The Mill House at Sonning-on-Thames stands on a 12-acre island in the middle of the of the Thames. In Saxon times, the village of Sonning was a settlement along the ancient Thames highway and is mentioned in the 11th Century Domesday Book. The present house began its existence as a working mill in the late 17th Century. Lord Phillimore, the then owner, added a finely proportioned neo-classical wing in 1765.
Approaching The Mill House now, the visitor comes upon strange objects which the neo-classical Lord Phillimore would never have countenanced; they are 'Mirage' sculptures by Dame Elisabeth Frink, whose stepson, Count Adrian Csáky, his wife Countess Irena and his teenage daughter Lela now live in the house, surrounded by an eclecitic collection of 16th, 17th and early 18th Century furniture, from grand Italian palace objects to early English furniture, artifacts and paintings ranging from American Primitive to Modern British artists.
Adrian Csáky has for many years been a well-respected dealer in furniture and works of art, opening his shop in Pimlico Road over 20 years ago.
The house, being part mill house in the domestic vernacular, and part much grander neo-classical 18th Century in soft grey sandstone, has an interestingly split personality, reflected in the Csáky's arrangement of their furniture and works of art. The 17th Century watermill is arranged with pieces which have a more primitive or country feel to them. This part of the house is dominated by the kitchen which contains a Stuart oak table on gun barrel legs, surrounded by 18th Century primitive chairs. 19th Century American decoy birds hang on the walls next to American primitives, of which an early painting of a grey kitten is the rarest.
In the 18th Century part of the house the arrangements are more formal; grand tapestries and needlework hang on the walls next to the paintings by Ivor Hitchins and Jack Butler Yeats. A large, architecturally detailed 17th Century oak armoire from Westphalia is juxtaposed with elaborate coquillaged and gilded 16th Century Venetian candelabra. Silvered Italian torchères are overlooked by a large Flemish ebonised mirror; the Queen Anne chairs in the drawing room are covered in flamestitch needlework which is, in turn, contrasted with the huge and handsome Venetian lacquered bureau and a neo-classical Georgian walnut bureau-bookcase.
The main bedroom in this part of the house is arranged round a spectacular 17th Century Italian iron fourposter, covered with an antique English silk embroidered coverlet.
The contents of The Mill House represent Adrian Csáky's thirty years both as a collector of, and dealer in, early furniture and works of art. Now, he feels, it is time to take stock and he and his wife have decided to sell the house and its entire contents, having decided that after 30 years work in the antiques trade, they do not want to have so much around them, wishing to devote more time to acting as consultants in helping people furnish their houses and Adrian's passion for fishing! They regard themselves as having been custodians of the fine pieces to be included in the sale and now feel it is time for others to have the pleasure of owning them.
A PRIMITIVE OAK AND ELM ARMCHAIR of plank construction with a shaped back, sides and solid seat on four splayed legs, one leg replaced, Welsh, early 19th Century
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A PRIMITIVE OAK AND ELM ARMCHAIR of plank construction with a shaped back, sides and solid seat on four splayed legs, one leg replaced, Welsh, early 19th Century