Lot Essay
These remarkable arch-lidded chests are likely to have been amongst the furnishings introduced to Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, by the 5th Lord Leigh (d.1786), or his sister Mary, who may have lived there with him during his life and who inherited the house after his death and lived there until 1806. Whether these coffers and stands were acquired by Lord Leigh in the 1760s, before he was declared insane in 1774, or by his sister after she gained control in 1786, is an interesting problem of precise dating of furniture design.
In the 1760s Lord Leigh had employed the Ludgate Hill Paper-Stainers Thomas Bromwich and Leonard Leigh, and their redecorations included the hanging of 'Miss Leigh's Bedroom' with seventeen Chinese 'pictures' (probably fragments of wallpaper) in 1764. This expensive room indicates that he was decorating in a fashionable Chinoiserie style. However, in the mid-1760s the design of the stands of these coffers would have been ultra-fashionable even among the leading London cabinet-makers. Much depends on how much time lag is allowed for the transmission of the new London design ideas to China and its manufacturers, and then returning to London.
The elegant style of the stands, with hermed legs enriched with antique flutes and hollowed bosses, represents the 'antique' or Roman fashion introduced by Sir William Chambers (d. 1796) and Robert Adam (d. 1792). It features for instance on the pattern for a hermed stand designed in the mid-1760s by the Berkeley Square cabinet-makers William and John Linnell (H. Hayward, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. II, fig. 283).
One possible indicator of the precise dating may be a pair of Chinese export lacquer bureau-cabinets, formerly in the collection of Nancy Lancaster, which are illustrated in M. Jourdain and R. Soames Jenyns, Chinese Export Art, London, 1950, fig. 23 and were sold in these Rooms, 4 July 1996, lot 297. They had identical legs to the present stands but other aspects of their design, particularly their zig-zag lacquer, point towards a date in the 1780s. It seems probable that the precise dating of these coffers will remain a mystery.
STONELEIGH ABBEY
The first building at Stoneleigh, the Cistercian Abbey founded by Henry II, was started in 1154. Little remains of this, although the detached gatehouse range of 1346 survives largely intact. The present house largely comprises east and north ranges of circa 1600 and the baroque west wing by Francis Smith of Warwick of 1714-26. This range was furnished and re-furnished in different phases throughout the 18th Century and payments to dealers extend over a very long period. Payments from Mary Leigh to Michael Thackwaite, Daniel Frost and G.S. Bradshaw & G. Smith are listed in the family accounts (see the introduction to Christie's house sale catalogue, 15-16 October 1981 and The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1986, under each cabinet-maker).
In the 1760s Lord Leigh had employed the Ludgate Hill Paper-Stainers Thomas Bromwich and Leonard Leigh, and their redecorations included the hanging of 'Miss Leigh's Bedroom' with seventeen Chinese 'pictures' (probably fragments of wallpaper) in 1764. This expensive room indicates that he was decorating in a fashionable Chinoiserie style. However, in the mid-1760s the design of the stands of these coffers would have been ultra-fashionable even among the leading London cabinet-makers. Much depends on how much time lag is allowed for the transmission of the new London design ideas to China and its manufacturers, and then returning to London.
The elegant style of the stands, with hermed legs enriched with antique flutes and hollowed bosses, represents the 'antique' or Roman fashion introduced by Sir William Chambers (d. 1796) and Robert Adam (d. 1792). It features for instance on the pattern for a hermed stand designed in the mid-1760s by the Berkeley Square cabinet-makers William and John Linnell (H. Hayward, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. II, fig. 283).
One possible indicator of the precise dating may be a pair of Chinese export lacquer bureau-cabinets, formerly in the collection of Nancy Lancaster, which are illustrated in M. Jourdain and R. Soames Jenyns, Chinese Export Art, London, 1950, fig. 23 and were sold in these Rooms, 4 July 1996, lot 297. They had identical legs to the present stands but other aspects of their design, particularly their zig-zag lacquer, point towards a date in the 1780s. It seems probable that the precise dating of these coffers will remain a mystery.
STONELEIGH ABBEY
The first building at Stoneleigh, the Cistercian Abbey founded by Henry II, was started in 1154. Little remains of this, although the detached gatehouse range of 1346 survives largely intact. The present house largely comprises east and north ranges of circa 1600 and the baroque west wing by Francis Smith of Warwick of 1714-26. This range was furnished and re-furnished in different phases throughout the 18th Century and payments to dealers extend over a very long period. Payments from Mary Leigh to Michael Thackwaite, Daniel Frost and G.S. Bradshaw & G. Smith are listed in the family accounts (see the introduction to Christie's house sale catalogue, 15-16 October 1981 and The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1986, under each cabinet-maker).