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Lot Essay
The pedestals, executed in lustrous mahogany, relate to a number of similar examples in the collection of the Earls of Harewood at Harewood House, Yorkshire. Thomas Chippendale embarked upon this most prestigious and valuable commission for Edwin Lascelles from 1767, the work detailed in an invoice running to fifteen foolscap pages, and a Day Work Book covering the period 1796 - 76. After his death in 1779 his son Thomas Chippendale the Younger was still active at Harewood, invoicing pier tables for the gallery as late as 1796, though it is not clear when some of the later furnishings, listed in a 1795 inventory, were actually supplied, and hence whether the work of the father or son.
Among pedestals from Harewood, and thus by or attributed to the Elder or Younger Chippendale, are a single green-painted example with the same carved half paterae as the present lot, sold Christie's London, 3 October 1988, lot 179 (£7,150 including premium), while a pair of white-painted pedestals remain in situ in the Principal Staircase at Harewood. Chippendale supplied a further set of green japanned and gold pedestals for the Main Staircase, invoiced on 26 August 1774 at a cost of £90-120 (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, vol. II, p. 208, fig. 380).
The very distinctive half patera ornament also features on a set of eight ornately carved mahogany chairs supplied by Chippendale to Sir Richard Worsley for the Library at Appuldurcombe Park, Isle of Wight, (Ed. L. Boynton, 'Sir Richard Worsley's Furniture at Appuldurcombe Park', Furniture History Society, 1965, p. 45).
THE HAGUE COLLECTION
The present pedestals bear the label for the Hague Collection, formed by Sir Harry (d. 1960) and Lady Hague at The Chantry, Elstree, Hertfordshire. A successful businessman, Sir Harry was managing director of A. Wander Ltd., the company that manufactured Ovaltine. During that time Sir Harry formed a fine collection of mainly English furniture, in which he was advised by the renowned furniture historian and connoisseur R.W. Symonds. It included important pieces acquired from Padworth House and Glemhall Hall together with mahogany furniture attributed to Thomas Chippendale such as a pair of candle stands illustrated in M. Jourdain, 'The Collection of Sir Harry and Lady Hague', Apollo, no. 45, 1947, pp. 38-40, 75-8, 82.
Although eighty lots from Sir Harry's collection were sold at auction by his widow on 23rd June 1961, many catalogued as sold with Symonds certificate of authenticity, the pedestals offered here were not included in the sale, nor do they feature in subsequent sales of the family's furniture held in the second half of the 1960s.
Among pedestals from Harewood, and thus by or attributed to the Elder or Younger Chippendale, are a single green-painted example with the same carved half paterae as the present lot, sold Christie's London, 3 October 1988, lot 179 (£7,150 including premium), while a pair of white-painted pedestals remain in situ in the Principal Staircase at Harewood. Chippendale supplied a further set of green japanned and gold pedestals for the Main Staircase, invoiced on 26 August 1774 at a cost of £90-120 (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, vol. II, p. 208, fig. 380).
The very distinctive half patera ornament also features on a set of eight ornately carved mahogany chairs supplied by Chippendale to Sir Richard Worsley for the Library at Appuldurcombe Park, Isle of Wight, (Ed. L. Boynton, 'Sir Richard Worsley's Furniture at Appuldurcombe Park', Furniture History Society, 1965, p. 45).
THE HAGUE COLLECTION
The present pedestals bear the label for the Hague Collection, formed by Sir Harry (d. 1960) and Lady Hague at The Chantry, Elstree, Hertfordshire. A successful businessman, Sir Harry was managing director of A. Wander Ltd., the company that manufactured Ovaltine. During that time Sir Harry formed a fine collection of mainly English furniture, in which he was advised by the renowned furniture historian and connoisseur R.W. Symonds. It included important pieces acquired from Padworth House and Glemhall Hall together with mahogany furniture attributed to Thomas Chippendale such as a pair of candle stands illustrated in M. Jourdain, 'The Collection of Sir Harry and Lady Hague', Apollo, no. 45, 1947, pp. 38-40, 75-8, 82.
Although eighty lots from Sir Harry's collection were sold at auction by his widow on 23rd June 1961, many catalogued as sold with Symonds certificate of authenticity, the pedestals offered here were not included in the sale, nor do they feature in subsequent sales of the family's furniture held in the second half of the 1960s.