Lot Essay
Two from a suite of 'Twelve arm chairs' and 'one settee', these chairs were supplied to Sir Robert Walpole for the Marble Parlour at Houghton. Conceived both as an Eating Room and as a Withdrawing Room for the second State Apartment, the Marble Parlour is dominated by William Kent's (d.1748) spectacular marble screen with its central bacchic chimneypiece carved by John Michael Rysbrack (d.1770), which conceals the Buffet beyond. Conceived as chaises meublants to line the end walls of the Parlour, the chairs' design typifies the ornamental repertoire associated with William Kent, 'Master Carpenter' to King George II's Board of Works, as represented in the design of Queen Caroline's throne (see lot 129). Appropriate to Houghton's ceiling decorations, which are dominated by Venus and other deities, the scrolled and antique-stippled chair-frames display the Nature Goddess's acanthus-enriched shell badges within scalloped cartouches, while the cabriole legs terminate in Jupiter's eagle-claws and the god's attendant eagles emerge from the serpentined arms. The room's pier-sideboard-table, designed by Kent in November 1731 (illustrated in P. Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs, London, 1958, no. 18) is, moreover, centred by a bacchic lion-mask accompanied by acanthus-wrapped cornucopiae emblematic of Peace and Plenty, all pertinent vocabulary for a Dining Parlour
Queen Caroline's throne (lot 129), with is scallop-shell headed knees and eagle arm terminals, may well have served as the prototype for these chairs. While the characteristic hoofed back foot represents a conscious reference to the walnut and parcel-gilt suite (lots 126-7) supplied to Sir Robert's earlier house and consequently placed in the 'Cabinett' and 'Cov'd or Wrought Bedchamber' of the same Second State Apartment. Owing to Walpole's destruction of much of the household accounts, the author of this suite is not firmly documented. However, their exceptional quality and execution would point to Benjamin Goodison (d.1767), 'Cabinet maker to their Majesties' as the principal candidate. Trained under James Moore (d.1726), the 'King's Cabinet-Maker', he established his Long Acre workshops at the sign of the 'Golden Spread Eagle'. Succeeding his master in 1726-7 as cabinet-maker to King George II's 'Great Wardrobe', the style of his furnishings followed the fashion established by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington's protegé William Kent in his role as 'Master Carpenter' to the Royal Board of Works, and he supplied, in collaboration with William Kent, much of the furnishings for Windsor Castle and the Royal Palaces (Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660 - 1840, Leeds, 1986, pp. 351-2), as well as at Holkham for Thomas, 1st Earl of Leicester from 1739
Retaining the remains of their original, green damask upholstery displaying fruit and flowers emerging from Roman-acanthus foliage, its 21inch width dictated the width of the brass-railed chair-backs. Its pattern, now know as Amberley, also inspired that of the wallpaper hung by Kent in the Privy Council, Whitehall in the 1730s (C. Oman, Wallpapers, London, 1982, no. 60)
A closely related set of four walnut armchairs, almost certainly executed in the same workshop, was sold by Lord Bolton in these Rooms, 5 December 1991, lot 250, while a walnut side chair en suite, sold from Percy Macquoid's own collection in these Rooms, 30 June 1925, lot 108, is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, op. cit., I, p. 263, fig. 114
An armchair with related arm supports, spreading hoof back legs and prominent shell-badge to the apron, almost certainly supplied to Thomas, 8th Duke of Norfolk (d.1732) under the direction of Walpole's architect James Gibbs (d.1754), whom he engaged circa 1716, for Arundel Castle, Sussex or Worksop Manor, Nottinghamshire, is illustrated in S. Jervis, 'Furniture at Arundel Castle', Connoisseur, March 1978, fig. P
This suite is listed in the 'Marble Parlour' in the 1745 inventory as 'One Settee.../Twelve Arm Chair's..', and in the 1792 inventory of the 'Marble Parlour or Sitting Room' as 'Twelve Elbow Chairs stuffed & covered/with rich green silk damask/carved & gilt frames & serge Cases/A Sopha finished to correspond'
The settee from the suite is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, op. cit., III, p. 87, fig. 38, and in R. Edwards, op. cit., p. 451, fig. 130
Queen Caroline's throne (lot 129), with is scallop-shell headed knees and eagle arm terminals, may well have served as the prototype for these chairs. While the characteristic hoofed back foot represents a conscious reference to the walnut and parcel-gilt suite (lots 126-7) supplied to Sir Robert's earlier house and consequently placed in the 'Cabinett' and 'Cov'd or Wrought Bedchamber' of the same Second State Apartment. Owing to Walpole's destruction of much of the household accounts, the author of this suite is not firmly documented. However, their exceptional quality and execution would point to Benjamin Goodison (d.1767), 'Cabinet maker to their Majesties' as the principal candidate. Trained under James Moore (d.1726), the 'King's Cabinet-Maker', he established his Long Acre workshops at the sign of the 'Golden Spread Eagle'. Succeeding his master in 1726-7 as cabinet-maker to King George II's 'Great Wardrobe', the style of his furnishings followed the fashion established by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington's protegé William Kent in his role as 'Master Carpenter' to the Royal Board of Works, and he supplied, in collaboration with William Kent, much of the furnishings for Windsor Castle and the Royal Palaces (Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660 - 1840, Leeds, 1986, pp. 351-2), as well as at Holkham for Thomas, 1st Earl of Leicester from 1739
Retaining the remains of their original, green damask upholstery displaying fruit and flowers emerging from Roman-acanthus foliage, its 21inch width dictated the width of the brass-railed chair-backs. Its pattern, now know as Amberley, also inspired that of the wallpaper hung by Kent in the Privy Council, Whitehall in the 1730s (C. Oman, Wallpapers, London, 1982, no. 60)
A closely related set of four walnut armchairs, almost certainly executed in the same workshop, was sold by Lord Bolton in these Rooms, 5 December 1991, lot 250, while a walnut side chair en suite, sold from Percy Macquoid's own collection in these Rooms, 30 June 1925, lot 108, is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, op. cit., I, p. 263, fig. 114
An armchair with related arm supports, spreading hoof back legs and prominent shell-badge to the apron, almost certainly supplied to Thomas, 8th Duke of Norfolk (d.1732) under the direction of Walpole's architect James Gibbs (d.1754), whom he engaged circa 1716, for Arundel Castle, Sussex or Worksop Manor, Nottinghamshire, is illustrated in S. Jervis, 'Furniture at Arundel Castle', Connoisseur, March 1978, fig. P
This suite is listed in the 'Marble Parlour' in the 1745 inventory as 'One Settee.../Twelve Arm Chair's..', and in the 1792 inventory of the 'Marble Parlour or Sitting Room' as 'Twelve Elbow Chairs stuffed & covered/with rich green silk damask/carved & gilt frames & serge Cases/A Sopha finished to correspond'
The settee from the suite is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, op. cit., III, p. 87, fig. 38, and in R. Edwards, op. cit., p. 451, fig. 130