.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The mahogany dining-chairs were almost certainly supplied to Henry
Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne from 1809-1863, Earl of
Shelburne and as a member of the peerage of Ireland, Earl of Kerry,
Viscount Clan-Maurice, Baron Kerry and Lixmaw. As a prominent
politician in the Whig government (at the young age of twenty five Lord Lansdowne was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer) he owned two
principal country seats, Bowood House, Calne, Wiltshire (largely
demolished in 1955-56) and Derreen House, Kenmare, County Kerry,
Ireland in addition to London properties including Lansdowne House,
Berkeley Square, originally named Shelburne House.
It is likely that this set of seat furniture was acquired for one of
these properties, and my have been transferred between properties. By
1904, the chairs were at Bowood Park where they are illustrated in
situ in the Robert Adam designed Dining Room ('Bowood, Wiltshire, the
seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne', Country Life, May 21st, 1904,
p. 739). As his predecessor, and half-brother, the 2nd Marquess, had
virtually stripped Bowood bare of all furniture, the 3rd Marquess
embarked upon a period of regeneration in which he greatly enlarged and embellished the house, and built up a collection of valuable works of
art with which the rooms were enriched.
A related set of ten chairs sold Christie's New York, 6 March 2002, lot 380 (£8,225 including premium).
Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne from 1809-1863, Earl of
Shelburne and as a member of the peerage of Ireland, Earl of Kerry,
Viscount Clan-Maurice, Baron Kerry and Lixmaw. As a prominent
politician in the Whig government (at the young age of twenty five Lord Lansdowne was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer) he owned two
principal country seats, Bowood House, Calne, Wiltshire (largely
demolished in 1955-56) and Derreen House, Kenmare, County Kerry,
Ireland in addition to London properties including Lansdowne House,
Berkeley Square, originally named Shelburne House.
It is likely that this set of seat furniture was acquired for one of
these properties, and my have been transferred between properties. By
1904, the chairs were at Bowood Park where they are illustrated in
situ in the Robert Adam designed Dining Room ('Bowood, Wiltshire, the
seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne', Country Life, May 21st, 1904,
p. 739). As his predecessor, and half-brother, the 2nd Marquess, had
virtually stripped Bowood bare of all furniture, the 3rd Marquess
embarked upon a period of regeneration in which he greatly enlarged and embellished the house, and built up a collection of valuable works of
art with which the rooms were enriched.
A related set of ten chairs sold Christie's New York, 6 March 2002, lot 380 (£8,225 including premium).