Lot Essay
LITERATURE PERTAINING TO THE ST. GILES'S SUITE:
M. Jourdain, 'St. Giles's House, Dorset', Country Life, 20 March 1915
O. Brackett, Thomas Chippendale, London, 1930, pl. 21
M. Jourdain, Furniture at St. Giles's House, Dorset', Country Life, 23 June 1934
R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. edn., 1954, vol. III, p. 94, fig. 54
R. W. Symonds, 'St. Giles's House, Dorset', Guide Book, 1956
R. C. Lines, 'My House at St. Giles's', Connoisseur, October 1959, pl. 12
'St. Giles's House', Antique Collector, August 1962, p. 145
R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, p. 152, fig. 137
A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, p. 194, fig. 202
W. Reider, A Golden Age of English Furniture, Apollo, February 1980, p. 36, fig. 5 and 6
C. Gilbert, 'The St. Giles's House Furniture sale', Christie's, Review of the Season 1980, London, 1980, pp. 214 - 218
The fascinating primary auction history of the St. Giles's Suite is comprehensively listed in the Christie's New York Catalogue, 19 April 1986, lot 90.
Of the suite, a settee is now in the M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco and two armchairs are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (W. 16 and 17 - 1977). Two armchairs were exhibited in English Taste in the Eighteenth Century, The Royal Academy, 1955, no. 194
These settees, part of a suite of which four settees and twenty-five armchairs have been accounted for, were commissioned in the 1750's by the 4th Earl of Shaftesbury (d. 1771), Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, for the principal drawing rooms of St. Giles's House (formerly Wimborne House), Dorset. The transformation of his principal apartments was carried out in the 'antique' manner by the architect Henry Flitcroft (d. 1769), Deputy Surveyor to King George II's Board of Works. It included a Great Saloon with an acanthus-scrolled stucco cornice, which a visitor in 1754 admired as being 'lately finished in a very elegant manner'. These settees with Doric guttae feet were designed to correspond with this 'antique' style and their original green acanthus-patterned damask was complemented by their richly sculpted seat-rails. Their front and sides are carved with a continuous band of acanthus leaves, garlanded with fruit and flowers and framing Venus's scallop-shell, and are emblematical of the abundance of nature. More acanthus foliage emerges from the rosettes of the scrolled arms, while garlands entwine the arm-supports and legs which are carved with flowered-trellis within reserve panels after the 'French' manner.
The Shaftesburys were early patrons of Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) at the time of his establishment at the sign of 'the chair' in St. Martin's Lane, as Susannah, Countess of Shaftesbury, (née Noel, d. 1758), is listed amongst the aristocratic subscribers to The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754. This suite, which can be considered as a masterpiece of St. Martin's Lane seat-furniture of the 1750's, relates to a 'French Chair' pattern with richly carved seat-rail and pilaster legs with sunk panels terminating in guttae, that featured in the Director, plate XXI. Also, a settee, engraved in 1759 and published as plate XXX in the 1762 edition, illustrates this pattern of serpentined crest-rail merged with outward scrolled arms, together with the vertical bands of gilt-headed nails uniting the arm-supports with the legs, as originally appeared on these settees. Their seat-rail ornament also corresponds to that bordering a French style tapestry firescreen panel, which the Earl purchased from Peter Parisot's Fulham manufactory in the early 1750's. This suite, together with its corresponding tables and chandelier, embellished with Jove's eagle accompanied by masks of festive satyrs and garlands, had been credited to Chippendale by Anthony, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, who described it as 'Very valuable and fine by Chippendale' in A few Traditions of the Mansion and Estate received from my father, 1855. The furniture historian Margaret Jourdain illustrated a sofa and chair in her article on St. Giles's House in Country Life, 20 March 1915, and drew attention to the relationship of its furniture to patterns illustrated in the Director. Writing in another article on 'Furniture at St. Giles's, Dorset' in Country Life, 23 June 1934, she praised this suite's 'high technical accomplishment' and 'the brilliant competence of the carving'.
Although only one Household Account Book (dating from 1732 - 58) survives in the Shaftesbury papers for the period 1714 - 70, this reveals a series of significant payments, starting from 1745, to William Hallett (d. 1781) of Great Newport Street, Long Acre and, from 1753, of St. Martins Lane. In the early 1750's, he formed a powerful Syndicate with Messrs. William Vile (d. 1767) and John Cobb (d. 1778) of St. Martin's Lane, later to become Royal cabinet-makers to King George III, and the St. Giles suite is now attributed to this triumvirate. In particular, these settees share features in common both with stools provided by this firm for The Vyne, Hampshire, in 1753, and with the celebrated medal-cabinet thought to have been provided for Frederick, Prince of Wales (d. 1758) in the early 1750's (see: A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, figs. 28 and 21)
One of a pair of armchairs, acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated together with a third sofa, now in the M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, in W. Reider, 'A Golden Age of English Furniture', Apollo, February 1980, p. 36, figs. 5 and 6. It is shown reupholstered with tufted and piped damask and with brass nailed borders in its eighteenth century manner.
M. Jourdain, 'St. Giles's House, Dorset', Country Life, 20 March 1915
O. Brackett, Thomas Chippendale, London, 1930, pl. 21
M. Jourdain, Furniture at St. Giles's House, Dorset', Country Life, 23 June 1934
R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. edn., 1954, vol. III, p. 94, fig. 54
R. W. Symonds, 'St. Giles's House, Dorset', Guide Book, 1956
R. C. Lines, 'My House at St. Giles's', Connoisseur, October 1959, pl. 12
'St. Giles's House', Antique Collector, August 1962, p. 145
R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, p. 152, fig. 137
A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, p. 194, fig. 202
W. Reider, A Golden Age of English Furniture, Apollo, February 1980, p. 36, fig. 5 and 6
C. Gilbert, 'The St. Giles's House Furniture sale', Christie's, Review of the Season 1980, London, 1980, pp. 214 - 218
The fascinating primary auction history of the St. Giles's Suite is comprehensively listed in the Christie's New York Catalogue, 19 April 1986, lot 90.
Of the suite, a settee is now in the M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco and two armchairs are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (W. 16 and 17 - 1977). Two armchairs were exhibited in English Taste in the Eighteenth Century, The Royal Academy, 1955, no. 194
These settees, part of a suite of which four settees and twenty-five armchairs have been accounted for, were commissioned in the 1750's by the 4th Earl of Shaftesbury (d. 1771), Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, for the principal drawing rooms of St. Giles's House (formerly Wimborne House), Dorset. The transformation of his principal apartments was carried out in the 'antique' manner by the architect Henry Flitcroft (d. 1769), Deputy Surveyor to King George II's Board of Works. It included a Great Saloon with an acanthus-scrolled stucco cornice, which a visitor in 1754 admired as being 'lately finished in a very elegant manner'. These settees with Doric guttae feet were designed to correspond with this 'antique' style and their original green acanthus-patterned damask was complemented by their richly sculpted seat-rails. Their front and sides are carved with a continuous band of acanthus leaves, garlanded with fruit and flowers and framing Venus's scallop-shell, and are emblematical of the abundance of nature. More acanthus foliage emerges from the rosettes of the scrolled arms, while garlands entwine the arm-supports and legs which are carved with flowered-trellis within reserve panels after the 'French' manner.
The Shaftesburys were early patrons of Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) at the time of his establishment at the sign of 'the chair' in St. Martin's Lane, as Susannah, Countess of Shaftesbury, (née Noel, d. 1758), is listed amongst the aristocratic subscribers to The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754. This suite, which can be considered as a masterpiece of St. Martin's Lane seat-furniture of the 1750's, relates to a 'French Chair' pattern with richly carved seat-rail and pilaster legs with sunk panels terminating in guttae, that featured in the Director, plate XXI. Also, a settee, engraved in 1759 and published as plate XXX in the 1762 edition, illustrates this pattern of serpentined crest-rail merged with outward scrolled arms, together with the vertical bands of gilt-headed nails uniting the arm-supports with the legs, as originally appeared on these settees. Their seat-rail ornament also corresponds to that bordering a French style tapestry firescreen panel, which the Earl purchased from Peter Parisot's Fulham manufactory in the early 1750's. This suite, together with its corresponding tables and chandelier, embellished with Jove's eagle accompanied by masks of festive satyrs and garlands, had been credited to Chippendale by Anthony, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, who described it as 'Very valuable and fine by Chippendale' in A few Traditions of the Mansion and Estate received from my father, 1855. The furniture historian Margaret Jourdain illustrated a sofa and chair in her article on St. Giles's House in Country Life, 20 March 1915, and drew attention to the relationship of its furniture to patterns illustrated in the Director. Writing in another article on 'Furniture at St. Giles's, Dorset' in Country Life, 23 June 1934, she praised this suite's 'high technical accomplishment' and 'the brilliant competence of the carving'.
Although only one Household Account Book (dating from 1732 - 58) survives in the Shaftesbury papers for the period 1714 - 70, this reveals a series of significant payments, starting from 1745, to William Hallett (d. 1781) of Great Newport Street, Long Acre and, from 1753, of St. Martins Lane. In the early 1750's, he formed a powerful Syndicate with Messrs. William Vile (d. 1767) and John Cobb (d. 1778) of St. Martin's Lane, later to become Royal cabinet-makers to King George III, and the St. Giles suite is now attributed to this triumvirate. In particular, these settees share features in common both with stools provided by this firm for The Vyne, Hampshire, in 1753, and with the celebrated medal-cabinet thought to have been provided for Frederick, Prince of Wales (d. 1758) in the early 1750's (see: A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, figs. 28 and 21)
One of a pair of armchairs, acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated together with a third sofa, now in the M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, in W. Reider, 'A Golden Age of English Furniture', Apollo, February 1980, p. 36, figs. 5 and 6. It is shown reupholstered with tufted and piped damask and with brass nailed borders in its eighteenth century manner.