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Lot Essay
When purchased from the London trade in the 1950s, this chandelier was reputed to have come from Devonshire House, Piccadilly. Whilst documentary evidence to categorically support this claim has so far proved elusive, both stylistically and chronologically, there is no reason to suggest that this purported provenance is incorrect.
William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, increasingly disenchanted with London life during the 1820s, devoted most of his energies and considerable resources during the following two decades to the improvements he and his gardener-cum-architect, Joseph Paxton were carrying out at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. Whilst Chatsworth was, therefore, rightly feted - culminating in Queen Victoria's visit in 1843 - Devonshire House fell into a sad state of neglect. In 1846, however, the Duke wrote:- After years of torpidity, I became again amused and pleased with society, and re-occupied my place in the world. My materials of reception had however become so very dingy and out of repair that I have resolved to brush up and repair poor old Devonshire House. The 'brushing up' that followed, under the direction of the architect Decimus Burton and John Crace and Company, Upholsterers, revealed that no expense was spared, and included such wonders as a 'crystal staircase' and a ballroom, eclipsed only by the adjoining Saloon - the most elaborate room of all hung with 'capital' pictures from the Dukes' collections. As Lady Eastlake wrote of an evening at Devonshire House in May 1850, 'the stairs themselves splendid, shallow, broad slabs of the purest white marble, which sprang unsupported, with their weight of gorgeous crystal balustrade, from the wall; and such a blaze of intense yet soft light, diffused round everything and everybody by a number of gas jets on the walls. The apartments were perfect fairyland, marble, gilding, pictures and flowers....'.
Whilst five elaborate, cascading glass chandeliers are visible in the surviving photographs and watercolours of the Principal Rooms at Devonshire House, none appear to match the present chandelier. The distinctive ormolu stiff-leaf canopy and central ormolu band, as well as the ropetwist S-scrolled branches are, however, characteristics of chandeliers produced by Perry & Co. from the early 19th century. It is, therefore, pertinent to note that William Parker (d.1784), whose son entered into partnership with the Perry family in 1817 (they eventually merged to become Perry & Co. in circa 1820), had supplied the 5th Duke of Devonshire with chandeliers and other glass light fittings for Chatsworth in 1782-3. The link between the Devonshires and Perry and Co. appears to have remained constant, as the Devonshire House chandeliers, as well as those executed for Chatsworth in the 1820-30s, are confidently attributed to Perry & Co. on constructional and stylistic grounds by M. Mortimer in The English Glass Chandelier, Woodbridge, 2000, p.147.
Perry & Co. were certainly proud of their continuity in serving the great and the good, ranging from George, Prince of Wales to William Beckford. In George Perry's own words of 1835, 'we trust that our having made the greater part of the lustres for the late King, and our being now employed in making those for the new Palace of his present Majesty (William IV), will be some guarantee for the character of our Manufacture'.
Devonshire House was sold for 1,000,000 guineas in April 1920 to Mr Shurmer Sibthorpe of Southampton Street, Holborn, and Mr Lawrence Harrison, a Liverpool shipowner. In their own words, quoted in The Times, 'Archaeologists have gathered round me and say I'm a vandal....but personally I think the place is an eyesore'. It 1925 it was razed to the ground, giving way to a more convenient and modern block of flats. Although much of the furniture and architectural fittings were salvaged by the Devonshires and removed to Chatsworth, others - and in all likelihood this chandelier - presumably made their way onto the art market, this chandelier following in the footsteps of the porters' lodges, which were moved brick by brick to an estate in Syosset, Long Island.
Related chandeliers include that sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 9 July 1999, lot 53 (£27,600), and that sold by anonymously at Christie's London, 29 November 2001, lot 85 (£34,500).
William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, increasingly disenchanted with London life during the 1820s, devoted most of his energies and considerable resources during the following two decades to the improvements he and his gardener-cum-architect, Joseph Paxton were carrying out at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. Whilst Chatsworth was, therefore, rightly feted - culminating in Queen Victoria's visit in 1843 - Devonshire House fell into a sad state of neglect. In 1846, however, the Duke wrote:- After years of torpidity, I became again amused and pleased with society, and re-occupied my place in the world. My materials of reception had however become so very dingy and out of repair that I have resolved to brush up and repair poor old Devonshire House. The 'brushing up' that followed, under the direction of the architect Decimus Burton and John Crace and Company, Upholsterers, revealed that no expense was spared, and included such wonders as a 'crystal staircase' and a ballroom, eclipsed only by the adjoining Saloon - the most elaborate room of all hung with 'capital' pictures from the Dukes' collections. As Lady Eastlake wrote of an evening at Devonshire House in May 1850, 'the stairs themselves splendid, shallow, broad slabs of the purest white marble, which sprang unsupported, with their weight of gorgeous crystal balustrade, from the wall; and such a blaze of intense yet soft light, diffused round everything and everybody by a number of gas jets on the walls. The apartments were perfect fairyland, marble, gilding, pictures and flowers....'.
Whilst five elaborate, cascading glass chandeliers are visible in the surviving photographs and watercolours of the Principal Rooms at Devonshire House, none appear to match the present chandelier. The distinctive ormolu stiff-leaf canopy and central ormolu band, as well as the ropetwist S-scrolled branches are, however, characteristics of chandeliers produced by Perry & Co. from the early 19th century. It is, therefore, pertinent to note that William Parker (d.1784), whose son entered into partnership with the Perry family in 1817 (they eventually merged to become Perry & Co. in circa 1820), had supplied the 5th Duke of Devonshire with chandeliers and other glass light fittings for Chatsworth in 1782-3. The link between the Devonshires and Perry and Co. appears to have remained constant, as the Devonshire House chandeliers, as well as those executed for Chatsworth in the 1820-30s, are confidently attributed to Perry & Co. on constructional and stylistic grounds by M. Mortimer in The English Glass Chandelier, Woodbridge, 2000, p.147.
Perry & Co. were certainly proud of their continuity in serving the great and the good, ranging from George, Prince of Wales to William Beckford. In George Perry's own words of 1835, 'we trust that our having made the greater part of the lustres for the late King, and our being now employed in making those for the new Palace of his present Majesty (William IV), will be some guarantee for the character of our Manufacture'.
Devonshire House was sold for 1,000,000 guineas in April 1920 to Mr Shurmer Sibthorpe of Southampton Street, Holborn, and Mr Lawrence Harrison, a Liverpool shipowner. In their own words, quoted in The Times, 'Archaeologists have gathered round me and say I'm a vandal....but personally I think the place is an eyesore'. It 1925 it was razed to the ground, giving way to a more convenient and modern block of flats. Although much of the furniture and architectural fittings were salvaged by the Devonshires and removed to Chatsworth, others - and in all likelihood this chandelier - presumably made their way onto the art market, this chandelier following in the footsteps of the porters' lodges, which were moved brick by brick to an estate in Syosset, Long Island.
Related chandeliers include that sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 9 July 1999, lot 53 (£27,600), and that sold by anonymously at Christie's London, 29 November 2001, lot 85 (£34,500).