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Lot Essay
These striking side cabinets or chiffoniers are conceived in the ‘Antique’ Louis Seize fashion, as popularized in Britain at the opening of the 19th century by court architect Henry Holland (d. 1806) and his associate the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796). This mode of decoration was employed by Holland in the furnishing of Carlton House for George, Prince of Wales (later Prince Regent and George IV) and consequently was quickly adopted by fashionable society, as evidenced by the group of furniture James Newton (fl. 1790-1821) supplied for Burghley House, Stamford, between 1783 and 1804 (see G. Ellwood, 'James Newton', Furniture History Society Journal, vol. XXXI, pp. 136-152, figs. 1-3). The design of these cabinets has much in common with the renowned cabinet maker’s known oeuvre and they are particularly closely related to the labelled Newton side cabinet from Belton House, Lincolnshire (Christie’s house sale, 30 April – 2 May 1984, lot 112), and two further related side cabinets in the collection at Burghley House, (op. cit.). Both examples exhibit Newton’s favoured combination of bright gilding set in contrast with marble and dark rosewood, but most notable perhaps is his employment of the distinctive fasces upright, as in these cabinets, which is a recurring motif amongst much of his known work. Stylised frieze masks, delicate ormolu mounts to the centre of the entablature and this type of lion’s paw foot all recur often amongst Newton’s known furniture, as do distinctive centrally located low superstructures (as present in the Burghley and Belton cabinets) with which there is some evidence to suggest that these cabinets may have been fitted.
These cabinets form part of a very small group of boldly stylised regency furniture, probably executed by various makers, from the collection of the Marquesses of Londonderry, which apparently predate the marriage of Charles William Stewart (later Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry) to the wealthy heiress Frances Anne Vane Tempest in 1819 and the subsequent rebuilding of Wynyard Park. This opens the possibility that they may have formed part of the furnishings of the earlier house at Wynyard, but their highly fashionable nature also raises the possibility that they could have formed part of the chattels of the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, the renowned Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh, inherited by the 3rd Marquess.
These cabinets form part of a very small group of boldly stylised regency furniture, probably executed by various makers, from the collection of the Marquesses of Londonderry, which apparently predate the marriage of Charles William Stewart (later Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry) to the wealthy heiress Frances Anne Vane Tempest in 1819 and the subsequent rebuilding of Wynyard Park. This opens the possibility that they may have formed part of the furnishings of the earlier house at Wynyard, but their highly fashionable nature also raises the possibility that they could have formed part of the chattels of the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, the renowned Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh, inherited by the 3rd Marquess.