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Lot Essay
This magnificent sofa, gilded and japanned in trompe l'oeil Grecian black-figured rosewood, formed part of the Corporation of the City of London's 1803 aggrandisement of the state apartments at the City's Mansion House. The palatial Roman-styled mansion provided the official residence of the Lord Mayor, who was head of the Corporation, Chief Magistrate of the City, and Admiral of the Port of London. It formed part of the stately re-furnishing instigated in the late l8th century and headed by the City's 'most magnificent' dome-canopied bed. This lion-footed bed displayed the 'Sword of State' borne by a female personification of the City of London, which was then celebrated as the 'Chief Emporium in the Universe'. The bed's iconography corresponded to that of the Mansion facade, where the temple-pediment featured a river-deity, representing the Thames, reposed on an anchor beside a ship to indicate 'the sovereign Navigation of that Noble River, which commands the Wealth of remotest Nations' (Jeffrey, op. cit., 1993, p. 84). The present sofa relates to this Egyptian-columned bed, commissioned in 1801, as well as to the Mansion House's 'Egyptian' sideboard, whose pillars displayed bronzed lions' heads and claws.
Together with its pair, this sofa furnished the Drawing Room, while a smaller version furnished the adjoining Ante Room. In addition a set of twenty four armchairs, lining the walls of the en suite rooms, were executed to the model of a 'pattern' chair provided by the Rome-trained architect George Dance Junior (d. 1825), who had succeeded his father as 'Clerk' of the City's Works in Architecture. Such heroic furnishings were to prove particularly appropriate for rooms in which celebrations took place to commemorate the establishment of Peace with France following the Peace of Amiens in March 1802, although the peace was to end in May 1803, before the suite was delivered.
The sofa was executed by the Fenchurch Street cabinet-maker John Phillips (d. 1812), who described himself as 'Upholder to the City of London' since 1780, when he supplied the Lord Mayor's Chair of State. It was Phillips's 'Carpet, Upholstery, Cabinet and Paper Hanging Warehouse' that also supplied the Mansion House bed, and was also probably responsible for executing the 'pattern' chair that provided the prototype for this historic suite of seat furniture. Their damask upholstery was supplied by the Covent Garden mercer Mr. King.
There were two sofas 7 ft. 6 in. long and 2 ft. 9 in. wide which were invoiced as having:- 'fronts, ends, arms and legs to correspond with the seats [and] stuffed as chairs and Backs stuffed, with loose frames.. 'four large square French bolsters covered with Damask with a large Vellum Rose and two Tassels to each'. A small sofa 6 ft. 6 in. long was supplied without bolsters (Jeffrey, op. cit., p. 220). The furniture was provided with two pairs of covers, one being in leather and the other in chintz.
One of the sofas was described in the 1804 inventory as having the city's coat-of-arms in its cresting. This seems likely to be the smaller one, which is still at the Mansion House and which has a removable later Regency-style acroteria cresting.
Dance had estimated that each 'elegant Sopha black Rose wood and rich burnished gold with silk Cushions to the back and silk squab at the bottom' would cost £80, and the contract with Philips was signed on 21 April 1803. The estimates, Phillips's contract and the 1804 inventory all detail its original upholstery as yellow silk damask trimmed with gimp.
Early 20th century furniture historians mistakenly named this as the 'Nile' suite on account of a pattern for an anchor-back chair published in T. Sheraton's, Cabinet Encyclopaedia of 1806, and named after Admiral Nelson (d. 1805), who was famed, before his death at the battle of Trafalgar, as the hero of the battle of the Nile (1798).
Together with its pair, this sofa furnished the Drawing Room, while a smaller version furnished the adjoining Ante Room. In addition a set of twenty four armchairs, lining the walls of the en suite rooms, were executed to the model of a 'pattern' chair provided by the Rome-trained architect George Dance Junior (d. 1825), who had succeeded his father as 'Clerk' of the City's Works in Architecture. Such heroic furnishings were to prove particularly appropriate for rooms in which celebrations took place to commemorate the establishment of Peace with France following the Peace of Amiens in March 1802, although the peace was to end in May 1803, before the suite was delivered.
The sofa was executed by the Fenchurch Street cabinet-maker John Phillips (d. 1812), who described himself as 'Upholder to the City of London' since 1780, when he supplied the Lord Mayor's Chair of State. It was Phillips's 'Carpet, Upholstery, Cabinet and Paper Hanging Warehouse' that also supplied the Mansion House bed, and was also probably responsible for executing the 'pattern' chair that provided the prototype for this historic suite of seat furniture. Their damask upholstery was supplied by the Covent Garden mercer Mr. King.
There were two sofas 7 ft. 6 in. long and 2 ft. 9 in. wide which were invoiced as having:- 'fronts, ends, arms and legs to correspond with the seats [and] stuffed as chairs and Backs stuffed, with loose frames.. 'four large square French bolsters covered with Damask with a large Vellum Rose and two Tassels to each'. A small sofa 6 ft. 6 in. long was supplied without bolsters (Jeffrey, op. cit., p. 220). The furniture was provided with two pairs of covers, one being in leather and the other in chintz.
One of the sofas was described in the 1804 inventory as having the city's coat-of-arms in its cresting. This seems likely to be the smaller one, which is still at the Mansion House and which has a removable later Regency-style acroteria cresting.
Dance had estimated that each 'elegant Sopha black Rose wood and rich burnished gold with silk Cushions to the back and silk squab at the bottom' would cost £80, and the contract with Philips was signed on 21 April 1803. The estimates, Phillips's contract and the 1804 inventory all detail its original upholstery as yellow silk damask trimmed with gimp.
Early 20th century furniture historians mistakenly named this as the 'Nile' suite on account of a pattern for an anchor-back chair published in T. Sheraton's, Cabinet Encyclopaedia of 1806, and named after Admiral Nelson (d. 1805), who was famed, before his death at the battle of Trafalgar, as the hero of the battle of the Nile (1798).