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Lot Essay
These elegant petits canapés by Nicolas-Denis Delaisement (maître in 1776) were formerly in the collection of Harry Primrose (1882-1974), 6th Earl of Rosebery and were placed in the green drawing room of the magnificent Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire.
Mentmore Towers was one of the great Rothschild buildings in England, created for Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, also known as ‘Muffy’, by Joseph Paxton in 1850. Designed in a grandiloquent style reminiscent of the celebrated Elizabethan prodigy houses of the 16th century such as Hardwick Hall and Montacute, the finished result was a subtle blending of Tudor, Elizabethan, and Jacobean architecture. The interior decoration and furnishings of Mentmore Towers more than matched the imposing exterior. Henry James (1843-1916) referred to a ‘sense of glory’ confronting the visitor as soon as you entered the entrance hall. So inspired was he by the grandeur of the building and its sumptuous interiors that it is likely he based the fictive house of Matcham from his two major novels ‘The Wings of the Dove’ (1902) and ‘The Golden Bowl’ (1905), on Mentmore Towers, following his visit there.
Following the death of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild in 1874, Mentmore Towers passed to his daughter Hannah de Rothschild. In 1878, she married Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and was thereafter known as the Countess of Rosebery. Archibald Primrose was an influential politician, known for his charm, wit and charisma and served as Prime Minister from 1894-5. He was also an avid collector and added to the (already spectacular) works of art at Mentmore considerably during his lifetime. Upon his death Mentmore Towers passed to his son Harry Primrose (1882-1974) who, like his father, was a renowned politician, acting as Secretary of State for Scotland in 1945. It was upon his death that the remarkable collection at Mentmore was sold. The sale of Mentmore has been described as a ‘turning point for the preservation movement’ (N. Jones, Architecture of England, Scotland, and Wales, London, 2005, p. 296), such was the strength of feeling associated with the dispersal of one of the most important collections in private hands, the like of which will probably never been seen again.
These petits canapes by Delaisement were part of a larger suite of furniture all sold in the 1977 house sale following the death of the 6th Earl. The suite comprised three fauteuils à la reine, stamped Delaisement, a large canapé, a set of four fauteuils en-suite but with oval backs, a set of six side chairs and an oval stool and the present pair of canapés (lot 12).
A single fauteuil à la reine, possibly from the same suite, was sold at Christie’s, Geneva on 18 November 1974, lot 83. According to the 1974 catalogue entry the fauteuil was stamped once ‘Delanois’, however on the basis of the similarity to the carved decoration, which is identical to that found on the Mentmore suite, this fauteuil was almost certainly the fourth chair to the set of three sold in the Mentmore sale of 1977 (lot 11).
Further works by Delaisement can be seen in in the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, which includes a firescreen (G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, vol. II, Fribourg, 1974, no. 133, pp. 618-619). As well as pair of fauteuils à la reine from the collection of Elisabeth Severance Prentiss, now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 1944.109.1 & 1944.109.2).
These elegant petits canapés by Nicolas-Denis Delaisement (maître in 1776) were formerly in the collection of Harry Primrose (1882-1974), 6th Earl of Rosebery and were placed in the green drawing room of the magnificent Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire.
Mentmore Towers was one of the great Rothschild buildings in England, created for Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, also known as ‘Muffy’, by Joseph Paxton in 1850. Designed in a grandiloquent style reminiscent of the celebrated Elizabethan prodigy houses of the 16th century such as Hardwick Hall and Montacute, the finished result was a subtle blending of Tudor, Elizabethan, and Jacobean architecture. The interior decoration and furnishings of Mentmore Towers more than matched the imposing exterior. Henry James (1843-1916) referred to a ‘sense of glory’ confronting the visitor as soon as you entered the entrance hall. So inspired was he by the grandeur of the building and its sumptuous interiors that it is likely he based the fictive house of Matcham from his two major novels ‘The Wings of the Dove’ (1902) and ‘The Golden Bowl’ (1905), on Mentmore Towers, following his visit there.
Following the death of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild in 1874, Mentmore Towers passed to his daughter Hannah de Rothschild. In 1878, she married Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and was thereafter known as the Countess of Rosebery. Archibald Primrose was an influential politician, known for his charm, wit and charisma and served as Prime Minister from 1894-5. He was also an avid collector and added to the (already spectacular) works of art at Mentmore considerably during his lifetime. Upon his death Mentmore Towers passed to his son Harry Primrose (1882-1974) who, like his father, was a renowned politician, acting as Secretary of State for Scotland in 1945. It was upon his death that the remarkable collection at Mentmore was sold. The sale of Mentmore has been described as a ‘turning point for the preservation movement’ (N. Jones, Architecture of England, Scotland, and Wales, London, 2005, p. 296), such was the strength of feeling associated with the dispersal of one of the most important collections in private hands, the like of which will probably never been seen again.
These petits canapes by Delaisement were part of a larger suite of furniture all sold in the 1977 house sale following the death of the 6th Earl. The suite comprised three fauteuils à la reine, stamped Delaisement, a large canapé, a set of four fauteuils en-suite but with oval backs, a set of six side chairs and an oval stool and the present pair of canapés (lot 12).
A single fauteuil à la reine, possibly from the same suite, was sold at Christie’s, Geneva on 18 November 1974, lot 83. According to the 1974 catalogue entry the fauteuil was stamped once ‘Delanois’, however on the basis of the similarity to the carved decoration, which is identical to that found on the Mentmore suite, this fauteuil was almost certainly the fourth chair to the set of three sold in the Mentmore sale of 1977 (lot 11).
Further works by Delaisement can be seen in in the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, which includes a firescreen (G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, vol. II, Fribourg, 1974, no. 133, pp. 618-619). As well as pair of fauteuils à la reine from the collection of Elisabeth Severance Prentiss, now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 1944.109.1 & 1944.109.2).