. After re-emerging in Rome in the 16th century, it was a particularly admired and replicated model. The vase was recorded in the inventory of the Villa Medici, Rome in 1598 and is likely to have been an important part of the Medici collection prior to this date; it was taken to Florence in 1780 and displayed in the Uffizi Gallery where it resides today. The revival of neo-classicism and the ‘cult’ of the Grand Tour at the beginning of the 19th century enabled many of the educated and wealthy young Englishmen to acquire great classical wares, of which this vase was possibly a commission. LITERATURE
J. Hartman, La Vicenda di una Dimora Principesca Romana. Rome, 1967, pp. 22 and 26.
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A HIGHLY IMPORTANT PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU CHENETS A magnificent pair of Louis XV ormolu firedogs or chenets, one cast as a trophy of Turkish arms, comprising an articulated turban with foliated cresting, resting on an anchor, a naval cannon and a boar’s head mask and pelt, with an entwined chimera; the other as a trophy of classical arms with articulated helmet and foliated cresting, resting on a bombard and quiver and with a ram’s head, pelt and chimera, both with bearded masked men with finely chiselled flowing hair, the supports cast and chased with shells, foliage and scrolls. France, circa 1735 Height: 33.5cm /13in Width: 40cm /15½in Depth: 21cm /8½in O3B0242
These magnificent chenets symbolize warfare on land and sea, one modelled with “Turkish” arms, the other modelled in the “classical” manner. Designed to hold logs or firedogs, chenets take their name from the French word for a small dog. Pairs of firedogs were placed inside the fireplace, their gilt bronze decoration concealing wrought-iron bars that supported the burning wood. An identical pair by this unknown maker are in the J. Paul Getty Museum, purchased at Christie’s in London, 24 June 1971, lot 18 (from the collection of Anna Thomson Dodge, previously with Duveen Brothers, New York). LITERATURE
Gillian Wilson and Catherine Hess, Summary Catalogue of European Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum, nr 182, p. 90.
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A JAMAICAN SPECIMEN WOOD TABLE BY RALPH TURNBULL An exotic specimen wood center table with sixty nine different veneer samples, standing on a central turned base with foliate carving and outsplayed quadripartite legs. By Ralph Turnbull. Jamaica, circa 1830 Height: 78.5cm/31in Diameter: 104cm/41in F3B0150 LITERATURE
John Cross, Ralph, Cuthbert and Thomas Turnbull: a Nineteenth-Century Jamaican Cabinet-Making Family, Furniture History, Vol. 39, January 2003, pp. 109-120.
Ralph, Thomas and Cuthbert Turnbull arrived in Kingston, Jamaica in 1815 and worked in partnership as cabinet-makers. By 1823, they had established separate independent workshops which continued with varying degrees of success until the late 1830’s, by which time Ralph had employed his brother Thomas in partnership and Cuthbert had died. Ralph Turnbull’s furniture always used indigenous woods and veneers in their manufacture, he was awarded a grant of 100 pounds by the Jamaican House of Assembly in 1834 for “bringing the various woods of this island into repute in the mother country.” His exotic parquetry veneered tops became a signature of his style, along with the quatreform base, evident on this table.
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A PAIR OF MAGNUM DECANTERS A most unusual pair of faceted tall cylindrical magnum decanters, having star cut base and loop handles, retaining their original silver lids with thumb pulls. Both the rims and lids marked with Vienna hallmarks and one with a count’s coronet and elaborate initial “D”. The glass of particularly good quality and clear colour. Austria circa 1900 Height: 59cm/20in Diameter: 15cm/6in O3C0034
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A PAIR OF LATE 18TH CENTURY GILT WALL APPLIQUES An elegant pair of carved giltwood two tier four branch wall lights, the central lyre back with four scrolling foliate candle arms supported on a gadrooned shelf above a rushed drapery valance, the upper section decorated with a quiver, torch and arrow within a laurel shaped floral band. Italy, circa 1785 Height: 75cm/29½in Width: 51cm/20in Depth: 15cm/6in L3B0167
LITERATURE
Mobili di Palazzo Pitti 1737-1799, published by Centro Di, 1992 shows many examples of this style of decoration incorporated into both the interior decoration such as panelling and wall casing, as well as the use in furniture particularly the friezes on tables and cabinets.
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› THE HOCHSCHILD BUREAU BOOKCASE A magnificent George I parcel gilt burr-walnut bureau bookcase in the manner of Giles Grendey. The upper part has a broken classical swan-neck pediment enclosing a giltwood heraldic foliate shield with cartouche-shaped mirrored doors below. These open to reveal a fitted interior with gilded central cartouche door of richly marked burred veneers, flanked by miniature drawers and folio pigeon-holes. The lower part, of rare bombé form, has a sloping rest, opening to reveal a fitted interior with a central mirrored cupboard and unusual curved drawers to each side. The two short drawers and three graduated long drawers beneath the sloped front are richly mounted with gilded handles and escutcheons and flanked by gilded corner mounts on the bombé frame. The whole piece stands on ogee-shaped bracket feet and is unique in having each element of its construction articulated by varying giltwood stringing. England, circa 1725 Height: 251cm/99in Width: 119cm/47in Depth: 66cm/26in
The present bureau cabinet combines the unusual attributes of a bombé lower section, gilt-gesso ornament and gilt-brass corner mounts. The broken pediment and cartouche shaped framing to the mirror panel used in conjunction with elaborate rocaille gilt-brass mounts are consistent with the output of a leading London cabinet-maker. In particular they correlate with those found on a documented bureau cabinet from a celebrated red japanned suite of furniture supplied by the cabinet-maker Giles Grendey (1693-1780) to the Duke of Infantado for his castle at Lazcano, near San Sebastian, northern Spain (see Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, 1996, p.247, pl.447). The cabinet was acquired from Mallett by Gerald Hochschild who then offered it at Sotheby’s London, The Hochschild Collection of Highly Important English Furniture, 1 December 1978, lot 13. The cabinet is also illustrated in Lanto Synge, Mallett’s Great English Furniture, 1991, p. 49, pl. 43. Another single door cabinet of the same form but lacking a cartouche and finials to its pediment is also illustrated L. Synge op. cit., p. 50, pl. 44.
F3A0234 PROVENANCE
Mallett Gerald Hochschild Sotheby’s London, The Hochschild Collection of Highly Important English Furniture, 1 December 1978, lot 13 Private American collection
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A 19TH CENTURY BRONZE LANTERN
A SILVER AND AGATE STILTON SCOOP
A cylindrical bronze lantern with elaborately cast serpentine and foliate arched supports ending in turned urn finials above flat Ionic pilasters, with additional curling spandrail. The door opening with foliate cast handle and the base finished with central finial mounted paterae. Now fitted for electricity. England, circa 1850
A rare early 19th century Georgian agate handled silver cheese scoop. England, 1804 Length: 20.5cm/8in O3B0412
Height: 81.5cm/32in Width: 42cm/16½in L3B0013
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› A RARE PAIR OF CAST IRON AND MARBLE TOP CONSOLE TABLES A highly unusual pair of polished iron mid 19th century rococo revival side tables, each having a mask in the centre of the frieze supported by scrolls and classical motif. The tables stand on boldly modelled ‘C’ and ‘S’ scroll legs with replaced serpentine white marble tops. Both tables are signed ‘James Yates, Rotherham’ and bear the design registration mark for 1842. England, 1842 Height: 84cm/33in Width: 154cm/60½in Depth: 65cm/25½in
James Yates (d. 1881) trained as a model maker at the Walker family foundry before taking over the business in 1823 with Charles Samuel Roberts Sandford, renaming themselves the New Foundry in Rotherham. During the following years the foundry expanded significantly, acquiring a new forge in 1831 for the specific manufacture of large wrought iron products, along with a new premises known as the Phoenix Works. In 1838, the partnership then split and Yates took over the Phoenix Works and the original foundry in Rotherham, before entering partnership again in 1846 with George Haywood and John Drabble, forming Yates Haywood & Co. A successful venture, the company went on to feature at the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park in 1851.
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LITERATURE
Georg Himmelheber, Cast-Iron Furniture and All Other Forms of Iron Furniture, London, 1996, plate 228.
The 1830’s and 1840’s were decades of rapid expansion for the iron industry. The development of the rail network allowed the iron foundries to meet a growing demand for domestic ware and as such, the use of finely cast more elaborate designs, increased at the same time. Mr. John Guest, a local Rotherham historian described the business as producing “a vast range of articles from the most elegant design and exquisite finish... ornamental tables in the richest style of the French and Italian taste with festoons of flowers and scrollwork”. A console table of similar form by Yates Haywood & Co., illustrated in Georg Himmelheber’s book Cast-Iron Furniture, features clear similarities in the use of rococo revival elements, for example the bold use of scrollwork on the tops of the legs, acanthus leaf motif and a central cartouche, or classical masks visible on the Mallett pair, at the centre of the frieze.
A console table of similar form by Yates Haywood & Co
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A COLLECTION OF MURANO GLASS VASES BY LUIGI MANDRUZZATO Founded in 1956 on the Venetian island of Murano, the Italian glass maker Luigi Mandruzzato began his glass making business specialising in decorative glass lighting fixtures. Over the next decade, the company began broadening their glass objects to incorporate vases, ornaments, ashtrays, and other glass art objects. In 1965 his son Gianfranco Mandruzzato joined the business, taking over the company two years later. Gianfranco’s involvement marked the family firm’s turn towards glass sculpting, which involved improving and refining engraving and polishing techniques, and led to the company modelling and completing pieces designed by artists such as Chagall, Ernst, and Picasso, for the Fucina degli Angeli. A family business to this day, Gianfranco’s son Alessandro Mandruzzato currently runs the glassworks.
(from left to right) O3B0129
A multi-faceted glass vase, the turquoise coloured body with shades of yellow overtones. By Luigi Mandruzzato, Murano, (with makers label). Italy, circa 1960 Height: 28cm/11in O3B0039
A multi-faceted glass vase, the green body with shades of yellow overtones. By Luigi Mandruzzato, Murano, (with makers label). Italy, circa 1960 Height: 31cm/12in O3B0040
A multi-faceted glass vase, the ruby coloured body with shades of yellow overtones. By Luigi Mandruzzato, Murano (with makers label). Italy, circa 1960 Height: 25.5cm/10in
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A multi-faceted glass vase, the acquamarine body with shades of yellow overtones. By Luigi Mandruzzato, Murano (with makers label). Italy, circa 1960 Height: 27cm/10½in
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THE CLYTHA CASTLE CARD TABLES An exceptionally fine and rare pair of late 18th century mahogany Gothick card tables possibly by Gillows, the demilune tops with highly figured veneer inlaid with satinwood and holly in the form of crockets with very rare red ink engraving bordering a kingwood fan, opening to reveal a baize interior, the frieze with blind frets separated by realistically carved oak leaves, all supported on cluster column legs with waterleaf decoration at each end. England, circa 1790 Height: 75cm/29½in Width: 99cm/39in Depth: 49cm/19½in F3B0300 PROVENANCE
Clytha Castle, Monmouthshire.
Clytha Castle on the Welsh borders was built in 1790 by William Jones of Clytha Park in memory of his wife, granddaughter of the Duke of Devonshire, who had recently passed away. Long attributed to John Nash, the building was actually designed by the architect John Davenport, “for the purpose of relieving a mind sincerely afflicted by the loss of a most excellent wife”. A tablet set into the walls of the castle records this dedication. Built of rendered rubble stone with a Bath stone dressing it is not only one of the finest 18th century Welsh castles but also one of the best examples of the Gothick style initialized by Horace Walpole in Strawberry Hill, and faultlessly translated into furniture in our superb pair of card tables.
Clytha Castle, Monmouthshire
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A 20TH CENTURY CHROME AND GLASS CONSOLE TABLE An unusual chrome console table of rectangular geometric form with a smoked glass top. Attributed to François Catroux. France, circa 1970 Height: 75.5cm/30in Width: 160cm/63in Depth: 40cm/15½in
François Catroux is a French interior designer who began his career by decorating Mila Schön’s fashion boutique in Milan in 1967, transforming an old palazzo into an elegant interior of boutiques and showrooms. Having graduated from the Ecole d’Architecture de Paris Belleville, he developed a great passion for collecting Oriental art and often combined the simplicity of their design with architectural volumes and light effects. A comparable chrome table was a primary piece in Catroux’s own apartment on the Île Saint Louis in Paris.
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Catroux has since received commissions from numerous high profile clients including King Hussein of Jordan, the former Shah of Iran and the Rothschild family. Among the top ten of French contemporary designers, his work recently featured in an exhibition entitled Intérieurs 2010, Le Style Français at Artcurial, Paris.
An interior of François Catroux’s apartment on the Île Saint Louis in Paris with a comparable table in situ
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A TERRACOTTA BUST PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL A finely figured terracotta bust of a young girl depicted in a high waisted gown featuring ruched short sleeves, with a variegated faux marble finish. Attributed to Joseph Chinard. France, circa 1810 Height: 45cm/17½in Width: 30cm/12in O2I0106
Joseph Chinard (1756-1813) was one of the greatest portraitists and sculptors of late 18th and early 19th century France. Born in Lyon, he received his first commission at the age of sixteen to sculpt a decorative façade on the city’s Hotel de Ville. He later travelled to Rome where he studied for three years under the influence of eminent neo-classicists such as Jacques-Louis David and Antonio Canova. Following his return to France Chinard’s career flourished as the country moved into Empire period, providing an abundance of Napoleonic patronage opportunities for both sculpture and portraits. During this time he created marble busts for the Empress Josephine, Prince Eugène de Beauharnais and other members of the Imperial court. Chinard earned recognition as a master of French sculpture for his fidelity towards his subjects, and a talent for exquisite rendering of the human form, the present bust exhibits the characteristic softness of touch and delicate balance of proportion that is so familiar to his known works.
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A REGENCY PERIOD MAHOGANY READING/WRITING CHAIR A Regency period mahogany and brass mounted reading/ writing chair retaining all of its original fittings, with a horseshoe shaped crest rail mounted with a sliding tray fitted with small drawers, and mounted with a hinged writing surface, flanked by hinged scrolling foliate candle arms, the splat with three pierced Gothic arch panels, with a pear shaped seat on reeded and acanthus carved legs ending in brass toupie feet with castors. Attributed to Morgan & Sanders, London. England, circa 1830 Height: 83.5cm/33in Width: 71cm/28in Depth: 74cm/29in F3B0077
The present chair is a well documented Regency model that has become famous not only through its novel design but also through its inclusion in Rudolph Ackerman’s Repository which documented the changing classicising fashions in dress and furniture of the Regency period. Ackerman published the following under the heading Library Reading Chairs: “Gentlemen either sit across, with the face towards the desk, contrived for reading, writing &c. and which, by a rising rack, can be elevated at pleasure; or, when its occupier is tired of the first position, it is with the greatest ease turned around in a brass grove, to either one side or the other; in which case the gentleman sits sideways. The circling arms in either way form a pleasant easy back, and also in every direction, supports for the arms. As a proof of their real comfort and convenience, they are now in great sale at the warerooms of the inventors Messrs. Morgan and Saunders, Catherine Street, Strand.” LITERATURE
Ackermann’s Regency Furniture and Interiors, Pauline Agius. Marlborough, The Crowood Press, 1984, p.54
An engraving for a ‘Library Reading Chair’ attributed to Morgan and Sanders, London.
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AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY STEEL GARDEN TABLE An unusual large scale polished iron centre table, the top richly decorated with pierced borders, on the outer edge are facing ‘S’ scrolls followed by a ring of circles and ‘C’ scrolls. At the centre there is a fluted patera with open radiating lines beyond. The whole stands on a fluted column terminating in an animal leg tripod enriched with acanthus leaf and anthemion. In the manner of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, (1781-1841) Germany, circa 1820 Height: 71cm/28in Diameter: 110cm/43½in F3B0433
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a pioneer craftsman of Berlin cast-iron furniture during the first half of the 19th century. Having travelled extensively through England and Scotland as a young man, he was initially inspired by the craft of vast iron roof structures being built at the time. Following the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Berlin saw a lively upturn in building activity and this was when Schinkel’s designs for cast-iron furniture were to be realised. Some of his first commissions were to build garden benches in the grounds of royal residences, including Schloss Glienicke in Berlin and Schloss Charlottenburg in Potsdam. As his work developed he increasingly referred back to the Empire style using simplified motif such as cloven feet, garlands and palmettes. A majority of his designs were for seat furniture, however, he also created a garden table cast entirely in iron and referenced in Georg Himmelheber’s book Cast-Iron Furniture, plate 209. This table can be closely compared with the larger scale Mallett table; both feature subtle variations on the curved lion’s feet at the base growing out of leaf scrolls, as well as the grooved shaft which climbs out of a calyx of leaves. The tops of each are also comparable with decorative bands arranged in a ring formation interspersed with geometric design. LITERATURE
Georg Himmelheber, Cast-Iron Furniture and All Other Forms of Iron Furniture, London, 1996, plate 209.
A cast-iron table of similar design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
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A PAIR OF ‘MIRACLE’ WALL LIGHTS A pair of most unusual 1970’s semi-circle wall lights known as the ‘miracle’ wall lights, made by Bakalowits, a Viennese crystal chandelier manufacturer that is still in existence today. The wall lights are constructed as five tiers of roughly hewn glass rods with a light source at the centre and light emanating from the faceted terminals of the rods. The internal structure is of chrome and patinated iron. Germany, circa 1975 Height: 30cm/12in Width: 30cm/12in Depth: 17cm/6½in L3B0005
Elais Bakalowits founded the Bakalowits Company in 1845 in Vienna, Austria. When his son, Ludwig joined the company, E.Bakalowits & Sons grew substantially and became one of the foremost crystal chandelier manufacturers of the AustroHungarian Monarchy. In 1892, Ludwig Bakalowits received the order to manufacture the chandelier for the Neue Hofburg Palace in Vienna for the Emperor Franz Joseph and was appointed Imperial and Royal Purveyors to the Court. In 1885, the company exported its products for the first time to America and Asia, and in 1900 Bakalowits & Sons displayed their chandeliers at the world exhibition in Paris, with further exhibitions in St. Petersburg, London, Geneva and Turin. Although the company took a downturn during the Second World War, Bakalowits was entrusted with many of Vienna’s most important buildings post-war and in 1960, extended its business to the Far East, thus reaching all continents.
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A PAIR OF EMPIRE TOLE WALL LIGHTS A rare pair of red painted Empire tôle colza wall appliqués. Each with a gilt removable helmeted warrior term reservoir supported by a column decorated in two shades of gold on the sides with a gilt sway and a Thyrus, the front face depicts an armoured cupid. The candle support is further decorated in the same style with a martial trophy. Each with a tôle shade and glass drip pan. France, circa 1810 Height: 55.5cm/22in L3B0102
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A VONECHE-BACCARAT GLASS BOWL WITH COVER A fine mid 19th century glass bowl and cover on a square base, the bowl decorated throughout with cut diamonds. The lid decorated in a conforming manner with flat facet cuts and star cut handle. France, circa 1840 Height: 34cm/13½in Diameter: 26cm/10in O3C0025
In 1815 Aime-Gabriel D’Artigues, the owner of the great French glassworks at Voneche purchased the illustrious Baccarat glassworks, creating a new company entitled VonecheBaccarat. Renowned for their superb crystal glass tableware, Voneche-Baccarat rapidly became one of the leading glasswork factories of 19th century France.
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A GROUP OF TEA CADDIES
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› A PAIR OF WILLIAM IV ROSEWOOD
ETAGERES Clockwise, from top left: O3B0355
A fine and rare late 18th century George III green stained fruitwood tea caddy in the form of an apple, with original lock and escutcheon. England, circa 1790 Height: 13cm/5in Diameter: 11.5cm/4½in O3B0320
An early 19th century fruitwood tea caddy in the form of an apple, retaining a fine patina throughout. England, circa 1830 Height: 11.5cm/4½in Diameter: 12cm/4½in O3B0321
An unusual pair of early 19th century fruitwood tea caddies in the shape of melons, each of fine colour and patination. England, circa 1820 Height: 15cm/6in Diameter: 12cm/4½in O2I0559
A charming fruitwood tea caddy in the form of an apple, stained on the top with green lines. Retaining much of the original lead lining. England, circa 1770 Height: 11.5cm/4½in Diameter: 12cm/4½in O3B0354
A fine late 18th century George III fruitwood tea caddy in the form of an apple, with original lock and escutcheon. England, circa 1790 Height: 11.5cm/4½in Diameter: 11.5cm/4½in
A highly unusual pair of William IV stepped étagères with each tier having scrolling sides and the upper two enriched with mirrored backs. The whole surmounted by a pierced brass gallery. England, circa 1840 Height: 142cm/56in Width: 94cm/37in Depth: 26cm/10in F3B0250
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A GEORGE II MAHOGANY WALL SCONCE A rare early 18th century mahogany wall sconce with mirrored back and hand blown moulded sheet glass door and shelf. England, circa 1720 Height: 54cm/21½in Width: 27cm/10½in Depth: 23cm/9in PROVENANCE
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. L3B0158
This mirrored lantern, with glazed candle-protector, once illuminated Chatsworth’s Banqueting Hall whose walls celebrated the Roman concept of Liberty with scenes from Julius Caesar’s era. These masterpieces, by the Paris-trained Louis Laguerre (d. 1721), drew particular attention to the ‘tyrant slaying’ Marcus Brutus. That Roman’s heroic role was adopted in his defence of the English constitution by William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire (d.1707), whose monument proudly boasts the epitaph ‘An Enemy to Tyrants’. It was his son William, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (d.1729), who commissioned this lantern. Chatsworth’s ‘Great Hall …Looking Glass Sconce’ was first inventoried in 1764.
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AN INDO-PORTUGUESE IVORY INLAID CABINET A rare late 17th century sissoo Indian cabinet made for the European market, lavishly decorated on all sides with engraved ivory floral ornament . The doors open to reveal numerous drawers, each decorated with inlaid ivory Moghul figures. The cabinet is supported on a George I mahogany stand. The cabinet, India, Gujarat or Sindh, circa 1680 The stand, England, circa 1730 Height: 24.5cm/9¾in Width: 39cm/15½in Depth: 28.5cm/11in Height with stand: 94cm/37in F3C0084
Cabinets with a similar decorative composition are commonly attributed to Gujarat or Sindh, notably on the basis of contemporary accounts from European travellers to India. According to the Dutch merchant Francisco Pelsaerts, Tatta, Sindh, was in 1626 a centre of manufacture for ‘ornamental desks, writing cases (…) very prettily inlaid with ivory and ebony’ and Surat, Gujarat, according to James Ovington was a source of ‘Desks, Scutores and Boxes neatly polisht and embellisht’ in the late 1680’s. Large quantities of these wares were sent to Goa and then to Europe. LITERATURE
Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India, London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 2002.
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A SET OF POLISHED STEEL FIRE TOOLS
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› THE LIECHTENSTEIN ‘GOUT
GREC’ COMMODES A set of mid 19th century polished steel fire irons with twisted wrought handles, cast and polished mounts leading to barley twist shafts, and ornamental poker head, shovel and tongs. Retaining their original stand with similar ornamentation. England, circa 1860 Height: 84.5cm/33in Width: 31cm/12in Depth: 17cm/6½in
A pair of transitional two drawer commodes veneered throughout in plum wood. The drawers are veneered sans traverse and mounted with boldly modelled gilt bronze foliate wreaths which incorporate ring handles. Scrolled foliate swags are mounted on the chamfered sides; the whole raised on cabriole legs with acanthus and scroll ormolu sabots. Branded with interlaced ‘L’s. The commodes retain their original Carrara marble tops and bear an inventory label of Schloss Feldsberg. Austria, circa 1770
F3B0279
For a comparative set from Hackwood Park, see Mallett at Bourdon House, Autumn Catalogue 1998, page 30, ref. F1I0050.
Height: 89.5cm/32in Width: 131cm/51½in Depth: 63cm/25in F3B0266
PROVENANCE
The Princes of Liechtenstein Schloss Feldsberg (Valtice), Moravia Liechtenstein Stadt Palais, Vienna. This pair of commodes are similar to the commodes ‘a la Grecque’ first produced in Paris by Jean François Oeben in the late 1750’s in the very early flowering of French neoclassicism (see F.J.B. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, 1960, p.68). There is a pair of commodes of this form also in fruitwood, probably apple, with the same ormolu mounts and clearly from the same Vienna workshop, in the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg’s summer palace at Hellbrunn. .
Retaining the label of Schloss Feldsberg (left), and the interlaced L’s of the Princes of Liechtenstein (right).
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TWO EARLY 19TH CENTURY DAMASCENED EWERS Two very unusual Empire ewers with silvered metal and ormolu scroll handles with an eagle’s head on one end and a bacchic mask at the other. The bodies and spouts are inlaid with neoclassical silver and gilt metal neo-classical ornament on a gun metal ground. The centre of the vase element has a gilt bronze collar with a frieze of enclosed anthemion above, with a border of laurel leaves and a guilloche below. Under the collar is a further guilloche border with an elaborate scrolling and anthemion inlay below that. The whole stands on a rouge griotte marble base. France, circa 1810 Height: 38cm/15in O2I0528
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AN ADAM PERIOD GILTWOOD SIDE TABLE An Adam period neo-classical giltwood side table attributed to Sefferin Alken (active between 1744-1783). The frieze with central anthemion flanked by husk swags and paterae. The legs with lions heads at the capitals above recessed panels inset with carved hearts. With a Verona marble top. England, circa 1760 Height: 89cm/35in Width: 134cm/52¾in Depth: 69cm/27in F3B0273
The frieze corresponds to that adopted by Robert Adam for an Ionic-columned chimneypiece invented in 1765 for the Whitehall mansion of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond (d. 1806), George III’s Lord Lieutenant of Sussex and a former ‘Lord of the King’s Bedchamber.’ The legs are capped by lions heads, sacred to the deity of pleasure Bacchus, and are further enriched with Palmyreen heart-shaped ribbon guilloches which derive from Robert Wood’s 1757 engraving of a temple dedicated to Apollo. While lion-headed tablets featured in Robert Adam’s Works of 1772 illustrating an ‘altar’ candelabra for the banqueting room at Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire, it has also been popularised by French silver herm-tapered candelabra designed after the Grecian manner. The reed-wrapped feet, like the palm flower and Palmyreen guilloche formed part of the exceedingly rich repertoire after Adam’s ‘antique taste’ adopted by Thomas Chippendale. There is a pair of tables with similar stylistic carving on the legs after a design by Robert Adam (1728-1792) also attributed to the carver Sefferin Alken. One currently resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the other in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The tables were executed for the Long Gallery at Croome Court, Worcestershire, the country seat of George William (1721-1809), sixth Earl of Coventry. A pen-and-wash drawing by Robert Adam dated 1765, in the collection of the Sir John Soane Museum in London, is inscribed: “This seems to imply that the Earl of Northumberland, who was carrying out alterations on Sion House at the time, may have rejected this drawing whereupon Adam may have submitted the same design to Lord Coventry. The drawing shows additional carving that formerly joined the legs, described in Sefferin Alken’s bill of August 1765 as ‘festoons of husks in swags and drops with foliage etc.”
A detail from the leg of a pair of similar tables also attributed to Sefferin Alken after a design by Robert Adam.
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A PAIR OF RUSSIAN ORMOLU CANDLESTICKS An outstanding pair of late 18th century Russian ormolu candlesticks decorated in high relief with neo-classical ornament including fluting, swags and laurel leaf motifs. The burning and chasing throughout is of the highest calibre. Russia, circa 1795
A LATE 18TH CENTURY PUNCH BOWL A particularly fine mandarin palette punch bowl of large size, retaining its original glazes and gilt decoration depicting courtiers in oriental landscapes. China, circa 1780 Height: 16.5cm/6½in Diameter: 38cm/15in
Height: 22cm/8½in O3B0231 O2F0181
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A PAIR OF BRONZE CANOVA LIONS A pair of early 19th century finely cast bronze models of the waking and sleeping lion taken from the model by Antonio Canova. Each lion is depicted recumbent upon a brocatelle marble block plinth with their paws and tails overlapping their stand. Italy, circa 1820 Height: 12cm/4½in Width: 22cm/8½in Depth: 8cm/3in O3B0344
The original pair by Antonio Canova (1757-1822) can be found in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome where the monumental tomb of Clement XIII resides. The two crouching lions carved in travertine marble, one sleeping the other vigilant, are positioned at the base.
A PAIR OF ORMOLU AND HARD STONE CANDELABRA A rare pair of late 19th century Venetian ormolu and hard stone candelabra. Each with three serpentine candle arms and scrolled sickles, hung with rock crystal and amber drops. Each with a porphyry bobeche and rock crystal plate below. The lapis lazuli column with amethyst inset panels at the base supported on a porphyry octagonal base with panels of porphyry on the sides supported on gilt bronze turtle and porphyry feet. Italy, circa 1875 Height: 79cm/31in L3B0170
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AN 18TH CENTURY VIZAGAPATAM IVORY MINIATURE BUREAU CABINET A particularly fine late 18th century Vizagapatam miniature bureau bookcase of engraved ivory veneered on a sandalwood carcass. The broken pediment top with central column and architectural finial, is finished on all sides. The upper part is divided into one long central top drawer and four smaller drawers beneath, with cupboard doors on each side opening to reveal fitted interiors. The fall front conceals an interior with curved drawers and central columns flanking pigeonholes and sits above one long drawer fitted with its original dressing mirror. The whole stands on shaped bracket feet. India, circa 1780 Height: 92.5cm/36½in Width: 61cm/24in Depth: 28cm/11in F3B0336
The ivory throughout is elaborately patterned with ink engravings of fantasy European architecture amidst pastoral landscapes. Each scene is framed by elaborate scrolling foliate and floral decoration with pomegranates, sunflowers, lotus flowers and entwined fruit. The sides and top are further engraved with elaborate trees and birds within natural borders. The cresting has a pair of rampant lions to the front and flowers on the reverse, while the bracket feet are decorated with animal masks. LITERATURE
Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India: The Art of the Indian Cabinet-Maker. The Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002, p. 80.
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A PAIR OF CARTON-PIERRE VASES A delicate pair of Palais Royale carton-pierre vases of classical form with ornate decoration in white and gold leaf. France, circa 1840 Height: 38.5cm/15in Diameter: 26.5cm/10½in O3C0059
First created by the French modeler Mizière in 1817, cartonpierre is a stronger and heavier improvement to the ancient papier mâché technique, made by pulping or layering paper with various additives before pressing the substance into a desired mould. By the 1820’s, with the help of the sculptor Louis Alexander Romagnesi, carton-pierre was frequently used for sculpture and interior decoration in France, in particular at the Palais Royale and the palaces of Versailles and Fontainebleau. On the ground floor of the Palais Royale, the famous magasins de objets d’art would sell elaborate and decorative objects of exquisite and novelty materials, perfectly exemplified in these vases.
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A 19TH CENTURY BOTTLE POURER An unusual late 19th century novelty gun carriage silver plated bottle carrier, the sides lavishly engraved with floral ornament and the wheels having scrolls as spokes. England, circa 1880 Height: 25.5cm/10in Width: 12cm/4½in Length: 35cm/14in
A NEAPOLITAN NEO-CLASSICAL PIER MIRROR A rare early 19th century parcel gilt Neapolitan pier mirror having an elaborate scrolling cresting above a pediment enriched with gilt swags, neo-classical ornament and musical trophies. The sides of the mirror are fashioned as pilasters with gilt capitals, fluting and subsidiary applied neo-classical ornament. The fruitwood ground is further enriched with elements of bronze patination. Naples, circa 1820
O3B0434
Height: 260cm/102½in Width: 128cm/50½in Depth: 10cm/4in F3B0398
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A PAIR OF ADAM PERIOD GILTWOOD TORCHERES A pair of Adam period giltwood torchères with later marble tops supported by a tripod stand with rams’ heads and pendant bell flowers, above reeded legs with oak leaf clusters and a central column both fluted and reeded with acanthus leaf carving, having a low stretcher above cloven hoofed legs supported by an inverted triangular base and lions paw feet. England, circa 1775 Height: 150cm/60in Diameter: 43cm/17in F3A0141
These tall stands for vase-candelabra or flower-vases owe their conception to George III’s architect Robert Adam (d. 1792). They evolve in part from the contemporary Romefashion for tripodic corner-candelabra, but derive in particular from Adam’s interpretation of Pierre Filipart’s 1765 engraving of an enflamed and rose-strewn altar in a painting by the French artist Joseph Vien (d. 1809). Filipart’s popular engraving of a Grecian devotee sacrificing at Love’s altar and entitled ‘La Vertueuse Athenienne’, earned the low-stand for plants, flower-vases etc., the fashionable name of the Athenienne. Filipart’s engraving appears to have been brought to England by George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry (d. 1809), a Lord of the Bedchamber to George III, and provided the source for Adam’s stand invented for Lady Barbara Coventry’s Piccadilly apartment. PROVENANCE
Haddo House, Aberdeen Haddo House is the family seat of the Gordon’s, later Earls of Aberdeen. The house was designed by William Adam in 1732 in the Palladian style and modernised in 1880 in the taste of the day.
Haddo House, Aberdeen
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A PAIR OF 19TH CENTURY MARQUETRY ETAGERES A most unusual pair of three tier étagères in kingwood, elm and tulipwood of rich patina, the top retaining its original brass gallery and urn finials. Each shaped shelf is inlaid with an elaborate marquetry strapwork, enclosing a central medallion, and has applied gilded brass mouldings, all raised on outturned legs ending in hoof feet. England, circa 1870 Height: 72cm/28½in Width: 39cm/15½in Depth: 29cm/11½in F3B0219
A 19TH CENTURY STEEL LOG TURNER A fine quality baronial scale polished steel log turner. England circa 1850 Height: 138cm/54½in O3B0449
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A PAIR OF LAMPS IN THE FORM OF ARTICHOKES A pair of unusual white porcelain lamps in the form of artichokes on square gilt metal bases with boxed Shantung shades. France, circa 1965 Height: 72.5cm/28½in L3B0095
A QUEEN ANNE WALNUT SETTEE An unusual small-scale Queen Anne walnut settee having a serpentine back and outscrolled arms, supported on cabriole legs at the front with carved shells at the knee, terminating in pad feet. England, circa 1710 Height: 97cm/38in Width: 112cm/44in Depth: 71cm/28in F2I0501
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A PAIR OF MID 19TH CENTURY CARRIAGE LAMPS A pair of ebonised and silvered tôle octagonal carriage lamps, the silvered top modelled as a triregnum crown above the octagonal body retaining its five original faceted glass panels. The whole interior, in highly polished silver finish, reflects the light well from the central fitment, which is supported by a silvered and black turned stem, originally the oil reservoir. England, circa 1850 Height: 75cm/29½in Width: 20.5cm/8in L3B0314
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A PAIR OF 20TH CENTURY GLASS LAMPS A pair of Italian mid 1960’s lamps taking the form of a glass rectangle with an unusual stippled surface decoration, the whole standing on a rectangular brass plinth. Attributed to Romeo Rega. Italy, circa 1965 Height: 70cm/27½in Width: 47.5cm/18½in Depth: 22.5cm/9in L3B0260
Romeo Rega was a leading figure of contemporary Italian design. Alongside respective artists such as Gabriella Crespi, Willy Rizzo and Maison Jansen he helped champion Modernist glamour, through an innovative use of glass, chrome and steel.
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AN UNUSUAL ANGLO-INDIAN IVORY INLAID TABLE An extremely rare Anglo-Indian occasional table, the octangular top inlaid with ivory portraits of Chinese figures in everyday pursuits surrounded by a border of entwined flowers and foliage and carved ivory egg and dart moulding. The whole supported on a turned ebony and ebonized stem with ivory collars and standing on a platform base with four feet again enriched with ivory turnings and balls. Anglo-Indian, circa 1810 Height: 74cm/29in Diameter: 60cm/23½in F3C0023
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A SET OF TEN CHINA TRADE PICTURES A particularly fine set of ten Chinese gouaches on pith paper paintings illustrating the production of tea. China, circa 1800 Height: 39.5cm/15½in Width: 49cm/19½in
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The tradition of Chinese watercolour and gouache was one firmly rooted in the export market, where scenes of westerners and western-bound goods were very common, and the finest became some of the most sought after items of the export trade. Particularly in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, watercolours depicting porcelain, silk, rice and especially tea production were often put together in sets of individual sheets. The present set of ten sheets follow this tradition firmly, the quality and exceptional attention to detail reaffirming the astonishing importance of tea to both China and the west.
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AN IVORY HARLEQUIN TORTOISESHELL TEA CADDY A rare harlequin tea caddy, veneered throughout with ivory and tortoiseshell diamond lozenges. The lid opening to a single lidded compartment with further harlequin decoration, retaining much of its original lead lining, silver swing handles and hinges. England, circa 1800 Height: 11cm/4½in Width: 12.5cm/5in Depth: 9cm/3½in O3B0327
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A PAIR OF 48 BORE RUSSIAN FLINTLOCK OFFICER’S PISTOLS Each with octagonal barrels engraved with a decorative band around the muzzles and the breeches, fitted with silver foresights, gold line vents, and plain tangs incorporating a groove for sighting. Signed bevelled locks are engraved with foliate scrolls, fitted with engraved cocks which are in turn pierced and chiselled with scrolls on the front and back. With figured walnut full stocks, finely chequered butts, gilt-copper mounts comprising of moulded trigger-guards, oval pommels with rounded spurs matching the trigger-guards, moulded ramrodpipes, and four gilt-copper barrel bolt escutcheons, each with a horn-tipped ramrod. The copper retaining much original gilding throughout. Each engraved with ‘Hornschurch a Reval’. The modern town of Tallinn was known as Reval prior to its independence in 1918. Russia, circa 1780
A SPINDLE MAHOGANY CANTERBURY An unusual William IV mahogany Canterbury fashioned as a series of columns joined by rails and ball finials having a shelf below. The underside retains the remains of a trade label. England, circa 1835 Height: 53cm/21in Width: 53cm/21in Depth: 44cm/17½in F3B0111
Length: 37cm/14½in O3C0026
The style of decoration and screw-in fittings on these pistols is similar to a pair of flintlock revolvers by I. Polin of Tula, preserved in the Gatchina Arsenal, cat. No. 87-88. A similar Canterbury offered by Mallett at Bourdon House
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A CHARLES X MANTEL CLOCK A rare and unusual Charles X mantel clock. The finely figured mahogany frame is mounted with engraved and painted silvered metal panels depicting neo-classical motif and swags. Each element bordered with finely chased gilt bronze. France, circa 1830 Height: 44.5cm/17½in Width: 23cm/9in Depth: 15cm/6in O3B0097
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A MID 19TH CENTURY STEEL ARMCHAIR This armchair features a tubular structure in polished steel with a rounded backrest, a revolving seat and curved armrests and legs. France, circa 1850 Height: 95cm/37½in Width: 50cm/19¾in Depth: 60cm/23½in F3C0067
This type of seat was originally created to satisfy the utilitarian needs of the French military in the early 19th century, starting with Napoleon himself, who was extremely practical in regards to his campaign furniture. He wrote in 1812: “Mon intention est que ma tente soit toujours contenue dans un seul fourgon. C’est en cela que consiste l’art du Garde-Meuble. Dépensez le double s’il le faut, mais faites une chose commode, forte et légère.” (“My tent needs to fit in a single truck. This reflects the art of the Garde-Meuble ((furniture storage)). Spend twice as much if necessary but build practical, strong and light furniture). To fulfil the expectations of the Emperor, the administration of the Garde-Meuble imperial commissioned tents, beds, armchairs, chairs, tools and table to be easily folded, put away and transported. In this context metal happened to be perfectly suited for such types of modular furniture, making them weather resistant and effortlessly portable. This chair shows stylistic similarities to a design featured in a Val d’Osne catalogue from the mid 19th century. The Val d’Osne workshops were founded by Jean-Pierre André Victor in 1836 and rapidly became one of the largest factories producing decorative cast-iron furniture to meet the growing demand of French cities for their public gardens and squares. The foundry exhibited at the London Exhibition, Crystal Palace in 1851 and received international recognition when Mon. André Victor received a medal for the performance, quality and elegance of his castings. LITERATURE
Isabelle Vetois, Le Bivouac de Napoleon, catalogue of the exhibition Napoleon en Campagne. Paris, Arc de Triomphe, 2005: 33-37. Georg Himmelheber, Cast-Iron Furniture and All Other Forms of Iron Furniture. London, 1996, pp. 55-57 A design for a chair of similar style featured in a Val d’Osne catalogue from the mid 19th century.
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A PAIR OF MODERNIST CANDLESTICKS BY PAUL KISS A pair of Modernist iron and brass candlesticks fashioned as a tripod of scrolls with brass reeds at the neck. Each stamped, Paul Kiss. France, circa 1940 Height: 26.5cm/10½in Diameter: 23.5cm/9½in L3B0328
Paul Kiss (1885-1962) was an artist famous for his ornamental ironwork having trained with Edgar Brandt and Raymond Subes, two of the greatest 20th century French ironworkers. After World War I, he set up his first workshop at 10 rue de Perichaux where he designed and produced very high quality domestic bronze and ironwork pieces which included lamps, console tables and window grills. Kiss exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1924, receiving an honorary medal for a public monument in Levallois-Perret, and again at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderne in 1926 and 1927.
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A PAIR OF CAST IRON LIONS A pair of mid 19th century large scale cast iron models of lions with prey, each shown seated with animals held below their paws, after Antoine-Louis Barye. France, circa 1870 Height: 82cm/32¼in Width: 67cm/26¼in Depth: 50cm/19¾in O3B0411
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ART ANTIQUES DESIGN
28 june – 4 july 2012 preview: 27 june Location
SOUTH GROUNDS, THE ROYAL HOSPITAL CHELSEA CHELSEA EMBANKMENT, LONDON SW3
Information
MASTERPIECE is a trade mark of Masterpiece London Ltd
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RESTORERS OF FURNITURE & WORKS OF ART
Hatfields is one of the world’s longest established restoration firms. It has a history which dates back to 1834 when the original Hatfield family established the business. Initially founded to produce fine miniature frames, the company expanded to include furniture workshops and quickly established its reputation as the leading firm in its field, restoring and conserving furniture and works of art for Royalty, private and museum collections throughout the world. In the 1930’s the company proudly noted on its letterhead that it had warrants from Queen Victoria, The Prince of Wales, King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra and King George V. The high standards of the time have been maintained and Hatfields is proud to have restored outstanding pieces for institutions such as The Getty Museum in California, and the Badminton Cabinet, now in the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna. Hatfields are equally proud of their record in restoring all types of pieces needing repair and of their capacity to produce fine works to commission. In 2007, Hatfields took over premises in London on Clapham High Street. Scholars House is a fine late 18th century building, from which the company is developing a range of services that will offer clients a complete ‘one stop shop’ for all their restoration needs.
Hatfields Restoration Scholars House 49 Clapham High Street London SW4 7TL
Telephone 020 7622 8169 Fax 020 7622 2009 info@hatfieldsrestoration.com www.hatfieldsrestoration.com
Carina
by Klauser and Carpenter A Solid Carrara Marble Dining Table Commissioned by Mallett
Exlusively Made to Order
Meta Ely House, London www.madebymeta.com
15 Langton Street, Chelsea, London SW10 0JL E: james@jhba.co.uk | W: jamesharveybritishart.com | T: +44 (0)20 7 352 0015
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MALLETT PLC DIRECTORS
The Lord Daresbury* Chairman Giles Hutchinson Smith Chief Executive Michael Smyth-Osbourne Financial Director James Heneage* Henry Neville *Non executive
MALLETT & SON (ANTIQUES) LTD Ely House 37 Dover Street London W1S 4NJ Telephone +44 (0)20 7499 7411 Fax +44 (0)20 7495 3179 Giles Hutchinson Smith Chief Executive Michael Smyth-Osbourne Financial Director Richard Cave Director Felicity Jarrett Director Justin Evershed-Martin Associate Director Gina Hamilton Tess Greig
MALLETT INC 929 Madison Avenue at 74th Street New York N.Y. 10021 Telephone 001 212 249 8783 Fax 001 212 249 8784
JAMES HARVEY BRITISH ART 15 Langton Street London SW10 0JL Telephone/Fax +44 (0)20 7352 0015 Email: info@jhba.co.uk www.jamesharveybritishart.com
Henry Neville President João Magalhães Ana Gutierrez-Folch Sarah Sperling
James Harvey Director
Telephone +44 (0)20 7495 5375 Fax +44 (0)20 7495 3197 Email: hello@madebymeta.com www.madebymeta.com Eleonore Halluitte Production Manager
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