FEATURES ARCHIVE

“Of all the Arts which are either improved or ornamented by Architecture, that of cabinet-making is...the most useful and ornamental.”
          - Thomas Chippendale, 1762

Thomas Chippendale is the most famous and accomplished of all English cabinet-makers and he contributes the highlight of the sale; an extraordinary ebony-inlaid bookcase which displays lustrous timbers, a sureness of design and immaculate execution. While its eighteenth century history has yet to be discovered, it later belonged to Samuel Messer, one of the 20th century’s most discerning collectors. Also by Chippendale, are two oval-backed and crested chairs, being part of a suite commissioned by John Peach Hungerford for Dingley Hall in Northamptonshire. Chippendale has never gone out of fashion and his fame was as widespread in the 18th century as it is today. A carved writing table, of impressive size and with arched superstructure, was likely made by another prominent firm, such as Wright and Elwick, who deliberately adapted Chippendale’s de rigueur designs published in his pattern book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker’s Director (1754-62). The table heralds from the Estate of the connoisseur collector Alastair Bradley Martin.

“Let us now…travel into Cathay, so that you may learn something of its grandeurs and its treasures.” 
          - Marco Polo, Travels, circa 1305

England’s trade with the Far East led to an ongoing love affair with Chinese ornamentation. A pair of cabinets by Giles Grendey – rare in that the have survived as a pair – imitate imported Chinese lacquer imaginatively portraying large scale figures, birds and beasts. Fanciful interpretations of exotic lands is illustrated in a pagoda-crested overmantel attributed to William and John Linnell, formerly at Ditchley Park but previously in the London homes of the Marquesses of Bath, as well as a delightful poster bed with ‘Indian’ chintz decoration, and three pairs of chairs consigned by the Brooklyn Museum whose needlework depicts delightfully imaginative scenes. The appreciation for classical design advertised a gentleman’s worldliness and directly inspired a pair of highly architectural mahogany side tables. Similarly, a pair of early Georgian hall benches from stately Witley Court in Worcestershire evolves from the genius of classically-minded architect and designer William Kent. Interestingly, early Florentine pietra dura plaques, almost certainly acquired by a gentleman while on his Grand Tour of Italy, feature on a charming yew wood cabinet with Chinese fret details.This small masterpiece may have been the work of preeminent makers Mayhew and Ince.The firm was known to utilize antiquarian elements in contemporary late 18th century designs.

“…there is only one precise serpentine-line that I call the line of grace…by its waving and winding at the same time different ways, leads the eye in a pleasing manner along the continuity of its variety.”
          - William Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, 1753

The active exchange of design ideas, and even craftsmen between England and France, was indisputable. A lovely mahogany lady’s writing desk (bonheur-du-jour), from Alastair Martin’s estate is exquisite in its delicate serpentine form, what Hogarth called ‘the line of beauty’. It is attributed to Royal cabinet-maker John Cobb and was a fixture at Combe Abbey, the seat of the Earl of Craven (whose descendant was related by marriage to Bradley Martin). A grand ormolu-mounted English commode with marquetry inlay certainly imitates French prototypes of the mid-18th century and is in the manner of immigrant maker, Pierre Langlois, a perfect example of international style.