A GEORGE III MAHOGANY STAND attributed to Thomas Chippendale, now with later moulded circular top, the fluted frieze on moulded tapering legs headed by paterae and joined by a channelled X-shaped stretcher centred by a roundel, on moulded stepped feet

Lots 48 - 55 This remarkable group represents the flowering of Thomas Chippendale's (d.1779) mature neo-classicism, embracing his most celebrated commissions and enlightened patrons. The beginning of King George III's reign, coinciding with triumphal victories against the French in India and North America, led to an extraordinary period of prosperity which was reflected by an unprecedented burst of building activity amongst the Whig aristocracy and 'dilettanti'. The Court architects, Robert Adam (d.1792) and William Chambers (d.1796), had recently completed their Grand Tours and study of antiquity under the expert tutelage of Clérisseau in Rome in the 1750's. With the harvest of documentary evidence that accompanied their return, while Chambers tended to add his love of French architecture to the 'Antique' Court style established by Inigo Jones (d.1652) and continued by Kent (d.1748) and Vardy (d.1765), Adam revolutionized English taste by reverting to the inspiration of Roman domestic architecture, embodied in his Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Dioclation at Spalatro (1764) and, later, in the Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam (1773). Adam's totalitarian approach to architectural design was dependant upon a so-called regiment of 'artificers', amongst whom Chippendale, along with Joseph Rose the plasterer, was the leading practitioner . This group displays the combination of technical excellence with linear arabesque ornament in the French manner that is now recognised as amongst the finest achievements of 18th Century English cabinet-making, rivalling the leading immigré exponents of the 'inlayer's' art such as Pierre Langlois (d.1781), George Haupt (d.1784) and Christopher Fuhrlohg (d.1789) . Edwin Lascelles, created Lord Harewood in 1790, his brother Daniel, and William Constable, were amongst the mature Chippendale's leading patrons. Harewood House was undoubtedly his most valuable commission, the contract exceeding #10,000 through the period 1767 - 78. Engaged by the enlightened Edwin Lascelles, Chippendale enjoyed an unprecedented freedom, both in the execution and the extravagance of his designs, which complimented effectively Adam's revolutionary spatial handling and Antique ornament. Chippendale, Haig and Co. were responsible for providing not only furniture but upholstery, architectural friezes and cornices, chimneypieces and carpets, as well as for the 'setting up', with Chippendale's employers Messrs. Reid and James in residence at Harewood. Goldsborough, the seat of Edwin's younger brother Daniel, was similarly comprehensively supplied by Chippendale's firm, although the furniture was less ostentatious and grandiose, and closer to the refined mahogany elegance of lot 48. The furniture supplied by Chippendale to William Constable at Mansfield Street is closely related, both in its elegant 'arabesque' vocabulary and date, 1774, to both the Harewood and Goldsborough commissions. It is interesting to note therefore, that Robert Adam provided designs for all three houses, while Carr of York was engaged at Harewood, Goldsborough and William Constable's seat Burton Constable, and that Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was involved at both Harewood and Burton Constable. Moreover, many of the following lots can be pinned to specific rooms within their commissions: the Mansfield Street Commodes (lot 55) were supplied for the piers in the drawing room, with oval glasses 'in rich carv'd frames with Antique Ornaments' en suite; of the Harewood pieces, the 'Exceeding neat & Rich carv'd Gerandoles ... finished in burnished silver' (lot 54), were supplied for the Yellow Damask Sitting Room; the giltwood ram's-head 'gerandoles' (lot 52) were almost certainly supplied for the Dining Room; the giltwood inverted-heart 'gerandoles' (lot 51) were almost certainly supplied for the Music Room; and lots 49, 50 and 53 were supplied for the family apartments, or 'lodging rooms'. We can only thank Sir Charles Barry for the extraordinary condition of the Harewood lots. Engaged from 1843 - 45 by Henry, 3rd Earl of Harewood, and his redoubtable wife, Lady Louisa Thynne, Barry was responsible for remodelling the Piano Nobile to suit the changing needs of Victorian society, sweeping away both Adam's portico and Circular Dressing-room, as well as adding a further storey. During these alterations, a number of the furnishings were dismantled and removed to store. In The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, fig. 108, Christopher Gilbert illustrates the carpenter's store (where lot 50 is visible), before the extensive 1980's program of restoration was commenced to re-unite 'lost' pairs and peripheral ornament to the original decorative schemes. It is of interest that, contrary to popular opinion, these Victorian 'improvements', rather than elaborating the original furnishings, strove to simplify the Adam Chippendale concept, with much of the lavish original gilding and silvering overpainted and vital elements of the peripheral ornaments removed. It is this 'protectionary overpainting', particularly to the burnished silver 'gerandoles' (lot 54), that has preserved them in their almost unique condition. As the 1795 inventory reveals, Harewood was extraordinarily rich in very grand mirrors and correspondingly lacking in pictures, and this simplification provided the much-needed wall space for both pictures and the expanding library. The cautious and conservative restoration, carried out by Carvers and Gilders in close association with Christie's and the Harewood Charitable Trustees, prior to the 1986 sale was kept to a minimum, with new carving only introduced where justified by the evidence of a documented piece.

Details

Provenance

Possibly supplied to Daniel Lascelles (d. 1784), Goldsborough Hall, Yorkshire, (until 1930)
Thence by descent to George, 7th Earl of Harewood, sold in these Rooms, 10 April 1986, lot 77

Probably originally a globe-stand, but not recorded in the surviving portion of Chippendale's bill.

Lot Essay

The scrolled 'Grecian-fret' feet which terminate the slanted supports of antique 'tripod' form, the reserved oval medallions and the flowered patera embellishing the stretcher-tie, are typical of Thomas Chippendale's repertoire of neo-classical ornament. It is possible that this globe-stand in the most refined mahogany taste, together with a set of parlour chairs (see: C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, fig. 147) with which it shares many features, was commissioned in the early 1770's by Daniel Lascelles (d.1784), Lord Harewood's younger brother, from Thomas Chippendale, his fellow countyman, who helped furnish Goldsborough Hall, Yorkshire after its remodelling by the architect John Carr (d. 1807) (see: Gilbert, op. cit., p. 259). In his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1763, pl. LXVIII, Chippendale illustrated a commode with a Greek-fret foot, adapted from an engraving for a Louis XIV commode published by Jean Bérain, and used this feature on Sir Rowland Winn's commode, sold from the Samuel Messer Collection, Christie's London, 5 December 1991, lot 130. Chippendale's designs for a 'Garden Seat' supplied to Harewood House share a similar greek-fret motif to the base of the arm terminal.

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