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Lot Essay
This pair of library armchairs with their overlapping foliate-carved knees and boldly scrolled toes form part of a suite which included twelve side chairs that were supplied to John, 2nd Earl Poulett (d.1764) for Hinton House, Hinton St.George, Somerset. These chairs would have been acquired during the 2nd Earl's alterations during the middle of the eighteenth century which were probably conducted under the supervision of the architect, Matthew Brettingham. In the tradition set by his father, 4th Baron Poulett (d.1743), who served as First Lord of the Treasury and Lord Steward of the Household to Queen Anne, the 2nd Earl refurbished the family's seat in a grandeur befitting the family seat and employed the most fashionable London cabinetmakers of the day. While the Poulett papers (Somerset Record Office) are incomplete, several cabinetmakers can be associated with Hinton House furniture on the basis of documented designs or similarities to known oeuvres. A boldly carved giltwood table and matching pier glass can be firmly attributed to the master designer and carver Matthias Lock based on their similarity to a design at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (see J.Hayward, 'Furniture designed and carved by Matthias Lock for Hinton House', The Connoisseur, vol.CXLVI, December 1960, pp.284-286). A set of chairs with imbricated scallop form backs relates directly to the documented seat furniture supplied by Giles Grendey (d.1780), cabinetmaker of St.John's Square, Clerkenwell, London (see R.W.Symonds, 'The Chair with the Shell Back', The Antique Collector, October 1956, pp.177-182). Thomas Chippendale is ascribed authorship of a kidney-shaped marquetry table sold in Countess Poulett's sale in 1984 by comparison to one he supplied for Burton Constable in 1772 (illustrated in C.Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol.II, p.234, figs.427-428). A Chippendale connection to Hinton St.George was put forth by Constance Simon who stated that 'documents have been preserved which prove the great cabinetmaker was present in person to supervise the work' (English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century, 1907, p.120). A Chippendale connection is further strengthened by the existence of the Lock drawings as Lock is reputed to have worked under Chippendale's supervision.
This suite of furniture may be attributed to Messrs, William Vile (d.1767) and John Cobb (d.1778), later Royal cabinet-makers to King George III, who formed a powerful Syndicate with William Hallett (d.1781) in St.Martin's Lane from 1753. Vile and Cobb supplied a set of virtually identical side chairs to Anthony Chute for the Vyne, Hampshire in that same year, one of which is illustrated in Anthony Coleridge's Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig.27. Both Vile and Hallett were born in Somerset, within five miles of Hinton St. George and maintained contact with their Somerset relations. As such, they would have been privy to the 2nd Earl's refurbishments, particularly as their neighbor Matthias Lock was supplying such elaborate giltwood furniture.
This suite of furniture may be attributed to Messrs, William Vile (d.1767) and John Cobb (d.1778), later Royal cabinet-makers to King George III, who formed a powerful Syndicate with William Hallett (d.1781) in St.Martin's Lane from 1753. Vile and Cobb supplied a set of virtually identical side chairs to Anthony Chute for the Vyne, Hampshire in that same year, one of which is illustrated in Anthony Coleridge's Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig.27. Both Vile and Hallett were born in Somerset, within five miles of Hinton St. George and maintained contact with their Somerset relations. As such, they would have been privy to the 2nd Earl's refurbishments, particularly as their neighbor Matthias Lock was supplying such elaborate giltwood furniture.