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Lot Essay
George Bullock (d. 1818) is one of the most recognized names in Regency cabinet-making, admired largely for his dramatic ‘Grecian’ forms and inventive ornamental patterns realized in brass or marquetry. Originally from Liverpool, Bullock had set up his business in London by 1812 and in 1815, he advertised as ‘Sculptor, 4 Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, Mona Marble and Furniture Works, Oxford Street’, where he worked until his death in 1818 (Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1680-1840, 1986, p. 127).
This extraordinary sideboard follows a design numbered 89 in what is known as the Wilkinson Tracings (1820). The designs, now preserved in City Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham, were famously copied and published posthumously by Thomas Wilkinson from Bullock’s originals (although Richard Bridgens and Joseph Gandy are thought to have drafted some of these). While some of these patterns are annotated with the patron’s name, this drawing provides no evidence of its original commission. Bullock worked extensively with notable clients including Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, Matthew Boulton at Tew Park, and the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle, however an overall lack of documentation on Bullock’s other clients fail to reveal the origins of this spectacular piece. Sir G. Webster of Battle Abbey, Sussex was an active Bullock patron from 1816-1818; frustratingly, the sideboard does not appear in the 1902 house sale. Nor does it appear in James' Watt's sale at Aston Hall at Christie's in 1849. Bullock had supplied a wide range of furnishings to Watt from 1808-1818 at Thornhill in Birmingham which was later moved to Aston.
The bold decorative scheme here is consistent with other tracings which in turn, correspond to further objects from Bullock’s workshop. Of note:
* A design for a side cabinet (Wilkinson Tracings, no. 86) features virtually all of the same decorative elements. A cabinet of this design in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is from a documented 1817-1818 commission for the 4th Duke of Atholl for Dunkeld, Perthshire, and later Blair Castle. The cabinet and another similar pair are all executed in larchwood from the Duke’s property. The use of indigenous timbers was a known practice, partly as a patriotic gesture with the Napoleonic wars (H. Blairman & Sons, George Bullock: Cabinet-Maker, London, 1988, pp. 67-70, no. 9-10; furniture and design reproduced). Another pair of similar cabinets executed for Lord Abercorn are executed after a design of 1817 (Blairman, op. cit., pp. 85-86, no. 23).
* A sketch for closely related sideboard with splash gallery (no. 97) shows the display of a wine cooler beneath. The present piece, designed for a dining room, would have been used in a similar fashion.
* The frieze inlay pattern (Wilkinson Tracings, unbound no. 212) appears on a rosewood side cabinet closely related to the group cited above. This cabinet too was from the collection of Helena Hayward, and sold Sotheby’s, London, 4 July 1997, lot 107 (£126,900). The cabinet had been acquired by Queen Mary and was sold from the Royal collection at Marlborough House, Christie’s, London, 1-2 October 1959, lot 45. Its likely pair is illustrated in M. Levy, ‘George Bullock’s partnership with Charles Fraser, 1813-1818, and the stock-in-trade sale, 1819’, Furniture History, 1989, p. 166, fig. 6 (privately owned).
* The stylized floral door panel (unbound no. 240) also appears in maple and oak marquetry on a cabinet illustrated in F. Collard, Regency Furniture, 1985, pl. 18 (Blairman, op. cit., pp. 107-108, no. 44; cabinet and design reproduced).
The stunning slab of Mona marble – whose marble works were owned by Bullock - conforms to a description of 1811 as ‘a beautiful Green Stone which is found in a part of the island of Angelsea the property of Mr George Bullock’.
HELENA HAYWARD (1914-1997)
While its commission remains untraced, in the mid-20th century, the cabinet formed part of the personal collection of Helena Hayward, esteemed scholar, author and enthusiast for the decorative arts from the 1960s. Her publications, which remain critical references today, include Thomas Johnson and the English Rococo (1963), William and John Linnell (written with Pat Kirkham, 1980) and World Furniture (1965), which illustrates the present sideboard. In addition, from 1976-1985, Helena was Director (and instructor) of the esteemed Attingham Summer School, a study of the English Country House (and now with further programs including the study of the Royal Collections). Helena’s enthusiasm and knowledge was also given over to the Georgian Group and the Furniture History Society for which she was an active participant. She married John Hayward in 1939, who served as curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
It has been suggested that the sideboard may have been purchased privately from Helena Hayward as it is known that the Altmayers were friendly with the Haywards. The piece was certainly in the Altmayer collection by 1988 when it was referenced in the seminal Bullock exhibition held by H. Blairman & Sons. The piece did not travel to London for the view but was included by photograph, and noted in the catalogue.
This extraordinary sideboard follows a design numbered 89 in what is known as the Wilkinson Tracings (1820). The designs, now preserved in City Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham, were famously copied and published posthumously by Thomas Wilkinson from Bullock’s originals (although Richard Bridgens and Joseph Gandy are thought to have drafted some of these). While some of these patterns are annotated with the patron’s name, this drawing provides no evidence of its original commission. Bullock worked extensively with notable clients including Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, Matthew Boulton at Tew Park, and the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle, however an overall lack of documentation on Bullock’s other clients fail to reveal the origins of this spectacular piece. Sir G. Webster of Battle Abbey, Sussex was an active Bullock patron from 1816-1818; frustratingly, the sideboard does not appear in the 1902 house sale. Nor does it appear in James' Watt's sale at Aston Hall at Christie's in 1849. Bullock had supplied a wide range of furnishings to Watt from 1808-1818 at Thornhill in Birmingham which was later moved to Aston.
The bold decorative scheme here is consistent with other tracings which in turn, correspond to further objects from Bullock’s workshop. Of note:
* A design for a side cabinet (Wilkinson Tracings, no. 86) features virtually all of the same decorative elements. A cabinet of this design in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is from a documented 1817-1818 commission for the 4th Duke of Atholl for Dunkeld, Perthshire, and later Blair Castle. The cabinet and another similar pair are all executed in larchwood from the Duke’s property. The use of indigenous timbers was a known practice, partly as a patriotic gesture with the Napoleonic wars (H. Blairman & Sons, George Bullock: Cabinet-Maker, London, 1988, pp. 67-70, no. 9-10; furniture and design reproduced). Another pair of similar cabinets executed for Lord Abercorn are executed after a design of 1817 (Blairman, op. cit., pp. 85-86, no. 23).
* A sketch for closely related sideboard with splash gallery (no. 97) shows the display of a wine cooler beneath. The present piece, designed for a dining room, would have been used in a similar fashion.
* The frieze inlay pattern (Wilkinson Tracings, unbound no. 212) appears on a rosewood side cabinet closely related to the group cited above. This cabinet too was from the collection of Helena Hayward, and sold Sotheby’s, London, 4 July 1997, lot 107 (£126,900). The cabinet had been acquired by Queen Mary and was sold from the Royal collection at Marlborough House, Christie’s, London, 1-2 October 1959, lot 45. Its likely pair is illustrated in M. Levy, ‘George Bullock’s partnership with Charles Fraser, 1813-1818, and the stock-in-trade sale, 1819’, Furniture History, 1989, p. 166, fig. 6 (privately owned).
* The stylized floral door panel (unbound no. 240) also appears in maple and oak marquetry on a cabinet illustrated in F. Collard, Regency Furniture, 1985, pl. 18 (Blairman, op. cit., pp. 107-108, no. 44; cabinet and design reproduced).
The stunning slab of Mona marble – whose marble works were owned by Bullock - conforms to a description of 1811 as ‘a beautiful Green Stone which is found in a part of the island of Angelsea the property of Mr George Bullock’.
HELENA HAYWARD (1914-1997)
While its commission remains untraced, in the mid-20th century, the cabinet formed part of the personal collection of Helena Hayward, esteemed scholar, author and enthusiast for the decorative arts from the 1960s. Her publications, which remain critical references today, include Thomas Johnson and the English Rococo (1963), William and John Linnell (written with Pat Kirkham, 1980) and World Furniture (1965), which illustrates the present sideboard. In addition, from 1976-1985, Helena was Director (and instructor) of the esteemed Attingham Summer School, a study of the English Country House (and now with further programs including the study of the Royal Collections). Helena’s enthusiasm and knowledge was also given over to the Georgian Group and the Furniture History Society for which she was an active participant. She married John Hayward in 1939, who served as curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
It has been suggested that the sideboard may have been purchased privately from Helena Hayward as it is known that the Altmayers were friendly with the Haywards. The piece was certainly in the Altmayer collection by 1988 when it was referenced in the seminal Bullock exhibition held by H. Blairman & Sons. The piece did not travel to London for the view but was included by photograph, and noted in the catalogue.