CIRCA 1715

With its arched central plate this overmantel betrays the influence of Daniel Marot, such as featured in his Nouveaux Livre de Cheminées a la Hollandaise published in 1712. Initially rectilinear in form, such as those supplied by Gerrit Jensen for the King's Apartments at Hampton Court Palace, circa 1700, the Sainsbury overmantel's more sinous shaped plates recall the walnut-framed overmantel supplied to Edward Dryden for Canons Ashby circa 1710 (A. Bowett, English Furniture from Charles II to Queen Anne, London, 2002, pl. 9.51).
In view of the red and gilt-japanned decoration to the slip frame, it is interesting to note the Royal 'glass-grinder' John Gumley's advertisement in John Houghton's A Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, 6 April 1694; this announced At Salisbury-Exchange in the Strand, when the manufactory was kept, by John Gumley, cabinet-maker, at the corner of Norfolk-street.... is a sale of all sorts of Cabinetwork, as Japan cabinets, Indian and English, with looking-glasses. A pair of japanned sconces, almost certainly supplied by Gumley, are in the Communication Corridor at Hampton Court Palace.
Simon Sainsbury (1930-2006) was the great-grandson of John James Sainsbury (1844-1928). Together with his two brothers, he steered the grocer’s firm though its flotation on to the London Stock Exchange in 1973. He was a well-respected collector, enthusiast for all things Georgian, patron of the arts and philanthropist, who together with his brothers entirely funded the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery. His carefully restored home Woolbeding House, was the setting for his thoughtfully assembled and much admired collection which was sold in 2008 to benefit the Monument Trust.