ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS CHIPPENDALE, CIRCA 1770 - 75

Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Baronet, availed himself of Thomas Chippendale’s (d. 1779) complete house-furnishing service at Nostell Priory, Yorkshire, and 11 St. James’s Square, London from 1766-85. Although the accounts are incomplete, there is a gap between the last entry dated 28 October 1771 until April 1778, the extant papers show a miscellany of furniture including a large proportion of plain mahogany items. While Sir Rowland favoured richly styled but not overtly opulent furnishings, the sober and unembellished form of the present bureau cabinet, termed the ‘restrained Nostell style’, identifies it as a functional piece of furniture probably intended for a family rather than state room; the label ‘NORTH LOWER HALL’ possibly referring to the north corridor leading from what is now the Lower Hall, the main ground floor entrance to Nostell Priory (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 170). The understated form is countered by the quality of the bureau cabinet’s construction and the exceptionally fine figuring of the veneers, particularly the door panels, while Chippendale's characteristic gilt brass `bail' handles contrast with the rich striated hues of the mahogany. Interestingly, although it is in the vein of the Nostell Priory lady’s secretaire of 1766 (which had wing cupboards added a year later), and a clothes-press supplied in 1767 for Sir Rowland’s dressing-room, the rectilinear moulding on the upper section corresponds more closely to the library bookcase, originally one of four, circa 1766, made for the St. James’s Square mansion (ibid., vol. II, p. 58, fig. 90; p. 135, fig. 244; p. 41, fig. 65). Furthermore, the same moulding and very similar feet are found on a clothes-press supplied by Chippendale to Aske Hall, Yorkshire (ibid., p. 135, fig. 243).
Chippendale’s commission for Sir Rowland was sizeable, and significant; Chippendale knew the family and house having served an apprenticeship in his youth with the Nostell Priory estate joiner although he probably owed this later appointment to Robert Adam (d. 1792) who was engaged by Sir Rowland in 1765 to complete the interiors after James Paine was dismissed. It was important too for the opportunities for future patronage, and also notable for the high price Chippendale charged for the furniture. ‘The Accounts Sir Rowland Winn Bart. Dr. To Thos. Chippendale’, 24 June 1766, record the above cited lady’s secretaire, ‘A Mahogany Lady secretary made of very fine wood, a bookcase at top, panelld doors with pidgeon holes and drawers in the upper case and a scrowl pediment’, which cost a substantial £25.
Chippendale’s early letters to his patron were deferential despite the client’s tardiness in settling his accounts. However, relations gradually deteriorated when Chippendale’s other commitments caused delays and mishaps; the craftsman was working concurrently at Mersham le Hatch for Sir Edward Knatchbull and at Harewood House for Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood.