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Lot Essay
ICONOGRAPHY
These magnificent George II Roman sideboards have marble slabs raised on sarcophagus-scrolled frames, whose trussed pilasters reflect the antique fashion introduced by the court architect Inigo Jones (d. 1652), and promoted as a Roman-British style by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington through his protégés, the Rome-trained artist architect William Kent (d. 1748) and Isaac Ware, author of Designs of Inigo Jones of 1731.
Their antique ornament evokes the banquets of the Gods as recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses, or Loves of the Gods, and recalls the Roman dramatist Terence's celebrated adage Sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus (love grows cold without food and wine). Here fruit-baskets are supported by caryatic and veil-draped nymph-heads; while pearl-gadrooned Pan reeds tie Roman acanthus to the cornices. Festoons of Jupiters sacred oak garland the heads of these nymphs satyr-attendants of the wine-deity Bacchus, and are accompanied by fruit-filled cornucopiae; the horns-of-plenty sacred to the harvest deity Ceres. In addition, triumphal arches of ribbon-scrolled acanthus issue from Ionic voluted pilasters, and are intended to frame marble wine-cisterns placed beneath the marble slabs. The tables are further decked with bacchic thyrsus cones; while their pilasters imbricated dolphin-scales and shell-scallops recall the triumphal nature-deity Venus.
Such caryatic heads relate to those on Kent's garden-seats designed for Kensington Palace and Holkham Hall, and also recall Wencelaus Hollar's 1652 engraving of an Arcadian basket-bearing sphinx in the manner of Giulio Romano (W. Vardy, Some Designs of Mr. Inigo Jones and Mr. William Kent, 1744, pl. 38; L. Schmidt, Holkham, 2005, p. 60, fig. 26; and J. Friedman, Spencer House, 1993, fig. 61).
The design, with its cornucopiae, also relates to Kent's 1731 pattern for a sideboard in the marble-parlour at Houghton Hall; and to his Roman sideboard, with shell-decked plinth, featured in his illustrations for the poet Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Odyssey of 1726 (Vardy, ibid., pl. 41; and M. Wilson, William Kent, 1984 and reproduced here).
RAYNHAM HALL DESIGN AND A QUESTION OF PROVENANCE
These tables are of strikingly similar design to a painted sideboard, also with a brèche violette marble slab, that remains in situ at Raynham Hall, Norfolk (M. Jourdain, The Work of William Kent, 1948, fig. 70 and 'Raynham Hall - I Norfolk', Country Life, 14 November 1925, p. 784, fig. 5). Although the present pair is more elaborate with their additional lower scrolls and pineapple finials, all tables share very similar masks and cornucopiae and the unusual individual canted plinths. Intriguingly, their overall design harmonises with the painted ceiling of Raynham's great parlour or room-of-entertainment, whose mosaiced ceiling has fruit-enriched beams in the Inigo Jones manner. Kent's aggrandisement of this room for Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (d. 1738) in the late 1720's, included a cornice whose garlanded heads were en suite with that featured on the temple-pedimented and truss-scrolled chimney-piece.
Interestingly, the catalogue entry for the Wateringbury Place table suggests a reputed provenance from Raynham although to date no evidence has come to light to bear this out. An examination of the 1811 and 1908 inventories at Raynham (but not the 1757 and 1862 inventories which cannot be located) do not list the tables; nor do they appear in the sale of 'Highly Important OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE from Raynham Hall, Norfolk FORMING PART OF The Townshend Heirlooms' conducted by Sotheby's on 24 June 1921, however there were other properties owned by the family at Balls Park, Hertfordshire and London and furnishings are known to have been transferred between them. It is relevent to consider the celebrated group of five Chippendale-pattern commodes with connections to Raynham whose history is equally complex. The group includes an example at the Philadelphia Museum of Art which was sold in the 1921 sale, and its pair sold at Christie's, New York, by French and Company (24 November 1988, lot 60) which appears to have left the collection in circa 1900 (see the footnote in the French and Company sale catalogue which discusses the group in full). Another from the group at Philadelphia is of a related pattern and also has firm ties to Raynham, an indication that indeed companion suites were commissioned by Viscount Townshend.
An extant 'Bill of Carving' from 'Master Sculptor & Carver in Wood' James Richards for Viscount Townshend at Raynham is dated 28 April 1730. Richards also charged £9.11.6d for a second similar table originally intended for the dining room and described as 'A table frame under the glass frame, with four truess, a piece of ornament in ye front with a head, cornucopia's of fruit and flowers, foliage in the front ends and the moldings carved'. Richards is known to have worked with Kent on Royal commissions, notably the Royal Barge executed in 1732, and his name appears in several country house archives. He may have been responsible for these tables. Other prominent craftsmen employed by Kent include James Moore the Elder, Benjamin Goodison, Matthias Lock and Giles Grendey.
RECENT PROVENANCE ON THE TWO TABLES
Despite the tables being parted in the 20th century, the similar construction of the frames and the use of identical marble veneer on the 18th century marble tops strongly point to the two tables having been conceived as a pair in the 1730's.
One table was owned by the inveterate collector, dealer and designer David Style. In 1945, he purchased his family's former home, Wateringbury Place near Maidstone. Christie's held the landmark sale at Wateringbury in 1978 which included one of the offered pair of tables. Other pieces of extraordinary quality from the Style collection include: the Italian ormolu and pietra dura cabinet from Hamilton Palace, pieces from Ashburnham Place and Leeds Castle, and a suite of Regency furniture by Morel & Hughes from Northumberland House. This table and another of similar inspiration, lot 269 in the Wateringbury sale, were later acquired for the collections formed for 22 Arlington Street, a mansion designed by William Kent. The latter table and its later pair was sold as part of '22 Arlington Street, A William Kent House', Christie's, London, 11 May 2005, lot 9.
The other table, most recently sold at Bonhams, came from the collection of the late Sir Nicholas Frederick Hedworth Williamson, 11th Bt. (d. 2000) of Whitburn Hall in County Durham. The family came into Whitburn during the time of the 6th Baronet (d. 1810) and the house was enlarged and embellished by successive Baronets in the nineteenth century. While a 'Neo-Baroque' style wing was built in around 1881 by the 8th Baronet (d. 1900), it seems most likely that the table was acquired by the 9th Baronet, Sir Hedworth Williamson (d. 1942), a bachelor who inherited a massive fortune and was actively collecting at a time when palladian furniture was in fashion. A notable acquisition was the superb set of rococo panelling from Chesterfield House which he installed at Whitburn after Chesterfield was demolished in 1937. The table was on loan at the Bowes Museum from the 1960s.
The Hedworth Williamson table had undergone a comprehensive analysis of the decoration when sold at Bonhams which revealed an unusual green-toned decoration beneath further 18th, 19th and 20th century layers - eighteen in all.
These magnificent George II Roman sideboards have marble slabs raised on sarcophagus-scrolled frames, whose trussed pilasters reflect the antique fashion introduced by the court architect Inigo Jones (d. 1652), and promoted as a Roman-British style by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington through his protégés, the Rome-trained artist architect William Kent (d. 1748) and Isaac Ware, author of Designs of Inigo Jones of 1731.
Their antique ornament evokes the banquets of the Gods as recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses, or Loves of the Gods, and recalls the Roman dramatist Terence's celebrated adage Sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus (love grows cold without food and wine). Here fruit-baskets are supported by caryatic and veil-draped nymph-heads; while pearl-gadrooned Pan reeds tie Roman acanthus to the cornices. Festoons of Jupiters sacred oak garland the heads of these nymphs satyr-attendants of the wine-deity Bacchus, and are accompanied by fruit-filled cornucopiae; the horns-of-plenty sacred to the harvest deity Ceres. In addition, triumphal arches of ribbon-scrolled acanthus issue from Ionic voluted pilasters, and are intended to frame marble wine-cisterns placed beneath the marble slabs. The tables are further decked with bacchic thyrsus cones; while their pilasters imbricated dolphin-scales and shell-scallops recall the triumphal nature-deity Venus.
Such caryatic heads relate to those on Kent's garden-seats designed for Kensington Palace and Holkham Hall, and also recall Wencelaus Hollar's 1652 engraving of an Arcadian basket-bearing sphinx in the manner of Giulio Romano (W. Vardy, Some Designs of Mr. Inigo Jones and Mr. William Kent, 1744, pl. 38; L. Schmidt, Holkham, 2005, p. 60, fig. 26; and J. Friedman, Spencer House, 1993, fig. 61).
The design, with its cornucopiae, also relates to Kent's 1731 pattern for a sideboard in the marble-parlour at Houghton Hall; and to his Roman sideboard, with shell-decked plinth, featured in his illustrations for the poet Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Odyssey of 1726 (Vardy, ibid., pl. 41; and M. Wilson, William Kent, 1984 and reproduced here).
RAYNHAM HALL DESIGN AND A QUESTION OF PROVENANCE
These tables are of strikingly similar design to a painted sideboard, also with a brèche violette marble slab, that remains in situ at Raynham Hall, Norfolk (M. Jourdain, The Work of William Kent, 1948, fig. 70 and 'Raynham Hall - I Norfolk', Country Life, 14 November 1925, p. 784, fig. 5). Although the present pair is more elaborate with their additional lower scrolls and pineapple finials, all tables share very similar masks and cornucopiae and the unusual individual canted plinths. Intriguingly, their overall design harmonises with the painted ceiling of Raynham's great parlour or room-of-entertainment, whose mosaiced ceiling has fruit-enriched beams in the Inigo Jones manner. Kent's aggrandisement of this room for Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (d. 1738) in the late 1720's, included a cornice whose garlanded heads were en suite with that featured on the temple-pedimented and truss-scrolled chimney-piece.
Interestingly, the catalogue entry for the Wateringbury Place table suggests a reputed provenance from Raynham although to date no evidence has come to light to bear this out. An examination of the 1811 and 1908 inventories at Raynham (but not the 1757 and 1862 inventories which cannot be located) do not list the tables; nor do they appear in the sale of 'Highly Important OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE from Raynham Hall, Norfolk FORMING PART OF The Townshend Heirlooms' conducted by Sotheby's on 24 June 1921, however there were other properties owned by the family at Balls Park, Hertfordshire and London and furnishings are known to have been transferred between them. It is relevent to consider the celebrated group of five Chippendale-pattern commodes with connections to Raynham whose history is equally complex. The group includes an example at the Philadelphia Museum of Art which was sold in the 1921 sale, and its pair sold at Christie's, New York, by French and Company (24 November 1988, lot 60) which appears to have left the collection in circa 1900 (see the footnote in the French and Company sale catalogue which discusses the group in full). Another from the group at Philadelphia is of a related pattern and also has firm ties to Raynham, an indication that indeed companion suites were commissioned by Viscount Townshend.
An extant 'Bill of Carving' from 'Master Sculptor & Carver in Wood' James Richards for Viscount Townshend at Raynham is dated 28 April 1730. Richards also charged £9.11.6d for a second similar table originally intended for the dining room and described as 'A table frame under the glass frame, with four truess, a piece of ornament in ye front with a head, cornucopia's of fruit and flowers, foliage in the front ends and the moldings carved'. Richards is known to have worked with Kent on Royal commissions, notably the Royal Barge executed in 1732, and his name appears in several country house archives. He may have been responsible for these tables. Other prominent craftsmen employed by Kent include James Moore the Elder, Benjamin Goodison, Matthias Lock and Giles Grendey.
RECENT PROVENANCE ON THE TWO TABLES
Despite the tables being parted in the 20th century, the similar construction of the frames and the use of identical marble veneer on the 18th century marble tops strongly point to the two tables having been conceived as a pair in the 1730's.
One table was owned by the inveterate collector, dealer and designer David Style. In 1945, he purchased his family's former home, Wateringbury Place near Maidstone. Christie's held the landmark sale at Wateringbury in 1978 which included one of the offered pair of tables. Other pieces of extraordinary quality from the Style collection include: the Italian ormolu and pietra dura cabinet from Hamilton Palace, pieces from Ashburnham Place and Leeds Castle, and a suite of Regency furniture by Morel & Hughes from Northumberland House. This table and another of similar inspiration, lot 269 in the Wateringbury sale, were later acquired for the collections formed for 22 Arlington Street, a mansion designed by William Kent. The latter table and its later pair was sold as part of '22 Arlington Street, A William Kent House', Christie's, London, 11 May 2005, lot 9.
The other table, most recently sold at Bonhams, came from the collection of the late Sir Nicholas Frederick Hedworth Williamson, 11th Bt. (d. 2000) of Whitburn Hall in County Durham. The family came into Whitburn during the time of the 6th Baronet (d. 1810) and the house was enlarged and embellished by successive Baronets in the nineteenth century. While a 'Neo-Baroque' style wing was built in around 1881 by the 8th Baronet (d. 1900), it seems most likely that the table was acquired by the 9th Baronet, Sir Hedworth Williamson (d. 1942), a bachelor who inherited a massive fortune and was actively collecting at a time when palladian furniture was in fashion. A notable acquisition was the superb set of rococo panelling from Chesterfield House which he installed at Whitburn after Chesterfield was demolished in 1937. The table was on loan at the Bowes Museum from the 1960s.
The Hedworth Williamson table had undergone a comprehensive analysis of the decoration when sold at Bonhams which revealed an unusual green-toned decoration beneath further 18th, 19th and 20th century layers - eighteen in all.