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Eleanor Coade's 'Artificial Stone Manufactory' was established at King's Arms Stairs, Narrow Wall, Lambeth, which is now the site of the Royal Festival Hall, in 1769. Eleanor Coade (b.1708-d.1796) and her daughter, also Eleanor (b.1733-d.1821), started off the business with a Daniel Pincot, who had been manufacturing artificial stone in Lambeth during the 1760's. Pincot is the probable vendor of 138 lots, catalogued as 'The Year's Produce of Artificial Stone Manufactory' at the newly opened Pall Mall auction rooms of James Christie on 22nd and 23rd December 1767. The partnership between Coade and Pincot lasted until some time in 1771. The younger Coade, for the most part, continued the business. In 1792 John Sealy (b.1749), Mrs Coade's cousin, was appointed a partner in the firm. Sealy died in 1813. Coade pieces from this period are often stamped with both their names (see lot 330). The factory was then run by a William Croggon (also probably related), for eight years until Coade's death in 1821. Croggon continues the business until bankruptcy in 1833, primarily due to unpaid debts by the Duke of York to whom he had supplied substantial commissions. Croggon's son Thomas then refounded the company before selling the remaining stock and moulds at auction in 1843. COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: Alison Kelly Mrs Coade's Stone, 1990

A PAIR OF ENGLISH COADE STONE ROUNDELS

BY COADE, LAMBETH, DATED 1791

Details

A PAIR OF ENGLISH COADE STONE ROUNDELS
BY COADE, LAMBETH, DATED 1791
Each modelled with a youth, one personifying industry, the other astride a dolphin holding a trident, each with impressed stamp COADE, LONDON, 1791
33½in. (85cm.) diameter (2)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

The production of 'medallions' and 'tablets' by the Coade factory was extensive, the list shows some forty-four types of medallions and plaques and fifty-eight varieties of tablets or panels. As with most of Mrs Coade's production, considerable variation was possible, surviving examples show how she was able to produce similar designs on a common theme. The 1784 Descriptive Catalogue of Coade's Artificial Stone Manufactory lists on page 16 various models which in part are the prototypes for this lot, notably No.s 314-317, sized at 2ft. 11ins. diameter and available for just over 4 guineas. Four variations on the dolphin design were supplied to Hooton Hall in Cheshire (architect Samuel Wyatt, 1778, now demolished), Henry Clay in Connoisseur, October 1928, pages 79-87, shows photographs of the putti on dolphins.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: Alison Kelly Mrs Coade's Stone, 1990, pages 167-169.

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