Lot Essay
These panels are derived from the architect William Kent's illustrations to John Gay's Fables, 1727, pls. XXIV and III, and dedicated to Prince William.
The first, entitled 'The Butterfly and the Snail', depicts the 'Casina' designed by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, for his villa gardens at Chiswick, Middlesex, and illustrated in C. Campbell, Vitruvius Britannicus, vol. III, 1725, pl. 26. The original design for the second is now in the British Museum and was entitled 'The Mother, the Nurse and the Fairy'.
These polescreens may have formed part of a suite of seat-furniture reputedly from Stibbington Hall, Huntingdon, which was covered in needlework that depicted other figurative scenes by Kent (see: A.J.B. Wace, 'Embroidered chair seats in the collection of Mr. Russell Palmer', Old Furniture, vol. XI, 1930, pp. 175-181). These covers were sold from the collection of A.C.J. Wall, Esq., in these Rooms, 19 November 1970, lot 141, and were acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (nos. T.473-9-1970)
The first, entitled 'The Butterfly and the Snail', depicts the 'Casina' designed by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, for his villa gardens at Chiswick, Middlesex, and illustrated in C. Campbell, Vitruvius Britannicus, vol. III, 1725, pl. 26. The original design for the second is now in the British Museum and was entitled 'The Mother, the Nurse and the Fairy'.
These polescreens may have formed part of a suite of seat-furniture reputedly from Stibbington Hall, Huntingdon, which was covered in needlework that depicted other figurative scenes by Kent (see: A.J.B. Wace, 'Embroidered chair seats in the collection of Mr. Russell Palmer', Old Furniture, vol. XI, 1930, pp. 175-181). These covers were sold from the collection of A.C.J. Wall, Esq., in these Rooms, 19 November 1970, lot 141, and were acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (nos. T.473-9-1970)