Lot Essay
The model of this bed is directly copied from one supplied to the actor and theatrical impresario, David Garrick for his villa on the Thames at Hampton in the mid-1770's by Thomas Chippendale. The original piece has been in the Victoria and Albert Museum since 1916-17. The attribution to Druce & Co. rests on the evidence of a photograph in the Furniture Department of that museum showing a modern copy of the bedstead; the print is inscribed Druce and Co. (E.9357).
The Garrick furniture was extremely famous from a very early stage. The contents of the villa were dispersed on the death, at the age of ninety-eight, of Garrick's widow, Maria, in 1822. Most of the Chippendale furniture was bought back by her solicitor who had purchased the house and was keen to preserve the actor's memory. It was finally dispersed in 1864. Stylistically the Garrick suite fits happily, if unusually, into Chippendale's work of the mid-1770's. The Garricks clearly felt that the novel painted furniture would be ideally suited for a rural retreat but the decorative motifs can usually be found in his more conventional work. The painted elements can moreover be compared to those on his japanned furniture, for example the set of green and white chairs supplied to Paxton in 1774 (see illustration opposite).
The Garrick furniture was extremely famous from a very early stage. The contents of the villa were dispersed on the death, at the age of ninety-eight, of Garrick's widow, Maria, in 1822. Most of the Chippendale furniture was bought back by her solicitor who had purchased the house and was keen to preserve the actor's memory. It was finally dispersed in 1864. Stylistically the Garrick suite fits happily, if unusually, into Chippendale's work of the mid-1770's. The Garricks clearly felt that the novel painted furniture would be ideally suited for a rural retreat but the decorative motifs can usually be found in his more conventional work. The painted elements can moreover be compared to those on his japanned furniture, for example the set of green and white chairs supplied to Paxton in 1774 (see illustration opposite).