Lot Essay
The companion dressing-table, reputedly commissioned by George, Prince of Wales, later George IV as a gift for the Comte d'Artois, Louis XVI's brother - although never delivered owing to the political troubles in France - was in the collection of Colonel H. H. Mulliner, and was discussed by him in The Decorative Arts in England, 1660-1780, London, n.d., fig. 25. The Mulliner, table was sold in these Rooms, 10 July 1924, lot 60.
While the pastoral medallions may have been the work of a specialist inlayer, other elements, such as the laurels festooned through paterae medallions on the legs, relate to work executed in the 1770s by Thomas Chippendale (d.1779) of St. Martin's Lane. In particular, the chain-linked and flowered paterae hooked onto the drawers corresponds to the inlaid frieze of a pair of side-tables, which are likely to have been supplied by the firm to Sir Edward Knatchbull (d.1789) of Mersham-le-Hatch (sold by the Knatchbull family, Christie's London, 4 July 1991, lot 61)
In view of the reputed Royal provenance for this dressing-table, it is worth noting that King George III provided a residence and furnishings at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh in 1796 for Charles Philippe, Comte d'Artois, the future King Charles of France. (M. Swain, 'Furniture for the Comte d'Artois, at Holyrood 1796, Furniture History Society Journal 1992, pp. 98-128)
The oval medallions may have been intended to recall Erminia, the heroine of Tasso's Jerusalem Liberated, who chose to wear the dress of a Sherpherdess. This publication, issued in Paris in 1771 with decorative engravings by Hubert Gravelot, almost certainly inspired Antonio Zucchi's ceiling medallions executed in the early 1770s for the bedroom apartment designed by the architect Robert Adam (d.1792) for Osterley Park House, Middlesex, although these medallions had already featured on a Sèvres porcelain cabinet tray at Osterley dated 1758
While the pastoral medallions may have been the work of a specialist inlayer, other elements, such as the laurels festooned through paterae medallions on the legs, relate to work executed in the 1770s by Thomas Chippendale (d.1779) of St. Martin's Lane. In particular, the chain-linked and flowered paterae hooked onto the drawers corresponds to the inlaid frieze of a pair of side-tables, which are likely to have been supplied by the firm to Sir Edward Knatchbull (d.1789) of Mersham-le-Hatch (sold by the Knatchbull family, Christie's London, 4 July 1991, lot 61)
In view of the reputed Royal provenance for this dressing-table, it is worth noting that King George III provided a residence and furnishings at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh in 1796 for Charles Philippe, Comte d'Artois, the future King Charles of France. (M. Swain, 'Furniture for the Comte d'Artois, at Holyrood 1796, Furniture History Society Journal 1992, pp. 98-128)
The oval medallions may have been intended to recall Erminia, the heroine of Tasso's Jerusalem Liberated, who chose to wear the dress of a Sherpherdess. This publication, issued in Paris in 1771 with decorative engravings by Hubert Gravelot, almost certainly inspired Antonio Zucchi's ceiling medallions executed in the early 1770s for the bedroom apartment designed by the architect Robert Adam (d.1792) for Osterley Park House, Middlesex, although these medallions had already featured on a Sèvres porcelain cabinet tray at Osterley dated 1758