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Lot Essay
THE ATTRIBUTION TO JOHN GORDON
The picturesque chair pattern is attributed to the Westminster cabinet-maker, John Gordon of Swallow Street, who may have been related to the early 18th Century Edinburgh cabinet-makers of that name. In the late 1740s Gordon adopted a chair, supported by Apollo's sacred griffin, for his shop-sign, when trading as 'LANDALL & GORDON, Street by Swallow Street'. It seems likely that he was also in partnership with William Gordon, who responded to Thomas Chippendale's 1753 advertisement for subscribers to A New Book of Designs of Household Furniture in the GOTHIC, CHINESE and MODERN TASTE. The chairs' Gothic air would also have suited the Scottish Castle of Blair Atholl, Perthshire for which James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl (d. 1764) commissioned a suite of comfortable chairs, in Chippendale's 'French Chair' fashion. It was listed in 1756 as:-
'8 Mahogany Chairs, Carv'd frames in fish scales, with a French foot & carv'd leaf upon the toe'. The total cost of around £31 included a charge of (£2.5.0. for 'making an addition to your Grace's [the Duchess's] needlework'. In 1749, the Duke had married Jean Drummond, who had worked the canvas upholstery in rich floral bouquets springing from Ceres's cornucopiae or horns-or-plenty. The suite remains at Blair (see A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig. 87 and The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 356).
The same 'Atholl' pattern was chosen for a suite of seat-furniture, comprising some twenty four armchairs and two settees, recorded in the possession of John, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (d.1929). At this period they decorated the corridors of Ditton Park, Berkshire. They may have been part of the furnishings introduced to the earlier house at Ditton by George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan (d.1790), who was created 3rd Duke of Montagu in 1766; and to have been amongst the quantity of furniture reported as being saved from a fire at the house in 1812. In the early 20th Century the suite was in the possession of Messrs. Mallett of Bath; and an armchair was illustrated in H. Cescinsky, English Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1910, vol. II, fig. 392.
The suite, comprising the two settees and eight armchairs, was acquired by Arthur S. Vernay, Inc. New York and sold in The Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. sale at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 6 and 7 May 1960, lots 520-525.
Most recently a pair of chairs from this suite was sold, The Property of a Gentleman, Christie's London, 8 July 1999, lot 25, (£243,500). Interesting to note is that this pair of chairs displayed near identical differences in carving and construction to the offered pair. It is reasonable to assume that due to the large number of chairs in this suite that there would have been more than one journeyman in Gordon's workshops working on this long set. Bearing this in mind it is not unreasonable therefore that there shuld be slight difference in the chairs made by different makers. A further pair of armchairs from this suite was presented to the Victoria and Albert Museum London, in 1962.
The picturesque chair pattern is attributed to the Westminster cabinet-maker, John Gordon of Swallow Street, who may have been related to the early 18th Century Edinburgh cabinet-makers of that name. In the late 1740s Gordon adopted a chair, supported by Apollo's sacred griffin, for his shop-sign, when trading as 'LANDALL & GORDON, Street by Swallow Street'. It seems likely that he was also in partnership with William Gordon, who responded to Thomas Chippendale's 1753 advertisement for subscribers to A New Book of Designs of Household Furniture in the GOTHIC, CHINESE and MODERN TASTE. The chairs' Gothic air would also have suited the Scottish Castle of Blair Atholl, Perthshire for which James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl (d. 1764) commissioned a suite of comfortable chairs, in Chippendale's 'French Chair' fashion. It was listed in 1756 as:-
'8 Mahogany Chairs, Carv'd frames in fish scales, with a French foot & carv'd leaf upon the toe'. The total cost of around £31 included a charge of (£2.5.0. for 'making an addition to your Grace's [the Duchess's] needlework'. In 1749, the Duke had married Jean Drummond, who had worked the canvas upholstery in rich floral bouquets springing from Ceres's cornucopiae or horns-or-plenty. The suite remains at Blair (see A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig. 87 and The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 356).
The same 'Atholl' pattern was chosen for a suite of seat-furniture, comprising some twenty four armchairs and two settees, recorded in the possession of John, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (d.1929). At this period they decorated the corridors of Ditton Park, Berkshire. They may have been part of the furnishings introduced to the earlier house at Ditton by George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan (d.1790), who was created 3rd Duke of Montagu in 1766; and to have been amongst the quantity of furniture reported as being saved from a fire at the house in 1812. In the early 20th Century the suite was in the possession of Messrs. Mallett of Bath; and an armchair was illustrated in H. Cescinsky, English Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1910, vol. II, fig. 392.
The suite, comprising the two settees and eight armchairs, was acquired by Arthur S. Vernay, Inc. New York and sold in The Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. sale at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 6 and 7 May 1960, lots 520-525.
Most recently a pair of chairs from this suite was sold, The Property of a Gentleman, Christie's London, 8 July 1999, lot 25, (£243,500). Interesting to note is that this pair of chairs displayed near identical differences in carving and construction to the offered pair. It is reasonable to assume that due to the large number of chairs in this suite that there would have been more than one journeyman in Gordon's workshops working on this long set. Bearing this in mind it is not unreasonable therefore that there shuld be slight difference in the chairs made by different makers. A further pair of armchairs from this suite was presented to the Victoria and Albert Museum London, in 1962.