Lot Essay
This 'antique' chair pattern was conceived about 1803 for the antiquarian and Wiltshire historian Sir Richard Colt Hoare (d. 1832), and designed by Thomas Chippendale Junior (d. 1822) of St. Martin's Lane. In 1792 Sir Richard employed the Salisbury architects Messrs. Moulton and Atkinson to add a library pavilion to Stourhead House, Wiltshire. Designed with arched roof, Grecian coffering and Roman-lunette windows, it was presided over by busts of Milton, while its pedestal-desk was supported by herms of Greek poets and philosophers. His mahogany armchairs were designed en suite in Roman currule form, after the Franco-Antique manner, and, incorporating 'Elizabethan' spindle-filled backs, comprised alternating 'salmonic' and beaded columns. Their arched crest-rail, centred by an oval tablet, terminate in reeded scrolls above fluted 'herm' feet that are capped by busts of Egyptian priestesses.
Thomas Chippendale Junior's sketch book, which featured French furniture seen during his Paris visit in 1802, may have included drawings made at Jacob frères (see: J. Kenworthy-Browne, p....). In 1800 this firm has executed chairs with 'herm' feet capped by Egyptian-priestess heads wearing the nemes headdress. These indicated the interest aroused by Napoleon's campaign in Egypt in 1797/8 accompanied by Dominique Vivant Denon. Denon, who became Director of the Musée Napoléon (Louvre) published his book Voyage dans la Haute et dans la basse Egypte, 1802, and a copy of it, and an English translation, were acquired for Sir Richard Colt Hoare's library. The set of eight armchairs and two single chairs at Stourhead were designed en suite with a writing-table (Kenworthy-Browne, op.cit.), fig. 15); and this related to a circular table, which no doubt featured amongst the furniture totalling (900 that Chippendale supplied to Charles Hoare, Colt Hoare's cousin, in 1803-4 for Luscombe Castle, Devon (kenworth Brown, op.cit., fig. 11). Another pair of armchairs, matching this set, survives in a collection in the North of England, and may indicate that Cippendale supplied a second set of chairs, possibly for Luscombe Castle.
George Smith, Upholsterer to George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, in his Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Guide of 1826 coupled Chippendale with Thomas Hope (author of Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, as one of the two 'English artists who have excelled in their designs for furniture' and continued ..'Mr. Thomas Chippendale ... known only amongst a few, possessed a very great degree of taste, with great ability as a draghtsman'.
Thomas Chippendale Junior's sketch book, which featured French furniture seen during his Paris visit in 1802, may have included drawings made at Jacob frères (see: J. Kenworthy-Browne, p....). In 1800 this firm has executed chairs with 'herm' feet capped by Egyptian-priestess heads wearing the nemes headdress. These indicated the interest aroused by Napoleon's campaign in Egypt in 1797/8 accompanied by Dominique Vivant Denon. Denon, who became Director of the Musée Napoléon (Louvre) published his book Voyage dans la Haute et dans la basse Egypte, 1802, and a copy of it, and an English translation, were acquired for Sir Richard Colt Hoare's library. The set of eight armchairs and two single chairs at Stourhead were designed en suite with a writing-table (Kenworthy-Browne, op.cit.), fig. 15); and this related to a circular table, which no doubt featured amongst the furniture totalling (900 that Chippendale supplied to Charles Hoare, Colt Hoare's cousin, in 1803-4 for Luscombe Castle, Devon (kenworth Brown, op.cit., fig. 11). Another pair of armchairs, matching this set, survives in a collection in the North of England, and may indicate that Cippendale supplied a second set of chairs, possibly for Luscombe Castle.
George Smith, Upholsterer to George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, in his Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Guide of 1826 coupled Chippendale with Thomas Hope (author of Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, as one of the two 'English artists who have excelled in their designs for furniture' and continued ..'Mr. Thomas Chippendale ... known only amongst a few, possessed a very great degree of taste, with great ability as a draghtsman'.