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Lot Essay
This remarkable architectural centre-piece, a spectacular example of 18th century orfèvrerie, modeled, cast and chased to the most extraordinary standards, bears the signature of D.R. Gastecloux, conceivably identifying it as either his masterpiece or an important presentation piece, possibly commissioned as a diplomatic gift.
D.R. GASTECLOUX
Identification of D.R. Gastecloux, designer and executor of this spectacular centre-piece or surtout de table remains intriguingly obscure. Two craftsmen with this family name and in the same trade and time period are mentioned by Pierre Verlet; René Gastecloux, fondeur, maître in Paris in the 1740s and Étienne Gastecloux, possibly related, bronzier, in St. Petersburg at the court of Catherine II (d. 1796) and later Tsars Paul I (d. 1801) and Alexander I (d. 1825) (P. Verlet, les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, pp. 241, 417). Étienne is probably the same as Edme Gastecloux (Gâtecloux or Gastklu), appointed Professeur de fonte et de ciselure from 1770-1 at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg where he trained a number of Russian fondeurs and specialised in producing copies of antique statues by native sculptors. Described as the bronzier 'qui introduit en Russie l'art de la fonte', he returned to the Academy during the reign of Tsar Paul I (L. Réau, Histoire de l'expansion de l'art Francais Moderne: Le Monde Slave et l'Orient, Paris, 1924, p. 291). From 1790 to 1805, he produced the Vénus aux belles fesses and large-scale bronze and lead statues to decorate the park of Peterhof. Edme Gastecloux was influential in the embellishment of the Imperial Palace of St. Michael (now demolished), considered as opulent and replete with magnificent French decorative art as the celebrated Pavlovsk and Gatchina Palaces (L. Réau, ibid., pp. 135, 254). Bearing the same distinctive family name and working in similar material, D.R. Gastecloux must have been a member of the same family.
In London, in the same period, the records of the Huguenot Society list a marriage, on 27 April 1743, at St. Bene't & St. Peter Church between a Denis René Gastecloux of St Anne's parish, Soho, and Mary (Marie) Magdelen Griblin of St. Martin in the Fields, Middlesex (Quarto Series v. 21, 26 and 52). Mary was the daughter of Huguenot refugee and silversmith Isaac Gribelin and probably related to the celebrated Gribelin family of watchmakers and engravers. Simon Gribelin (d. 1733), printmaker and metal-engraver, had moved to London around 1680 and published four books of ornamental prints designed as sources for jewellers, watchmakers, and other craftsmen. It is not certain if D.R. Gastecloux was an active Huguenot, as three of his children were baptized in the French Church of the Savoy (London), however, he was resident in the parish of St Anne, Soho, a dense urban environment of which in 1737, William Maitland wrote, 'Many Parts of this Parish so greatly abound with French, that it is an easy Matter for a Stranger to imagine himself in France' (W. Maitland, The History of London, 1739, vol. II, p. 716). Like Spitalfields and Bethnal Green, late 17th and 18th century immigrants to Soho were driven by religious conviction and dominated by Protestant refugees. They could practice their trades unhindered by the regulations of the City Companies, and once the nucleus of a foreign colony had been established, it attracted new arrivals from France. Many of the Huguenots who settled to the west of the City were gold or silversmiths, jewellers, engravers, clock and watchmakers, or tapestry weavers - tradesmen who naturally gravitated to the fashionable residential quarter of London adjacent to the Court.
While some details are known of Denis René Gastecloux's family life there is nothing to indicate his profession. Evidence suggests, however, that the notion of an individual Huguenot artist-craftsman is unrealistic. 'Designers, chasers and engravers were specialists; no one craftsman working in isolation at his bench could have been sole author of many of the pieces which bear the maker's mark' (C. Hartop, 'Art and Industry in 18th Century London: English Silver 1680-1760', HSP, XXVII:I, 1998, pp. 50-63). Gastecloux possibly lived and worked in a co-operative of Huguenot metal-workers in the St. Anne parish, Soho. One of Gastecloux's sons, Lewis (Marie Louis) (b. 1776) was a clock and watchmaker, another primary craft for Huguenot craftsmen, in Parsons Green, near Fulham (LMA, Sun Fire Office Insurance, 11936/373/576752). In September 2006, an 18th century japanned clock with gilt metal cartel, signed 'Gastecloux, Fulham' appeared at auction with Bruun Rasmussen (Copenhagen). The foundation of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1631 was predominately created to protect the interests of English craftsman who were made 'exceedingly oppressed by the intrusion of French clockmakers' (R.D. Gwynne, Huguenot Heritage: The History and Contribution of the Huguenots in Britain, Brighton, 2000, p. 90). Foreigners had to work only for English masters; the Land Tax Records for 1799 show that Lewis Gastecloux occupied the premises of William Roberts rather than owned his own property. This may also explain why his father, Denis René Gastecloux, in a complementary trade, is not listed as owning property.
PROVENANCE
The earliest provenance of the centre-piece traced so far is the collection of Brigadier-General, Horace Somerville Sewell, CMG, DSO, Légion d'honneur (d. 1953) at his Warwickshire house, Tysoe Manor, a medieval manor house (now Grade II listed), and Sewell family residence for about sixty years, set within the Warwickshire estates of the Marquess of Northampton. While it is not sure when or where Somerville Sewell acquired the centre-piece - or whether he might have been given it remains to be established. On 24 July 1987, the centre-piece, undoubtedly the prize lot of the day, was sold from Tysoe Manor through a Banbury saleroom to the London dealer, Jeremy Ltd.
DESIGN
The centre-piece, conceived as a fantasy pavilion, is undoubtedly part inspired by the Baroque architecture of central and eastern Europe and parallels can be drawn to churches and palaces such as the Frauenkirche in Dresden, the ancient Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg, and the Cathedral of the Resurrection at the Smolny Convent, also in St. Petersburg, suggesting it might have been conceived for a Russian patron, similarly familiar with this architectural style, or indeed intended as a speculative presentation piece or a diplomatic gift; however, no documentation has as yet been found to shed further light on its early history.
Contemporary prints testify to the fashion for centre-pieces at grand banquets throughout Europe. On 9 December 1668, a grand Baroque centrepiece, related to the present example, was prominent at a dinner held by Pope Clement IX attended by Queen Christina of Sweden (illustrated). In 1719, an impressive architectural centre-piece dominated an evening banquet at the 'Ladies Ball' in Dresden, and in 1782, a trio of temple centre-pieces decorated a dining table at a fête given for Marie-Antoinette on the occasion of the Dauphin's birth. Similar designs for such centre-pieces in the outgoing rococo style were also produced in Augsburg between 1745-1760, and it is likely that Gastecloux had access to these designs, possibly through his links to the Gribelin family of silver-smiths (see S. Bursche, Tafelzier des Barock, Munich, 1974, pp. 274-293).
D.R. GASTECLOUX
Identification of D.R. Gastecloux, designer and executor of this spectacular centre-piece or surtout de table remains intriguingly obscure. Two craftsmen with this family name and in the same trade and time period are mentioned by Pierre Verlet; René Gastecloux, fondeur, maître in Paris in the 1740s and Étienne Gastecloux, possibly related, bronzier, in St. Petersburg at the court of Catherine II (d. 1796) and later Tsars Paul I (d. 1801) and Alexander I (d. 1825) (P. Verlet, les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, pp. 241, 417). Étienne is probably the same as Edme Gastecloux (Gâtecloux or Gastklu), appointed Professeur de fonte et de ciselure from 1770-1 at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg where he trained a number of Russian fondeurs and specialised in producing copies of antique statues by native sculptors. Described as the bronzier 'qui introduit en Russie l'art de la fonte', he returned to the Academy during the reign of Tsar Paul I (L. Réau, Histoire de l'expansion de l'art Francais Moderne: Le Monde Slave et l'Orient, Paris, 1924, p. 291). From 1790 to 1805, he produced the Vénus aux belles fesses and large-scale bronze and lead statues to decorate the park of Peterhof. Edme Gastecloux was influential in the embellishment of the Imperial Palace of St. Michael (now demolished), considered as opulent and replete with magnificent French decorative art as the celebrated Pavlovsk and Gatchina Palaces (L. Réau, ibid., pp. 135, 254). Bearing the same distinctive family name and working in similar material, D.R. Gastecloux must have been a member of the same family.
In London, in the same period, the records of the Huguenot Society list a marriage, on 27 April 1743, at St. Bene't & St. Peter Church between a Denis René Gastecloux of St Anne's parish, Soho, and Mary (Marie) Magdelen Griblin of St. Martin in the Fields, Middlesex (Quarto Series v. 21, 26 and 52). Mary was the daughter of Huguenot refugee and silversmith Isaac Gribelin and probably related to the celebrated Gribelin family of watchmakers and engravers. Simon Gribelin (d. 1733), printmaker and metal-engraver, had moved to London around 1680 and published four books of ornamental prints designed as sources for jewellers, watchmakers, and other craftsmen. It is not certain if D.R. Gastecloux was an active Huguenot, as three of his children were baptized in the French Church of the Savoy (London), however, he was resident in the parish of St Anne, Soho, a dense urban environment of which in 1737, William Maitland wrote, 'Many Parts of this Parish so greatly abound with French, that it is an easy Matter for a Stranger to imagine himself in France' (W. Maitland, The History of London, 1739, vol. II, p. 716). Like Spitalfields and Bethnal Green, late 17th and 18th century immigrants to Soho were driven by religious conviction and dominated by Protestant refugees. They could practice their trades unhindered by the regulations of the City Companies, and once the nucleus of a foreign colony had been established, it attracted new arrivals from France. Many of the Huguenots who settled to the west of the City were gold or silversmiths, jewellers, engravers, clock and watchmakers, or tapestry weavers - tradesmen who naturally gravitated to the fashionable residential quarter of London adjacent to the Court.
While some details are known of Denis René Gastecloux's family life there is nothing to indicate his profession. Evidence suggests, however, that the notion of an individual Huguenot artist-craftsman is unrealistic. 'Designers, chasers and engravers were specialists; no one craftsman working in isolation at his bench could have been sole author of many of the pieces which bear the maker's mark' (C. Hartop, 'Art and Industry in 18th Century London: English Silver 1680-1760', HSP, XXVII:I, 1998, pp. 50-63). Gastecloux possibly lived and worked in a co-operative of Huguenot metal-workers in the St. Anne parish, Soho. One of Gastecloux's sons, Lewis (Marie Louis) (b. 1776) was a clock and watchmaker, another primary craft for Huguenot craftsmen, in Parsons Green, near Fulham (LMA, Sun Fire Office Insurance, 11936/373/576752). In September 2006, an 18th century japanned clock with gilt metal cartel, signed 'Gastecloux, Fulham' appeared at auction with Bruun Rasmussen (Copenhagen). The foundation of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1631 was predominately created to protect the interests of English craftsman who were made 'exceedingly oppressed by the intrusion of French clockmakers' (R.D. Gwynne, Huguenot Heritage: The History and Contribution of the Huguenots in Britain, Brighton, 2000, p. 90). Foreigners had to work only for English masters; the Land Tax Records for 1799 show that Lewis Gastecloux occupied the premises of William Roberts rather than owned his own property. This may also explain why his father, Denis René Gastecloux, in a complementary trade, is not listed as owning property.
PROVENANCE
The earliest provenance of the centre-piece traced so far is the collection of Brigadier-General, Horace Somerville Sewell, CMG, DSO, Légion d'honneur (d. 1953) at his Warwickshire house, Tysoe Manor, a medieval manor house (now Grade II listed), and Sewell family residence for about sixty years, set within the Warwickshire estates of the Marquess of Northampton. While it is not sure when or where Somerville Sewell acquired the centre-piece - or whether he might have been given it remains to be established. On 24 July 1987, the centre-piece, undoubtedly the prize lot of the day, was sold from Tysoe Manor through a Banbury saleroom to the London dealer, Jeremy Ltd.
DESIGN
The centre-piece, conceived as a fantasy pavilion, is undoubtedly part inspired by the Baroque architecture of central and eastern Europe and parallels can be drawn to churches and palaces such as the Frauenkirche in Dresden, the ancient Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg, and the Cathedral of the Resurrection at the Smolny Convent, also in St. Petersburg, suggesting it might have been conceived for a Russian patron, similarly familiar with this architectural style, or indeed intended as a speculative presentation piece or a diplomatic gift; however, no documentation has as yet been found to shed further light on its early history.
Contemporary prints testify to the fashion for centre-pieces at grand banquets throughout Europe. On 9 December 1668, a grand Baroque centrepiece, related to the present example, was prominent at a dinner held by Pope Clement IX attended by Queen Christina of Sweden (illustrated). In 1719, an impressive architectural centre-piece dominated an evening banquet at the 'Ladies Ball' in Dresden, and in 1782, a trio of temple centre-pieces decorated a dining table at a fête given for Marie-Antoinette on the occasion of the Dauphin's birth. Similar designs for such centre-pieces in the outgoing rococo style were also produced in Augsburg between 1745-1760, and it is likely that Gastecloux had access to these designs, possibly through his links to the Gribelin family of silver-smiths (see S. Bursche, Tafelzier des Barock, Munich, 1974, pp. 274-293).