THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
THE DALMAHOY SUITE
(LOTS 70-73)
The original provenance of this suite had been lost until the recent discovery of a small label, now largely concealed below a later label, that reads Dalmahoy. Dalmahoy was built by William Adam (1689-1748) for George Dalrymple (d.1745), youngest son of the Earl of Stair.
Finished in 1725, Dalmahoy was sold around 1750 to the 13th Earl of Morton. The house remained in the latter's family until circa 1935 but tantalisingly no sale catalogue or interior photographs survive from the house. A dispersal sale at about that time does not contradict the known provenance. The suite may then have been acquired by Mrs. Robert Emmet, sold by her in 1941, and bought by the present owner's family from Partridge in that year.
The suite was probably supplied to James, 13th Earl of Morton for Dalmahoy after 1750, although it may have been sold with the house. If it was supplied to Lord Morton pre-1750, it may have been for Aberdour House in Fife, a 17th Century house near their medieval fortress of Aberdour Castle (M. Dean and M. Miers, Scotland's Endangered Houses, London, 1990, p. 44). James Gibbs was consulted over restoration to Aberdour House in 1731.
In the prefatory note to the third edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1762, Thomas Chippendale mentions that the bed illustrated on pl. XXXIX 'has been made for the Earls of Dumfries and Morton'. The bed, presumably the same model as that which is still at Dumfries House, has never been traced but it testifies to the high quality of the Dalmahoy furniture (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 139). The reference to Morton in Chippendale's third edition of the Director would also suggest that Morton was a patron of his in the 1750s, and Morton may have commissioned this suite at this period. While the serpentined chair-leg pattern, with its Venus-shell badge and Jupiter eagle-claw foot, had been introduced in the early years of King George II's reign, it was to remain fashionable into the reign of George III, as can be seen on chairs supplied in 1767 by Thomas Welsh for Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh (F. Bamford, 'A Dictionary of Edinburgh Furniture Makers 1660-1840', Furniture History, London, 1983, pls. 32 and 33).
The floral-sprig pattern of their upholstery was also fashionable in the 1750s, as can be seen on the embroidered loose-covers provided for a set of chairs that were supplied in 1753 for The Vyne, Hampshire by Messrs. Vile and Cobb (A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig. 27).
A PAIR OF GEORGE II WALNUT SOFAS
细节
A PAIR OF GEORGE II WALNUT SOFAS
Each with a serpentine-crested rectangular padded back, outscrolled arms, seat and seat-cushion covered in close-nailed contemporary crewel work in worsted wool of scrolling flowers on a cream linen ground, on cabriole legs headed by scallop-shells and scrolled angle-brackets, on claw feet, the linen backing cloth replaced, with modern green and cream-striped case covers, both sofas with paper label inscribed in pencil 'S' and with white paint inventory number '6465', one sofa with one filleted and repaired back leg, the other sofa with paper label to the underside inscribed in ink 'Blue Damask Room' and dealer's label for 'FRANK PARTRIDGE WORKS OF ART 26, KING ST. ST. JAMES'S AND NEW YORK'
68 in. (172.5 cm.) wide (2)
Each with a serpentine-crested rectangular padded back, outscrolled arms, seat and seat-cushion covered in close-nailed contemporary crewel work in worsted wool of scrolling flowers on a cream linen ground, on cabriole legs headed by scallop-shells and scrolled angle-brackets, on claw feet, the linen backing cloth replaced, with modern green and cream-striped case covers, both sofas with paper label inscribed in pencil 'S' and with white paint inventory number '6465', one sofa with one filleted and repaired back leg, the other sofa with paper label to the underside inscribed in ink 'Blue Damask Room' and dealer's label for 'FRANK PARTRIDGE WORKS OF ART 26, KING ST. ST. JAMES'S AND NEW YORK'
68 in. (172.5 cm.) wide (2)
来源
Probably supplied to James, 13th Earl of Morton (d.1768) for Dalmahoy House, Midlothian, when he bought the house circa 1750.
By descent at Dalmahoy, probably until the mid-1930s.
Mrs. Robert Emmet, sold Sotheby's London, 27 October 1941, lot 158 (one sofa illustrated).
Acquired by the vendor's family in 1941.
By descent at Dalmahoy, probably until the mid-1930s.
Mrs. Robert Emmet, sold Sotheby's London, 27 October 1941, lot 158 (one sofa illustrated).
Acquired by the vendor's family in 1941.
拍场告示
The Dalmahoy Suite
Another side chair from the Dalmahoy suite was sold from the collection of the late Dr. Frank Crozer Knowles, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, Christie's New York, 22 October 1988, lot 217. It was sold with the printed provenance of the Earls of Morton, Dalmahoy, which confirms the Dalmahoy inscription on these chairs. The chair was later in the collection of John Holms, Formakin, Bishopton, Renfrewshire, and was probably sold when he died by Morrison and McChlery, Glasgow, 17-20 October 1938. Holms was buying furniture during the first decade of the 20th Century, and it is possible that he purchased the suite directly from the Morton family.
Another side chair from the Dalmahoy suite was sold from the collection of the late Dr. Frank Crozer Knowles, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, Christie's New York, 22 October 1988, lot 217. It was sold with the printed provenance of the Earls of Morton, Dalmahoy, which confirms the Dalmahoy inscription on these chairs. The chair was later in the collection of John Holms, Formakin, Bishopton, Renfrewshire, and was probably sold when he died by Morrison and McChlery, Glasgow, 17-20 October 1938. Holms was buying furniture during the first decade of the 20th Century, and it is possible that he purchased the suite directly from the Morton family.