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Lot Essay
CLAREMONT HOUSE, SURREY
This pair of George III green and cream-painted armchairs and sofa en suite bear printed labels and stamps, which firmly place them at the former Royal residence of Claremont House in Surrey from the late 19th century until 1922 during the tenure of H.R.H. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-84), youngest son of Queen Victoria, and his wife, H.R.H. Princess Helen, Duchess of Albany (1861-1922) – see catalogue description for details of the labels/stamps.
However, this seat-furniture was almost certainly at Claremont much earlier. In 1835, a large set of green japanned seat-furniture comprising a sofa, two bergères, eight elbow chairs, three single chairs and two window seats is recorded in the State apartments as follows:
‘No. 27 State Bed Room
A Cabriole Couch japanned green stuffed and covered damask 1 squab and 2 Cushions
2 Cabriole easy Chairs same as Couch
3 Single and 3 elbow Chairs to match
No. 26 State Dressing Room
A green japanned dressing Stool with stuffed top
No. 29 Yellow Bedroom
5 green japanned elbow Chairs with Stuffed backs and seats
A green japanned dressing stool stuffed top’ (PRO CRES 2/1200)
ROBERT CLIVE, 1ST BARON CLIVE (1725-74)
The suite of seat-furniture may have been commissioned in circa 1774 by Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive (‘Clive of India’, 1725-74), Commander-in-Chief of British India, a British military officer and East India Company official. Claremont was sold to Lord Clive on 4 August 1768 for £25,000 by the 1st Duchess of Newcastle, wife of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke (1693-1768) and twice former Prime Minister of Great Britain, who was evidently in poor health by this date, and died in November the same year. Clive had amassed the largest fortune ever made by a Briton in India and after his return in 1760, was described by Horace Walpole as ‘all over estates and diamonds’ (O. Fairclough, ‘In the Richest and Most Elegant Manner’: A Suite of Furniture for Clive of India, Furniture History, vol. 36, 2000, p. 202). Shortly before the acquisition of the Claremont estate, Clive was spending prodigiously between 1766-67 on the refurbishment of no. 45 Berkeley Square, and in parallel had commissioned the architect William Chambers (1723-96) to rebuild his father’s Stych Hall in Shropshire. Claremont House was considered old-fashioned, and Clive employed the services of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1715/16-1783), assisted by Henry Holland Senior, to design a new house and parkland. On 1 May 1776, Clive’s executors estimated the costs of building and fitting out Claremont to be £36,357 17s 10d (ibid., Appendix, p. 113, f/n 4). Clive employed the most fashionable of London cabinet-makers, Thomas Chippendale, John Cobb, Gordon & Taitt, and significantly at Claremont, the Golden Square firm of Mayhew and Ince, the makers of the seat-furniture offered here. Following Lord Clive’s death, the executors accounts reveal that the firm was owed £459 10s 10 ½ d in December 1774 and £130 0s 4 ½ d on 24 May 1776; 'most, if not all, of this sum was likely to have been for Claremont' (Shropshire Records & Research Centre: Powis 552/7/53; ibid. f/n. 6).
LATER HISTORY
It seems likely that this seat-furniture was purchased when the mansion was acquired in 1816 as a Royal residence for George IV's daughter Princess Charlotte (1796-1817) and her husband Prince Leopold of of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1790-1865). On 20 June 1816, The European Magazine reported in a House of Commons editorial: ‘Mr Huskisson stated that it had been agreed to purchase the house and demesnes of Clermont [Claremont] for the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold for 60,000l. The valuation of the farms, farm-houses, and park, including 350 acres of land, was 36,000l.; the mansion, 19,000l.; and the furniture, 6,000l.; making together 60,000l. The mansion, which was in good repair, could not be built now for less than 91,000l.’ (July to Dec 1816, vol. 70, p. 73).
Princess Charlotte died in childbirth in 1817 and Prince Leopold, elected King of the Belgians in 1831, retained Claremont until his death in 1865. The suite of seat-furniture most likely thereafter passed by descent in the Royal family. Claremont was subsequently occupied by Prince Leopold’s second father-in-law, King Louis Philippe (1773-1850) from 1848 until his death in 1850, and next by his widow, Queen Marie-Amélie, who died at Claremont in 1866. The house became the residence of Prince Leopold and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Albany, after their marriage in 1882.
MAYHEW AND INCE
The open armchairs, and the sofa, from the suite can be confidently attributed to Mayhew & Ince based on distinctive characteristics associated with the firm. For example, cramp cuts and batton carrying holes in the seat-rail (the latter suggesting the furniture was transported from London) and individual arm-terminal joining the seat-rail at the top of the legs. Other sets of this model with small decorative differences are extant. Among the most firmly attributed is a set formerly at Cobham Hall, Kent, which were supplied to the 3rd Earl of Darnley, one of Mayhew and Ince's most loyal and enduring clients. Between 1760 and 1781, he spent just under £4,000 with them. The Cobham set, one of several in the house, was sold in these Rooms, 19 November 1992. A set of eight armchairs with oval paterae, attributed to Mayhew & Ince, was almost certainly supplied to George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (d. 1818), Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, sold Christie’s, London, 21 March 1968, lot 115, and subsequently, 10 April 2003, lot 25. Payments from 1774-77 to Mayhew & Ince totalling £180 are recorded in the Greville accounts at Hoare’s Bank (G. Beard, C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 595). Another set of sixteen chairs with paterae along the length of the seat rail was supplied to Richard Myddelton (d. 1795) along with two sofas for the Saloon at Chirk Castle, Wrexham, circa 1782-83, attributed to Mayhew & Ince (M. Hall, ‘Chirk Castle, Denbighshire’, Country Life, 16 July 1992, p. 57, fig. 7 (three of the Chirk chairs sold Christie’s house sale, 21 June 2004, lots 50 and 51). Another set of four giltwood open armchairs together with one window seat, part of a larger suite of seat-furniture, was supplied to Sir Thomas Edwardes (d. 1785) for the Drawing Room of his London mansion, no. 17 Edward Street, Portman Square, by Mayhew & William Ince for which a bill exists (‘Linley Hall, Shropshire: Property from the Collection of the Late Sir Jasper & Lady More’, Christie’s, London, 9 May 2016, lot 74, £25,000 incl. premium).
The J. Pemberton inscription may possibly refer to John Pemberton (fl. 1827-39), a Liverpool cabinet-maker who may have repaired the chairs (C. Gilbert and G. Beard, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, p. 688).
This pair of George III green and cream-painted armchairs and sofa en suite bear printed labels and stamps, which firmly place them at the former Royal residence of Claremont House in Surrey from the late 19th century until 1922 during the tenure of H.R.H. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-84), youngest son of Queen Victoria, and his wife, H.R.H. Princess Helen, Duchess of Albany (1861-1922) – see catalogue description for details of the labels/stamps.
However, this seat-furniture was almost certainly at Claremont much earlier. In 1835, a large set of green japanned seat-furniture comprising a sofa, two bergères, eight elbow chairs, three single chairs and two window seats is recorded in the State apartments as follows:
‘No. 27 State Bed Room
A Cabriole Couch japanned green stuffed and covered damask 1 squab and 2 Cushions
2 Cabriole easy Chairs same as Couch
3 Single and 3 elbow Chairs to match
No. 26 State Dressing Room
A green japanned dressing Stool with stuffed top
No. 29 Yellow Bedroom
5 green japanned elbow Chairs with Stuffed backs and seats
A green japanned dressing stool stuffed top’ (PRO CRES 2/1200)
ROBERT CLIVE, 1ST BARON CLIVE (1725-74)
The suite of seat-furniture may have been commissioned in circa 1774 by Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive (‘Clive of India’, 1725-74), Commander-in-Chief of British India, a British military officer and East India Company official. Claremont was sold to Lord Clive on 4 August 1768 for £25,000 by the 1st Duchess of Newcastle, wife of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke (1693-1768) and twice former Prime Minister of Great Britain, who was evidently in poor health by this date, and died in November the same year. Clive had amassed the largest fortune ever made by a Briton in India and after his return in 1760, was described by Horace Walpole as ‘all over estates and diamonds’ (O. Fairclough, ‘In the Richest and Most Elegant Manner’: A Suite of Furniture for Clive of India, Furniture History, vol. 36, 2000, p. 202). Shortly before the acquisition of the Claremont estate, Clive was spending prodigiously between 1766-67 on the refurbishment of no. 45 Berkeley Square, and in parallel had commissioned the architect William Chambers (1723-96) to rebuild his father’s Stych Hall in Shropshire. Claremont House was considered old-fashioned, and Clive employed the services of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1715/16-1783), assisted by Henry Holland Senior, to design a new house and parkland. On 1 May 1776, Clive’s executors estimated the costs of building and fitting out Claremont to be £36,357 17s 10d (ibid., Appendix, p. 113, f/n 4). Clive employed the most fashionable of London cabinet-makers, Thomas Chippendale, John Cobb, Gordon & Taitt, and significantly at Claremont, the Golden Square firm of Mayhew and Ince, the makers of the seat-furniture offered here. Following Lord Clive’s death, the executors accounts reveal that the firm was owed £459 10s 10 ½ d in December 1774 and £130 0s 4 ½ d on 24 May 1776; 'most, if not all, of this sum was likely to have been for Claremont' (Shropshire Records & Research Centre: Powis 552/7/53; ibid. f/n. 6).
LATER HISTORY
It seems likely that this seat-furniture was purchased when the mansion was acquired in 1816 as a Royal residence for George IV's daughter Princess Charlotte (1796-1817) and her husband Prince Leopold of of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1790-1865). On 20 June 1816, The European Magazine reported in a House of Commons editorial: ‘Mr Huskisson stated that it had been agreed to purchase the house and demesnes of Clermont [Claremont] for the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold for 60,000l. The valuation of the farms, farm-houses, and park, including 350 acres of land, was 36,000l.; the mansion, 19,000l.; and the furniture, 6,000l.; making together 60,000l. The mansion, which was in good repair, could not be built now for less than 91,000l.’ (July to Dec 1816, vol. 70, p. 73).
Princess Charlotte died in childbirth in 1817 and Prince Leopold, elected King of the Belgians in 1831, retained Claremont until his death in 1865. The suite of seat-furniture most likely thereafter passed by descent in the Royal family. Claremont was subsequently occupied by Prince Leopold’s second father-in-law, King Louis Philippe (1773-1850) from 1848 until his death in 1850, and next by his widow, Queen Marie-Amélie, who died at Claremont in 1866. The house became the residence of Prince Leopold and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Albany, after their marriage in 1882.
MAYHEW AND INCE
The open armchairs, and the sofa, from the suite can be confidently attributed to Mayhew & Ince based on distinctive characteristics associated with the firm. For example, cramp cuts and batton carrying holes in the seat-rail (the latter suggesting the furniture was transported from London) and individual arm-terminal joining the seat-rail at the top of the legs. Other sets of this model with small decorative differences are extant. Among the most firmly attributed is a set formerly at Cobham Hall, Kent, which were supplied to the 3rd Earl of Darnley, one of Mayhew and Ince's most loyal and enduring clients. Between 1760 and 1781, he spent just under £4,000 with them. The Cobham set, one of several in the house, was sold in these Rooms, 19 November 1992. A set of eight armchairs with oval paterae, attributed to Mayhew & Ince, was almost certainly supplied to George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (d. 1818), Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, sold Christie’s, London, 21 March 1968, lot 115, and subsequently, 10 April 2003, lot 25. Payments from 1774-77 to Mayhew & Ince totalling £180 are recorded in the Greville accounts at Hoare’s Bank (G. Beard, C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 595). Another set of sixteen chairs with paterae along the length of the seat rail was supplied to Richard Myddelton (d. 1795) along with two sofas for the Saloon at Chirk Castle, Wrexham, circa 1782-83, attributed to Mayhew & Ince (M. Hall, ‘Chirk Castle, Denbighshire’, Country Life, 16 July 1992, p. 57, fig. 7 (three of the Chirk chairs sold Christie’s house sale, 21 June 2004, lots 50 and 51). Another set of four giltwood open armchairs together with one window seat, part of a larger suite of seat-furniture, was supplied to Sir Thomas Edwardes (d. 1785) for the Drawing Room of his London mansion, no. 17 Edward Street, Portman Square, by Mayhew & William Ince for which a bill exists (‘Linley Hall, Shropshire: Property from the Collection of the Late Sir Jasper & Lady More’, Christie’s, London, 9 May 2016, lot 74, £25,000 incl. premium).
The J. Pemberton inscription may possibly refer to John Pemberton (fl. 1827-39), a Liverpool cabinet-maker who may have repaired the chairs (C. Gilbert and G. Beard, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, p. 688).