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Lot Essay
These extraordinary tables display the imagination, skill and vigour of English craftsmen and designers who enthusiastically embraced the fashionable 'French' rococo style.
The tables formed part of the furnishings at 'New' Wardour Castle, the stately palladian mansion that was built between 1769-1776 by Henry, the 8th Lord Arundell under the direction of the pre-eminent architect James Paine. Lord Arundell, who was only sixteen when he succeeded to the title and the family estates in 1756, built and furnished his new house at such expense that his vast inheritance and advantageous marriage both failed to keep him from catastrophic debt. These debts (the equivalent of over £31 million today) forced the sale of much of the family's London property - which at the time included houses in the Strand, Norfolk Street and Arundell Street. Lord Arundell's activities for his London houses are unknown with the movement of the records in 1817 (B. Williamson, The Arundells of Wardour, 2011, p. 93).
The tables appear in the three surviving Wardour Castle inventories, the earliest dating to 1907, each time located in the Saloon (see Literature). They were eventually sold in the Wardour Castle house sale of 1952, lot 52 described as:
'A pair of finely carved Eighteenth Century Side Tables with figured marbled tops, the cabriole legs with foliate feet, the shaped apron deeply carved with acanthus foliage, shells, festoons of flowers and centre female mask, 5' 3 " x 2' 6" Sold 200' [by hand annotated 'green' in front of 'marbled', 'white painted below (?), buyer 'Norton' (?)].
While the Wardour mansion was not actually begun until 1769, the Arundell family records preserved at the Wilshire Country Archives reveal activity for the 8th Lord's father as well as during the early years of his succession. The few surviving invoices mainly list minor tasks and the supply of small furniture pieces from makers including John Whitby. A single intriguing invoice dating to 1755 identifies the Royal cabinet-makers William Vile and John Cobb who supplied 'a handsom Carvd jarendole with 3 Lights gilt in burnish gold 7=15=' (Arundell papers, Trowbridge 2667/19/11/5).
Stylistically, the tables conform to the work of Vile and Cobb and a table similar in style and spirit was commissioned for St. Giles's House in Dorset (sold by the Earl of Shaftesbury, St. Giles's House; Christie's, 26 June 1980, lot 72), where the best carved furniture is attributed to the firm. The tables also compare to patterns published by carver/designer Matthias Lock (see P. Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1958, fig. 49) praised 'as the best Draftsman in that way that had ever been in England'. He is thought to have established a relationship with St. Martin's Lane cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale, providing piece-work carving and collaborating in his pattern book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director. The connection with Chippendale is an interesting one. In the absence of documentation, Chippendale himself is thought to have worked at Wardour. A foliate-carved trumeau mirror, which appears in a 1930 photograph of the State Apartments at Wardour, is thought to have been supplied by Chippendale Junior (later sold Christie's, New York, 9 October 1993, lot 92) as its design closely relates to other notable Chippendale commissions for houses in which James Paine served as architect, including Kedleston and Nostell Priory.
AN EARLY REVIVAL?
While historically, the 8th Lord Arundell could have commissioned the tables for Wardour, there are a number of constructional attributes that do not conform to known eighteenth century cabinet-making and suggests an early 19th century date. A paint analysis reveals four layers of decoration. The first layer, containing lead white and yellow ochre, was consistent with both eighteenth and nineteenth century pigments; in fact, technically there is nothing which prevents the paint from being eighteenth century in date.
If the tables were executed after the 8th Lord's activities, when might they have been made in the nineteenth century? There is not a distinct time at Wardour that helps to clarify this question. In fact, subsequent generations were still paying off the 8th Lord's debts. Henry, 10th Lord Arundell (d. 1834) married Mary Grenville, daughter of the 1st Marquess of Buckingham and Chandos, but this apparently did not result in a financial windfall and he left for Italy where he died in 1834. His brother, Henry Benedict (d. 1862) succeeded as the 11th Lord and took up residence at the house for the next thirty years but nothing is known about his activities at the house. Alternatively, the tables may have entered the family's collections through marriage or have been commissioned for another house and transferred to Wardour sometime in the 19th century.
Interestingly, the 11th Lord's accession corresponded with a revived interest in Georgian rococo design. This is most evident in John Weale's publication of Chippendale's Designs for Sconces, Chimney and Looking-Glass Frames in the Old French Style, circa 1833, reissuing original mid-eighteenth century copper plates produced by Matthias Lock and Thomas Johnson (although none by Thomas Chippendale himself) (M. Heckscher, 'Lock and Copland: A catalogue of the Engraved Ornament', Furniture History, 1979, p.8). Two further editions after Chippendale were issued in 1834 and 1835, respectively (Gilbert, p. 311). In the absence of any documentation, it is reasonable to consider this a time when the tables may have been commissioned.
The year after the Wardour Castle sale, the tables entered the collections at Luttrellstown, the celebrated Irish castle that was purchased by Ernest Guinness in 1927 for his daughter Aileen Plunket. Mrs. Plunket and the famed architect Felix Harbord embarked on a number of ingenious alterations to the house; among their acquisitions was this pair of tables. A tradition of spectacular entertainment continued under her ownership where a parade of visiting royalty and heads of state were warmly welcomed into the Gothick arcaded entrance where these tables once stood.
The tables formed part of the furnishings at 'New' Wardour Castle, the stately palladian mansion that was built between 1769-1776 by Henry, the 8th Lord Arundell under the direction of the pre-eminent architect James Paine. Lord Arundell, who was only sixteen when he succeeded to the title and the family estates in 1756, built and furnished his new house at such expense that his vast inheritance and advantageous marriage both failed to keep him from catastrophic debt. These debts (the equivalent of over £31 million today) forced the sale of much of the family's London property - which at the time included houses in the Strand, Norfolk Street and Arundell Street. Lord Arundell's activities for his London houses are unknown with the movement of the records in 1817 (B. Williamson, The Arundells of Wardour, 2011, p. 93).
The tables appear in the three surviving Wardour Castle inventories, the earliest dating to 1907, each time located in the Saloon (see Literature). They were eventually sold in the Wardour Castle house sale of 1952, lot 52 described as:
'A pair of finely carved Eighteenth Century Side Tables with figured marbled tops, the cabriole legs with foliate feet, the shaped apron deeply carved with acanthus foliage, shells, festoons of flowers and centre female mask, 5' 3 " x 2' 6" Sold 200' [by hand annotated 'green' in front of 'marbled', 'white painted below (?), buyer 'Norton' (?)].
While the Wardour mansion was not actually begun until 1769, the Arundell family records preserved at the Wilshire Country Archives reveal activity for the 8th Lord's father as well as during the early years of his succession. The few surviving invoices mainly list minor tasks and the supply of small furniture pieces from makers including John Whitby. A single intriguing invoice dating to 1755 identifies the Royal cabinet-makers William Vile and John Cobb who supplied 'a handsom Carvd jarendole with 3 Lights gilt in burnish gold 7=15=' (Arundell papers, Trowbridge 2667/19/11/5).
Stylistically, the tables conform to the work of Vile and Cobb and a table similar in style and spirit was commissioned for St. Giles's House in Dorset (sold by the Earl of Shaftesbury, St. Giles's House; Christie's, 26 June 1980, lot 72), where the best carved furniture is attributed to the firm. The tables also compare to patterns published by carver/designer Matthias Lock (see P. Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1958, fig. 49) praised 'as the best Draftsman in that way that had ever been in England'. He is thought to have established a relationship with St. Martin's Lane cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale, providing piece-work carving and collaborating in his pattern book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director. The connection with Chippendale is an interesting one. In the absence of documentation, Chippendale himself is thought to have worked at Wardour. A foliate-carved trumeau mirror, which appears in a 1930 photograph of the State Apartments at Wardour, is thought to have been supplied by Chippendale Junior (later sold Christie's, New York, 9 October 1993, lot 92) as its design closely relates to other notable Chippendale commissions for houses in which James Paine served as architect, including Kedleston and Nostell Priory.
AN EARLY REVIVAL?
While historically, the 8th Lord Arundell could have commissioned the tables for Wardour, there are a number of constructional attributes that do not conform to known eighteenth century cabinet-making and suggests an early 19th century date. A paint analysis reveals four layers of decoration. The first layer, containing lead white and yellow ochre, was consistent with both eighteenth and nineteenth century pigments; in fact, technically there is nothing which prevents the paint from being eighteenth century in date.
If the tables were executed after the 8th Lord's activities, when might they have been made in the nineteenth century? There is not a distinct time at Wardour that helps to clarify this question. In fact, subsequent generations were still paying off the 8th Lord's debts. Henry, 10th Lord Arundell (d. 1834) married Mary Grenville, daughter of the 1st Marquess of Buckingham and Chandos, but this apparently did not result in a financial windfall and he left for Italy where he died in 1834. His brother, Henry Benedict (d. 1862) succeeded as the 11th Lord and took up residence at the house for the next thirty years but nothing is known about his activities at the house. Alternatively, the tables may have entered the family's collections through marriage or have been commissioned for another house and transferred to Wardour sometime in the 19th century.
Interestingly, the 11th Lord's accession corresponded with a revived interest in Georgian rococo design. This is most evident in John Weale's publication of Chippendale's Designs for Sconces, Chimney and Looking-Glass Frames in the Old French Style, circa 1833, reissuing original mid-eighteenth century copper plates produced by Matthias Lock and Thomas Johnson (although none by Thomas Chippendale himself) (M. Heckscher, 'Lock and Copland: A catalogue of the Engraved Ornament', Furniture History, 1979, p.8). Two further editions after Chippendale were issued in 1834 and 1835, respectively (Gilbert, p. 311). In the absence of any documentation, it is reasonable to consider this a time when the tables may have been commissioned.
The year after the Wardour Castle sale, the tables entered the collections at Luttrellstown, the celebrated Irish castle that was purchased by Ernest Guinness in 1927 for his daughter Aileen Plunket. Mrs. Plunket and the famed architect Felix Harbord embarked on a number of ingenious alterations to the house; among their acquisitions was this pair of tables. A tradition of spectacular entertainment continued under her ownership where a parade of visiting royalty and heads of state were warmly welcomed into the Gothick arcaded entrance where these tables once stood.