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Lot Essay
The chairs are conceived in the French cabriolet fashion of the 1760s, while their antique-fluted and pearl-strung rails reflect the George III Roman or Etruscan style popularised by the court architects Robert Adam (d. 1792) and Sir William Chambers (d. 1796).
Apollo's poetic laurels festoon their Roman truss-scrolled arms, while the legs are wreathed in Roman acanthus after the manner of the French architect Jean-Charles Delafosse (d. 1789), author of Nouvelle Iconologie Historique, 1768 (H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, fig. 78). In the early 1770s Chambers designed a related French-fashioned pier-table, with fluted frame and acanthus-wrapped and truss-scrolled legs, for Blenheim Palace (H. Roberts, 'Furniture for the 4th Duke of Marlborough', Furniture History, 1994, p. 124, fig. 7). These chairs might have been designed under Chambers's direction for Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke (d. 1796) of Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire and St. James's Square, London, who is recorded as a patron of Chambers in the 1760s (J. Harris, Sir William Chambers, London, 1970, p. 254, no. 149). In particular the present chairs relate to a cabriolet chair design, with alternate proposals, prepared around 1770 by the Berkeley Square cabinet-maker John Linnell (d. 1796) (Hayward and Kirkham, ibid, fig. 83).
It would appear that this is the model armchair that features in the portrait of the Earl's artistic Daughter Amabel (d.1833) executed at the time of her marriage to Lord Polwarth in 1772 (D. Adshead, 'Wedgwood, Wimpole and Wrest', Apollo, April 1996, pp. 31-36, fig. 1). The chairs may have formed part of the French-fashioned and tapestry-covered suite that furnished Wimpole's Red Drawing Room, and were listed in the 1835 inventory as '2 large cabriole sofas gilt frames, seats and backs stuffed and covered in Tapestry; 8 gilt frames cabriole Elbow chairs stuffed seats & backs & elbows covered to match'. A full examination of the 1881 inventory at Wimpole at the National Archives shows one potential entry in the Yellow Drawing Room of 'Six white and gilt Louis XVI chairs in crelonne' and 'Eight ditto arm chairs in velvet and yellow tapestry seats and coverings'. Interestingly, there are no sets of 18th century chairs identified as English in this inventory.
Wimpole was sold by the family in 1894 due to bankruptcy, at which time much of the original furniture from Wimpole was removed to Lanhydrock during the early 20th century and some of the furniture was sold by Christie's, London in 1953 including the superb set of six mahogany library chairs (a pair sold from the Collection of Nelson Grimaldi Seabra, in these Rooms, 22 October 2003, lot 120). These giltwood chairs do not appear in any of the photographs of the interior of Lanhydrock.
Alternatively, the chairs may have come from another of the Yorke properties such as Wrest Park in Bedfordshire or their London homes. Lady Polwarth, the 2nd Earl's daughter, had a special affection for Wrest Park and ran the estate with her nephew and heir Earl de Grey.
Apollo's poetic laurels festoon their Roman truss-scrolled arms, while the legs are wreathed in Roman acanthus after the manner of the French architect Jean-Charles Delafosse (d. 1789), author of Nouvelle Iconologie Historique, 1768 (H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, fig. 78). In the early 1770s Chambers designed a related French-fashioned pier-table, with fluted frame and acanthus-wrapped and truss-scrolled legs, for Blenheim Palace (H. Roberts, 'Furniture for the 4th Duke of Marlborough', Furniture History, 1994, p. 124, fig. 7). These chairs might have been designed under Chambers's direction for Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke (d. 1796) of Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire and St. James's Square, London, who is recorded as a patron of Chambers in the 1760s (J. Harris, Sir William Chambers, London, 1970, p. 254, no. 149). In particular the present chairs relate to a cabriolet chair design, with alternate proposals, prepared around 1770 by the Berkeley Square cabinet-maker John Linnell (d. 1796) (Hayward and Kirkham, ibid, fig. 83).
It would appear that this is the model armchair that features in the portrait of the Earl's artistic Daughter Amabel (d.1833) executed at the time of her marriage to Lord Polwarth in 1772 (D. Adshead, 'Wedgwood, Wimpole and Wrest', Apollo, April 1996, pp. 31-36, fig. 1). The chairs may have formed part of the French-fashioned and tapestry-covered suite that furnished Wimpole's Red Drawing Room, and were listed in the 1835 inventory as '2 large cabriole sofas gilt frames, seats and backs stuffed and covered in Tapestry; 8 gilt frames cabriole Elbow chairs stuffed seats & backs & elbows covered to match'. A full examination of the 1881 inventory at Wimpole at the National Archives shows one potential entry in the Yellow Drawing Room of 'Six white and gilt Louis XVI chairs in crelonne' and 'Eight ditto arm chairs in velvet and yellow tapestry seats and coverings'. Interestingly, there are no sets of 18th century chairs identified as English in this inventory.
Wimpole was sold by the family in 1894 due to bankruptcy, at which time much of the original furniture from Wimpole was removed to Lanhydrock during the early 20th century and some of the furniture was sold by Christie's, London in 1953 including the superb set of six mahogany library chairs (a pair sold from the Collection of Nelson Grimaldi Seabra, in these Rooms, 22 October 2003, lot 120). These giltwood chairs do not appear in any of the photographs of the interior of Lanhydrock.
Alternatively, the chairs may have come from another of the Yorke properties such as Wrest Park in Bedfordshire or their London homes. Lady Polwarth, the 2nd Earl's daughter, had a special affection for Wrest Park and ran the estate with her nephew and heir Earl de Grey.