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Lot Essay
This mahogany secretaire cabinet-on-stand is probably by the Wakefield firm of Wright and Elwick, the pre-eminent cabinet maker in Yorkshire during the second half of the 18th century. The firm was inspired by designs in Chippendale’s Director, and this cabinet-on-stand is directly after plate CXXXII in the 1762 edition. Wright and Elwick’s most celebrated oeuvre was that undertaken for Charles, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (d. 1783) for Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, much of which was dispersed in two sales held by Christie's in July 1948 and again fifty years later in July 1998. Payments made by Lord Rockingham to Wright and Elwick span from 1748 to 1784, indicating a long and lasting relationship between the two parties. The Wentworth sale, Christie’s, London, 8 July 1998, included the celebrated Marchioness of Rockingham’s Cabinet (lot 35), and a George II sabicu commode (lot 69) and a George II mahogany and parcel-gilt dressing-table cabinet (lot 70). The latter two demonstrate that Wright and Elwick were influenced by Chippendale’s designs but customized their work with the addition of idiosyncratic elements. Thus, the Wentworth commode and dressing-table cabinet are virtually identical to examples by Chippendale at Nostell Priory but in the case of the last feature additional foliate and gadroon carving.
JACK WARNER AND HOLLYWOOD REGENCY STYLE
The current lot was previously in the collection of Jack L. Warner (1892-1978) of Warner Bros. Studios, a major force in the motion picture industry during the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood of the 1920s-1950s. This era was characterized by colorful and detailed dream-like film sets that inspired movie stars and were translated to the interiors of their glamorous southern California estates, thus birthing the ‘Hollywood Regency’ design style. The style is epitomized by the work of designers such as Dorothy Draper and Billy Haines, the latter of whom decorated the expansive and elegant Georgian-style Beverly Hills mansion of Jack Warner, effectively establishing the archetype for the ‘studio mogul’s estate’ that persists in the popular imagination today. The cabinet-on-stand stood in the main living room on the first floor alongside corresponding George III furniture and an assortment of Wedgwood displayed in the corner niches of the 18th-century English paneled walls, which were also hung with two sets of Chinese painted wallpaper panels from the Qing Dynasty.
JACK WARNER AND HOLLYWOOD REGENCY STYLE
The current lot was previously in the collection of Jack L. Warner (1892-1978) of Warner Bros. Studios, a major force in the motion picture industry during the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood of the 1920s-1950s. This era was characterized by colorful and detailed dream-like film sets that inspired movie stars and were translated to the interiors of their glamorous southern California estates, thus birthing the ‘Hollywood Regency’ design style. The style is epitomized by the work of designers such as Dorothy Draper and Billy Haines, the latter of whom decorated the expansive and elegant Georgian-style Beverly Hills mansion of Jack Warner, effectively establishing the archetype for the ‘studio mogul’s estate’ that persists in the popular imagination today. The cabinet-on-stand stood in the main living room on the first floor alongside corresponding George III furniture and an assortment of Wedgwood displayed in the corner niches of the 18th-century English paneled walls, which were also hung with two sets of Chinese painted wallpaper panels from the Qing Dynasty.