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Lot Essay
THE DUNDAS CHAIR
This magnificent chair was part of the famous suite of seat-furniture, comprising eight armchairs and four sofas, designed by Robert Adam (d.1792) and supplied in 1765 to Sir Lawrence Dundas (d.1781) for the Great Room, 19 Arlington Street by Thomas Chippendale (d.1779). It is the only known instance of Chippendale, England's greatest cabinet-maker, executing a design by Adam, the nation's most influential architect. The design, submitted by Adam on the 18 July 1764 at a cost of £5, is now preserved at Sir John Soane's Museum. Collaboration between the pair was to be long-lasting with Chippendale, having demonstrated his ability to Adam and his clients, henceforth supplying furniture to his own designs inspired by the architect's innovative neo-classical style.
Of the two suites of seat-furniture Chippendale supplied to Arlington Street, the suite from which this chair is a part was the grander and more expensive. The exceptional quality of the chair is emphasised by its original cost - each chair (excluding the luxurious crimson silk damask which Sir Lawrence supplied) was invoiced at £20, exactly double the price Chippendale charged for the frames of the most expensive chairs (in the State Bedroom and Dressing Room) at Harewood House, Yorkshire, in 1773.
Chippendale's bill dated 9 July 1765 for 'Design of Sophas and chairs for ye Saloone', listed:
'To 8 large Arm Chairs exceeding
Richly Carv'd in the Antick manner
and Gilt in oil Gold Stuff'd and
cover'd with your own Damask - and
strong Castors on the feet 160-/-
8 leather cases to Ditto lin'd with
Flannel 8 8-/-
8 Crimson Check cases to Ditto 6-/-
4 large Sofas Exceeding Rich to match the Chairs 216-/-
4 leather cases to Ditto lin'd with Flannel 12 12-/-
4 Cheque Cases to Ditto 7 4-/-'
The suite was intended to line the walls of the great room-of-entertainment on the piano nobile of 19 Arlington Street, which was acquired by Sir Lawrence in 1763. It was upholstered en suite with its wall-hangings and curtains in Genoa damask, which may have been ordered by Sir Lawrence's son, Thomas Dundas (d.1820) during his Grand Tour in the early 1760s. The suite was recorded in 'An Inventory of the Furniture Etc. of Sir Laurence Dundas Bart., at His House in Arlington Street the 12 May 1768' in 'No. 17 Front Room, One pair of Stairs' as,
'4 Sophas gilt covered with Damask
8 Gilt Chairs covered with [Damask] Do.'
THE DESIGN
During this period Adam, having consolidated his reputation for true 'taste for the antique' through the publication of the Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro (1764), treated the façade of the Dundas chairs and sofa as the bas-relief of a Roman sarcophagus, introducing elements such as the confronted sphinx, derived in part from the Roman temple of Antoninus and Faustina as illustrated in A. Desgodetz's Les Edifices Antiques de Rome (1682).
The armchair pattern chosen for the 'Saloone' is an elegant rendition of the French-fashioned 'easy-chair', whose serpentine lines followed the picturesque Anglo-French style of the mid-18th century, as promoted by William Hogarth in his Analysis of Beauty (1753). This style was adopted by Chippendale for the armchair illustrated on his trade sign, when he established his St. Martin's Lane 'Cabinet and Upholstery Warehouse' in 1754. One of his 'French Easy Chairs' with cartouche back also served to illustrate the trade-card he issued in conjunction with his Scottish partner James Rannie (d.1766), while others featured in his celebrated furnishing pattern-books, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1753, 55 and 62).
SIR LAWRENCE DUNDAS
Scion of the Dundases of Fingask, an ancient Perthshire family dispossessed of their lands in the 17th century, Sir Lawrence's meteoric rise to power and fortune was uneclipsed in the 18th century. 'The Nabob of the North' was the outstanding merchant-venturer of his day making his fortune by supplying goods to the British Army during their campaigns against the Jacobites and in Flanders throughout the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). He subsequently entered into banking, property and was a major backer of the Forth and Clyde Canal which coincidentally crossed his estate at Kerse near Falkirk. James Boswell accounted him 'a cunning shrewd man of the world'. In 1762, he was raised to the Baronetcy and, under Lord Shelburne's sponsorship, was elected MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, whom he served from 1762-68. Validating that financial success and political ambition have always been inextricably linked with architectural patronage, in 1762, Sir Lawrence embarked on a large-scale programme of land and property acquisition including Cleveland, Marske, Loftus and Aske, and in 1763, he purchased Moor Park and Arlington Street.
Elected a member of the Society of Dilettanti in 1750, Dundas was perfectly complemented in all things aesthetic by his 'dear life' Margaret Bruce of Kennet (1715-1802), whom he had married in 1738. That Sir Lawrence depended heavily on his wife's taste is profoundly clear from their correspondence. Thus, in discussing Aske, which they had acquired furnished from Lord Holderness, he wrote: 'some of the furniture is old and should be changed. but everything of this sort I leave to your taste which is the best I have ever met with', while elsewhere he laments the 'difference one finds in coming from Moor Park where you have everything in such order'. The Dundases' remarkable architectural and artistic patronage was very much the product of their union.
19 ARLINGTON STREET
As Horace Walpole noted, 'From my earliest recollection, Arlington Street has been the Ministerial street', and it was to serve this political end that in 1763 Sir Lawrence engaged Robert Adam (d.1792) to draw up plans for improvements to his new London mansion. Characteristic of all the Dundas houses, it was upon the interiors, the furnishings and pictures, that Sir Lawrence and Lady Dundas lavished their attention, and it is for this that they are rightfully recognised as among the greatest connoisseurs of the 18th century. Perhaps nowhere reveals this more clearly than the interiors of Arlington Street. Unlike at Moor Park, Adam enjoyed a free hand, supplying designs for everything from 'Termes for the salon' as well as the 'vase candlesticks' that stood upon them, to 'painting in of all the parts of the carpet at large for Mr. Moor' of Moorfields, quite apart from the 'design of Sofa chairs for the Salon £5'. As Lady Shelburne noted in 1768, 'I had vast pleasure in seeing a house which I had so much admired, and improved as much as possible. The apartment for company is up one pair of stairs, the Great Room is now hung with red damask, and with a few large and capital pictures, with very noble glasses between the piers, and Gilt chairs'. This 'red damask' was 'your (Sir Lawrence's) crimson Genoa damask', hung by William France in 1764, while the 'very noble glasses' were ordered from the Manufacture Royale des Glaces in Paris in 1763.
The furnishing of all of Sir Lawrence's properties was of equal splendour. Indeed, he remains arguably the most important patron of later 18th century cabinet-makers, and has the distinction, perhaps uniquely, of employing virtually all of the greatest exponents of this art during George III's reign. As his account books so remarkably testify, Dundas employed no less than Samuel Norman, Fell and Turton, Chippendale and Rannie, Vile and Cobb, France and Bradburn, Mayhew and Ince, James Lawson and Pierre Langlois in the 1760s alone.
ANALYSIS OF THE GILDING
The Dundas suite was originally oil-gilt. This is thought to be because the incredible richness of carving would have been lost in the brightness and contrast of burnished water-gilding. Oil-gilding is more uniform and would have given the carving more presence than if it had been water-gilt, which would have necessitated burnishing. This chair (like the pair of chairs and sofa sold Christie's, London, 18 June 2008, lots 4 and 5) was restored by Carvers and Gilders in 1998 and tested by University College London. Several layers of gilding are present. The original scheme was a varnished oil-gilding, on an oil mordant tinted with yellow ochre, then a thick coating of animal size glue over a layer of gesso. The next layer applied was a water-gilding on a greyish-brown clay, thought to date from the first half of the 19th century. After this, a water-gilding on a brown clay was applied and then a water-gilding on a bright-red clay, both thought to date from the 1960s and 1970s. The top layer was a bronze paint. These later layers were removed and traces of the original oil-gilding and gesso preserved. Fortunately, a significant amount of the original gesso, gilding preparation and oil-gilding has remained.
Relatively minor repairs were also carried out to the carving. A new gilding layer was applied: first, the original exposed surface was sealed with a shellac and this was then water-gilt which was then distressed using earth pigments, a little rabbit-skin and then toned down using a spirit-based toning.
This magnificent chair was part of the famous suite of seat-furniture, comprising eight armchairs and four sofas, designed by Robert Adam (d.1792) and supplied in 1765 to Sir Lawrence Dundas (d.1781) for the Great Room, 19 Arlington Street by Thomas Chippendale (d.1779). It is the only known instance of Chippendale, England's greatest cabinet-maker, executing a design by Adam, the nation's most influential architect. The design, submitted by Adam on the 18 July 1764 at a cost of £5, is now preserved at Sir John Soane's Museum. Collaboration between the pair was to be long-lasting with Chippendale, having demonstrated his ability to Adam and his clients, henceforth supplying furniture to his own designs inspired by the architect's innovative neo-classical style.
Of the two suites of seat-furniture Chippendale supplied to Arlington Street, the suite from which this chair is a part was the grander and more expensive. The exceptional quality of the chair is emphasised by its original cost - each chair (excluding the luxurious crimson silk damask which Sir Lawrence supplied) was invoiced at £20, exactly double the price Chippendale charged for the frames of the most expensive chairs (in the State Bedroom and Dressing Room) at Harewood House, Yorkshire, in 1773.
Chippendale's bill dated 9 July 1765 for 'Design of Sophas and chairs for ye Saloone', listed:
'To 8 large Arm Chairs exceeding
Richly Carv'd in the Antick manner
and Gilt in oil Gold Stuff'd and
cover'd with your own Damask - and
strong Castors on the feet 160-/-
8 leather cases to Ditto lin'd with
Flannel 8 8-/-
8 Crimson Check cases to Ditto 6-/-
4 large Sofas Exceeding Rich to match the Chairs 216-/-
4 leather cases to Ditto lin'd with Flannel 12 12-/-
4 Cheque Cases to Ditto 7 4-/-'
The suite was intended to line the walls of the great room-of-entertainment on the piano nobile of 19 Arlington Street, which was acquired by Sir Lawrence in 1763. It was upholstered en suite with its wall-hangings and curtains in Genoa damask, which may have been ordered by Sir Lawrence's son, Thomas Dundas (d.1820) during his Grand Tour in the early 1760s. The suite was recorded in 'An Inventory of the Furniture Etc. of Sir Laurence Dundas Bart., at His House in Arlington Street the 12 May 1768' in 'No. 17 Front Room, One pair of Stairs' as,
'4 Sophas gilt covered with Damask
8 Gilt Chairs covered with [Damask] Do.'
THE DESIGN
During this period Adam, having consolidated his reputation for true 'taste for the antique' through the publication of the Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro (1764), treated the façade of the Dundas chairs and sofa as the bas-relief of a Roman sarcophagus, introducing elements such as the confronted sphinx, derived in part from the Roman temple of Antoninus and Faustina as illustrated in A. Desgodetz's Les Edifices Antiques de Rome (1682).
The armchair pattern chosen for the 'Saloone' is an elegant rendition of the French-fashioned 'easy-chair', whose serpentine lines followed the picturesque Anglo-French style of the mid-18th century, as promoted by William Hogarth in his Analysis of Beauty (1753). This style was adopted by Chippendale for the armchair illustrated on his trade sign, when he established his St. Martin's Lane 'Cabinet and Upholstery Warehouse' in 1754. One of his 'French Easy Chairs' with cartouche back also served to illustrate the trade-card he issued in conjunction with his Scottish partner James Rannie (d.1766), while others featured in his celebrated furnishing pattern-books, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1753, 55 and 62).
SIR LAWRENCE DUNDAS
Scion of the Dundases of Fingask, an ancient Perthshire family dispossessed of their lands in the 17th century, Sir Lawrence's meteoric rise to power and fortune was uneclipsed in the 18th century. 'The Nabob of the North' was the outstanding merchant-venturer of his day making his fortune by supplying goods to the British Army during their campaigns against the Jacobites and in Flanders throughout the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). He subsequently entered into banking, property and was a major backer of the Forth and Clyde Canal which coincidentally crossed his estate at Kerse near Falkirk. James Boswell accounted him 'a cunning shrewd man of the world'. In 1762, he was raised to the Baronetcy and, under Lord Shelburne's sponsorship, was elected MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, whom he served from 1762-68. Validating that financial success and political ambition have always been inextricably linked with architectural patronage, in 1762, Sir Lawrence embarked on a large-scale programme of land and property acquisition including Cleveland, Marske, Loftus and Aske, and in 1763, he purchased Moor Park and Arlington Street.
Elected a member of the Society of Dilettanti in 1750, Dundas was perfectly complemented in all things aesthetic by his 'dear life' Margaret Bruce of Kennet (1715-1802), whom he had married in 1738. That Sir Lawrence depended heavily on his wife's taste is profoundly clear from their correspondence. Thus, in discussing Aske, which they had acquired furnished from Lord Holderness, he wrote: 'some of the furniture is old and should be changed. but everything of this sort I leave to your taste which is the best I have ever met with', while elsewhere he laments the 'difference one finds in coming from Moor Park where you have everything in such order'. The Dundases' remarkable architectural and artistic patronage was very much the product of their union.
19 ARLINGTON STREET
As Horace Walpole noted, 'From my earliest recollection, Arlington Street has been the Ministerial street', and it was to serve this political end that in 1763 Sir Lawrence engaged Robert Adam (d.1792) to draw up plans for improvements to his new London mansion. Characteristic of all the Dundas houses, it was upon the interiors, the furnishings and pictures, that Sir Lawrence and Lady Dundas lavished their attention, and it is for this that they are rightfully recognised as among the greatest connoisseurs of the 18th century. Perhaps nowhere reveals this more clearly than the interiors of Arlington Street. Unlike at Moor Park, Adam enjoyed a free hand, supplying designs for everything from 'Termes for the salon' as well as the 'vase candlesticks' that stood upon them, to 'painting in of all the parts of the carpet at large for Mr. Moor' of Moorfields, quite apart from the 'design of Sofa chairs for the Salon £5'. As Lady Shelburne noted in 1768, 'I had vast pleasure in seeing a house which I had so much admired, and improved as much as possible. The apartment for company is up one pair of stairs, the Great Room is now hung with red damask, and with a few large and capital pictures, with very noble glasses between the piers, and Gilt chairs'. This 'red damask' was 'your (Sir Lawrence's) crimson Genoa damask', hung by William France in 1764, while the 'very noble glasses' were ordered from the Manufacture Royale des Glaces in Paris in 1763.
The furnishing of all of Sir Lawrence's properties was of equal splendour. Indeed, he remains arguably the most important patron of later 18th century cabinet-makers, and has the distinction, perhaps uniquely, of employing virtually all of the greatest exponents of this art during George III's reign. As his account books so remarkably testify, Dundas employed no less than Samuel Norman, Fell and Turton, Chippendale and Rannie, Vile and Cobb, France and Bradburn, Mayhew and Ince, James Lawson and Pierre Langlois in the 1760s alone.
ANALYSIS OF THE GILDING
The Dundas suite was originally oil-gilt. This is thought to be because the incredible richness of carving would have been lost in the brightness and contrast of burnished water-gilding. Oil-gilding is more uniform and would have given the carving more presence than if it had been water-gilt, which would have necessitated burnishing. This chair (like the pair of chairs and sofa sold Christie's, London, 18 June 2008, lots 4 and 5) was restored by Carvers and Gilders in 1998 and tested by University College London. Several layers of gilding are present. The original scheme was a varnished oil-gilding, on an oil mordant tinted with yellow ochre, then a thick coating of animal size glue over a layer of gesso. The next layer applied was a water-gilding on a greyish-brown clay, thought to date from the first half of the 19th century. After this, a water-gilding on a brown clay was applied and then a water-gilding on a bright-red clay, both thought to date from the 1960s and 1970s. The top layer was a bronze paint. These later layers were removed and traces of the original oil-gilding and gesso preserved. Fortunately, a significant amount of the original gesso, gilding preparation and oil-gilding has remained.
Relatively minor repairs were also carried out to the carving. A new gilding layer was applied: first, the original exposed surface was sealed with a shellac and this was then water-gilt which was then distressed using earth pigments, a little rabbit-skin and then toned down using a spirit-based toning.