Lot Essay
ÿThis set of richly carvedchairs can be considered as the finest executed by Thomas Chippendale in the fashionable 'antique' manner derived in partfrom the architecture of Chambers and Robert Adam. They were supplied by Chippendale in about 1773 to Sir Penistone Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne (d. 1832) for the dining room at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire. Sir Matthew Lamb, Sir Penistone's father, had purchased the Brocket estate in 1746 and engaged the architect James Paine (d. 1789) to remodel the existing Elizabethan house c. 1760. The rebuilding work was continued by Sir Penistone Lamb who reputedly inherited a fortune of over 500,000 pounds, entering Parliament in 1768 and as a supporter of Lord North's government elevated to a peerage two years later. In 1770 he married Elizabeth, only daughter to Sir Roger Milbanke of Halnaby, Yorkshire, which may have influenced their decision to employ Chippendale, a native Yorkshireman. The remodelled interiors were sumptuously decorated in the fashionable classical style introduced by Robert Adam (d. 1792). James Paine devoted twelve plates to Brocket Hall in his Noblemen and Gentlemen's Houses (1783) and commented in the introduction that 'the noble owner has spared no expense in the furnishing and perfectly compleating every part of it'. Sir Penistone had also engaged the court architect Sir William Chambers (d. 1796) to design his London house, Melbourne House in Piccadilly (now the Albany), 1771-1776, for which Chippendale supplied the furnishings. The relationship between Chippendale and Chambers is interestingly brought to light by a letter Chambers wrote to Lord Melbourne dated 14 August 1773: 'Chippendale called upon me yesterday with some Designs for furnishing the rooms which upon the whole seem well but I wish to be a little consulted about these matters as I am really a Very pretty Connoisseur in furniture...' (C.Gilbert op.cit., Vol. I, p.260).
Specific elements of the design of the Brocket Hall dining-chairs relate to the work of both Chambers and Adam. The arched crest-rails enriched with Grecian palmettes and Roman-acanthus foliage evolved from the suite of seat furniture Chippendale supplied to Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1764, to a design by Adam (see E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, fig. 102), while the use of husk festoons relates both to a 1767 design for a picture frame for Nostell Priory, Yorkshire (see Gibert op. cit. fig. 310), and to a Chambers engraving for the Wilton Tripod included in his A Treatise on Civil Architecture, 3rd edn, 1791, pl. 52 (reproduced in J.Harris, Sir William Chambers, 1970, pl. 193). The legs, designed as hermed pilasters with fluted capitals and trailing husks, echo Chambers' designs for candlesticks (Harris op. cit. figs. 194-5), and Chippendale's design for "A Lady's Writing Table and Bookcase" in The Gentleman's and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1762, plate CXVI. The husk festoons and distinctive use of paterae also relate to Paine's designs for the stucco ceiling of the Dining Room (now the Morning Room), as well as the ceiling in the Drawing Room Hall, see H. Avray Tipping, English Homes, Period VI, London, 1926, vol. I, pp. 12-13, figs. 19 & 21.
Three other sets of dining chairs closely related to this elegant pattern survive intact, all supplied to houses decorated under the auspices of Adam from 1772-1775. Two still grace the "Eating Parlours" at Newby Hall and Harewood House, while 14 from Goldsborough Hall Yorkshire, were sold Christie's London, 1 April, 1976, lot 41 (C. Gilbert, ibid, vol. II, pp. 90-91, figs. 144-149). The "14 Mahogany Chairs with Antique backs and term feet very richly carved with hollow seats stuffed and covered with Red Morocco leather and double Brass nailed $51 9s', invoiced by Chippendale in 1769 to the Earl of Shelburne for Landsdowne House, must also have been of a similar "antique" design. The Brocket Hall suite is certainly the most richly decorated of this group with the boldness of the husk festoons of the crestrail in combination with the Greek key ornament at the base of the splat and the antique-fluted capitals to the legs (all of which elements the others lack) making it a fitting testimony to the synthesis Chippendale achieved with the work of his contemporary architact-designers.
Brocket Hall continued to be a focus of attention in the nineteenth century, particularily on the occasions that Queen Victoria was received there by the 2nd Lord Melbourne her favorite Prime Minister. His sister Emily, who succeeded, married Lord Palmerston and the house once again became an important political center. In the second half of the nineteenth century the house was let furnished and it was possibly during this period that the Dining Room for which the chairs were designed was adapted for use as the Morning Room. In 1922 Lord Mount Stephen, the current lessee, died and the property was sold, while the contents were dispersed at a sale on the premises held by Messrs. Fosters of Pall Mall, 9 March, 1923. Many of Chippendale's original furnishings were bought by the new owner of Brocket Hall, Sir Charles Nall-Cain (including the saloon suite and pair of torcheres sold by order of the Lord Brocket Will Trust at Christie's London 7 July 1994,
The dining chairs were bought by Frank Partridge who may well have had Mr. duPont in mind as a potential client, for as early as June 23 of that year, Gordon Howard of Partridge New York was writing to congratulate duPont on his new acquisition, assuring him that "no one anywhere can offer or show you a finer set". Typical of duPont's meticulous approach to collecting was a primary concern that the upholstery chosen for the chairs should "....harmonize with the walls and the carpet" in a letter expressed to Howard on August 8th, encapsulating at once his unerring eye for quality and ability to blend objects in an overall decorative scheme.
Specific elements of the design of the Brocket Hall dining-chairs relate to the work of both Chambers and Adam. The arched crest-rails enriched with Grecian palmettes and Roman-acanthus foliage evolved from the suite of seat furniture Chippendale supplied to Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1764, to a design by Adam (see E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, fig. 102), while the use of husk festoons relates both to a 1767 design for a picture frame for Nostell Priory, Yorkshire (see Gibert op. cit. fig. 310), and to a Chambers engraving for the Wilton Tripod included in his A Treatise on Civil Architecture, 3rd edn, 1791, pl. 52 (reproduced in J.Harris, Sir William Chambers, 1970, pl. 193). The legs, designed as hermed pilasters with fluted capitals and trailing husks, echo Chambers' designs for candlesticks (Harris op. cit. figs. 194-5), and Chippendale's design for "A Lady's Writing Table and Bookcase" in The Gentleman's and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1762, plate CXVI. The husk festoons and distinctive use of paterae also relate to Paine's designs for the stucco ceiling of the Dining Room (now the Morning Room), as well as the ceiling in the Drawing Room Hall, see H. Avray Tipping, English Homes, Period VI, London, 1926, vol. I, pp. 12-13, figs. 19 & 21.
Three other sets of dining chairs closely related to this elegant pattern survive intact, all supplied to houses decorated under the auspices of Adam from 1772-1775. Two still grace the "Eating Parlours" at Newby Hall and Harewood House, while 14 from Goldsborough Hall Yorkshire, were sold Christie's London, 1 April, 1976, lot 41 (C. Gilbert, ibid, vol. II, pp. 90-91, figs. 144-149). The "14 Mahogany Chairs with Antique backs and term feet very richly carved with hollow seats stuffed and covered with Red Morocco leather and double Brass nailed $51 9s', invoiced by Chippendale in 1769 to the Earl of Shelburne for Landsdowne House, must also have been of a similar "antique" design. The Brocket Hall suite is certainly the most richly decorated of this group with the boldness of the husk festoons of the crestrail in combination with the Greek key ornament at the base of the splat and the antique-fluted capitals to the legs (all of which elements the others lack) making it a fitting testimony to the synthesis Chippendale achieved with the work of his contemporary architact-designers.
Brocket Hall continued to be a focus of attention in the nineteenth century, particularily on the occasions that Queen Victoria was received there by the 2nd Lord Melbourne her favorite Prime Minister. His sister Emily, who succeeded, married Lord Palmerston and the house once again became an important political center. In the second half of the nineteenth century the house was let furnished and it was possibly during this period that the Dining Room for which the chairs were designed was adapted for use as the Morning Room. In 1922 Lord Mount Stephen, the current lessee, died and the property was sold, while the contents were dispersed at a sale on the premises held by Messrs. Fosters of Pall Mall, 9 March, 1923. Many of Chippendale's original furnishings were bought by the new owner of Brocket Hall, Sir Charles Nall-Cain (including the saloon suite and pair of torcheres sold by order of the Lord Brocket Will Trust at Christie's London 7 July 1994,
The dining chairs were bought by Frank Partridge who may well have had Mr. duPont in mind as a potential client, for as early as June 23 of that year, Gordon Howard of Partridge New York was writing to congratulate duPont on his new acquisition, assuring him that "no one anywhere can offer or show you a finer set". Typical of duPont's meticulous approach to collecting was a primary concern that the upholstery chosen for the chairs should "....harmonize with the walls and the carpet" in a letter expressed to Howard on August 8th, encapsulating at once his unerring eye for quality and ability to blend objects in an overall decorative scheme.