Lot Essay
QUEEN CAROLINE'S CORONATION CHAIR
This chair can be identified with that supplied by Richard Roberts (d.1729), carver and joiner to the Royal Household, and upholstered by Thomas Phill, 'Upholsterer to King George II', for the coronation of Queen Caroline in 1727
Sir Matthew Decker, who visited Houghton in 1728, observed that
out of the salon on the left hand, you come in a handsome drawing room, and from thence is a fine bedchamber, hung with a good tapestry of the seasons of the year; a blue damask bed, Sir Robert's picture ... and in this room stands the costly chair werein the present Queen was crowned
In his capacity as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Robert Walpole approved the expenses for the Coronation Chairs ordered by the Lord Chamberlain, the Duke of Grafton through John, Duke of Montagu, 'Master of King George II's Great Wardrobe', the warrant being signed and dated Whitehall Treasury Chamber, 5 October 1727 (PRO: lc 2/22 no. 19). The Lord Chamberlain's papers record that Richard Roberts (d.1729) 'Joyner', executed the chairs and Thomas Phill (d.1728), was paid:
for girt webb bottoming ... rolling curled hair, linnen and stuffing two large armed chairs and footstools two large down cushions making said chairs cushions and footstools covered with green velvet and trimmed with gold and silver fringe and for gilt nails tacks and sewing used for two green velvet chairs, cushions and foot stools (PRO: LC 2/22 no. 16)
Furthermore, while Charles Matthews and John Hazell, lacemen, were responsible for applying the gold and silver fringe, George Bicker and his partner, both Mercers, supplied '19½ yds. of green genoa velvet for 2 chair cushions and footstools in the Abbey' at Westminster
Richard Roberts of 'The Royal Chair', Marylebone Street, was almost certainly the son of Thomas Roberts (d.1714), whom he succeeded as carver and joiner to the Royal Household. Moving to Air Street, Piccadilly by 1728, Richard Roberts' association with the crown continued that of his father, and he is last recorded in the Lord Chamberlain's accounts in 1729
The collaboration between Roberts and Phill was recorded as early as 1716. In that year Roberts supplied a state bed for the Prince of Wales at Hampton Court, together with window cornices, eighteen walnut stools, a firescreen and two armchairs en suite, all upholstered by Phill and his partner Jeremiah Fletcher (d.1718)
With its cabriole legs terminating in bacchic lion's paws and Jupiter's eagle arms, this 'easy chair' typifies the ornamental vocabulary expounded by William, 3rd Earl of Burlington's protegé William Kent (d.1748), 'master carpenter' to King George II's Board of Works, a position to which he was appointed in May 1726. With its water-gilding, as opposed to the distinctive oil-gilt stippled frames of the Houghton suites of seat furniture, it would seem inconceivable that it could have been supplied to Sir Robert Walpole for Houghton. It is, however, extremely tempting to suggest that this chair, acquired as a perk of office as Lord Chamberlain, served as the prototype for the Houghton eagle chairs (lot 130)
Although recorded by Sir Mathew Decker in 1728, this chair does not appear to be precisely recorded in either the 1745 or 1792 inventories. The 1745 inventory is not specific and only records the number of chairs in each room, so it is possible it is one of the 'Ten Chairs and one Stool' in the Blue Bedchamber, where Sir Matthew had noted the Queen's chair seventeen years earlier. The 1792 inventory with its fuller descriptions does not clarify the picture - in the same room wrongly described as 'Sir Robt Walpole's Bedchamber', crossed out by Horace and amended to Family Bedchamber, are recorded 'Six Chamber Chair's covered with blue silk/damask & serge Cases/a do. confidante with blue silk and serge Cases'. Indeed, it is only in the Country Life photographs of 1921 that the chair appears in the south west Chamber, shortly after the young Earl and Countess of Rocksavage had taken over Houghton in 1919. Illustrated in the same photograph, on the mantelpiece, is the Cressent cartonnier clock (lot 29), which definitely came from the collection of Lady Rocksavage's grandfather, Baron Gustave de Rothschild (1829-1911). However, this chair does not correspond with the Rothschilds' taste, and as Sir Philip Sassoon's collection did not arrive at Houghton until after his death in 1939, it would seem most probable that the chair was indigenous to Houghton. It is, however, conceivable that it entered the collection either through George, 4th Earl and 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley (d.1827), who may well have acquired the Cannons suite (lots 134-5), or alternatively Robert, 2nd Earl of Orford (d.1751), who is known to have augmented the collection at Houghton with such purchases as the Laöcoon and the chandelier in the Stone Hall, acquired from the creditors of his brother-in-law Hugh, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley (1703-1770) in 1748
This chair can be identified with that supplied by Richard Roberts (d.1729), carver and joiner to the Royal Household, and upholstered by Thomas Phill, 'Upholsterer to King George II', for the coronation of Queen Caroline in 1727
Sir Matthew Decker, who visited Houghton in 1728, observed that
out of the salon on the left hand, you come in a handsome drawing room, and from thence is a fine bedchamber, hung with a good tapestry of the seasons of the year; a blue damask bed, Sir Robert's picture ... and in this room stands the costly chair werein the present Queen was crowned
In his capacity as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Robert Walpole approved the expenses for the Coronation Chairs ordered by the Lord Chamberlain, the Duke of Grafton through John, Duke of Montagu, 'Master of King George II's Great Wardrobe', the warrant being signed and dated Whitehall Treasury Chamber, 5 October 1727 (PRO: lc 2/22 no. 19). The Lord Chamberlain's papers record that Richard Roberts (d.1729) 'Joyner', executed the chairs and Thomas Phill (d.1728), was paid:
for girt webb bottoming ... rolling curled hair, linnen and stuffing two large armed chairs and footstools two large down cushions making said chairs cushions and footstools covered with green velvet and trimmed with gold and silver fringe and for gilt nails tacks and sewing used for two green velvet chairs, cushions and foot stools (PRO: LC 2/22 no. 16)
Furthermore, while Charles Matthews and John Hazell, lacemen, were responsible for applying the gold and silver fringe, George Bicker and his partner, both Mercers, supplied '19½ yds. of green genoa velvet for 2 chair cushions and footstools in the Abbey' at Westminster
Richard Roberts of 'The Royal Chair', Marylebone Street, was almost certainly the son of Thomas Roberts (d.1714), whom he succeeded as carver and joiner to the Royal Household. Moving to Air Street, Piccadilly by 1728, Richard Roberts' association with the crown continued that of his father, and he is last recorded in the Lord Chamberlain's accounts in 1729
The collaboration between Roberts and Phill was recorded as early as 1716. In that year Roberts supplied a state bed for the Prince of Wales at Hampton Court, together with window cornices, eighteen walnut stools, a firescreen and two armchairs en suite, all upholstered by Phill and his partner Jeremiah Fletcher (d.1718)
With its cabriole legs terminating in bacchic lion's paws and Jupiter's eagle arms, this 'easy chair' typifies the ornamental vocabulary expounded by William, 3rd Earl of Burlington's protegé William Kent (d.1748), 'master carpenter' to King George II's Board of Works, a position to which he was appointed in May 1726. With its water-gilding, as opposed to the distinctive oil-gilt stippled frames of the Houghton suites of seat furniture, it would seem inconceivable that it could have been supplied to Sir Robert Walpole for Houghton. It is, however, extremely tempting to suggest that this chair, acquired as a perk of office as Lord Chamberlain, served as the prototype for the Houghton eagle chairs (lot 130)
Although recorded by Sir Mathew Decker in 1728, this chair does not appear to be precisely recorded in either the 1745 or 1792 inventories. The 1745 inventory is not specific and only records the number of chairs in each room, so it is possible it is one of the 'Ten Chairs and one Stool' in the Blue Bedchamber, where Sir Matthew had noted the Queen's chair seventeen years earlier. The 1792 inventory with its fuller descriptions does not clarify the picture - in the same room wrongly described as 'Sir Robt Walpole's Bedchamber', crossed out by Horace and amended to Family Bedchamber, are recorded 'Six Chamber Chair's covered with blue silk/damask & serge Cases/a do. confidante with blue silk and serge Cases'. Indeed, it is only in the Country Life photographs of 1921 that the chair appears in the south west Chamber, shortly after the young Earl and Countess of Rocksavage had taken over Houghton in 1919. Illustrated in the same photograph, on the mantelpiece, is the Cressent cartonnier clock (lot 29), which definitely came from the collection of Lady Rocksavage's grandfather, Baron Gustave de Rothschild (1829-1911). However, this chair does not correspond with the Rothschilds' taste, and as Sir Philip Sassoon's collection did not arrive at Houghton until after his death in 1939, it would seem most probable that the chair was indigenous to Houghton. It is, however, conceivable that it entered the collection either through George, 4th Earl and 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley (d.1827), who may well have acquired the Cannons suite (lots 134-5), or alternatively Robert, 2nd Earl of Orford (d.1751), who is known to have augmented the collection at Houghton with such purchases as the Laöcoon and the chandelier in the Stone Hall, acquired from the creditors of his brother-in-law Hugh, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley (1703-1770) in 1748