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Lot Essay
This Grecian daybed was almost certainly supplied by Morel & Hughes for the 6th Duke of Bedford (d.1839), for whom they are known to have worked between 1807-08. Designed in the 'antique' French manner characteristic of Morel & Hughes, who often collaborated with Holland's marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre, the firm was established by Nicholas Morel, of French extraction, and Robert Hughes. They were patronised under Henry Holland's direction for the Prince of Wales, later George IV, at Carlton House, his London residence, as well as the Grange, his hunting box in Hampshire.
Its distinctive ram's mask terminals are shared by the suite of seat-furniture supplied by Morel & Hughes to the 1st Earl of Bradford for Weston Park, Straffordshire (P. Rogers, 'A Regency Interior: The Remodelling of Weston Park,' in Furniture History, 1987, pp. 11-34, fig. 7 and M. Jourdain, Regency Furniture 1795-1820, rev. ed., 1948, p. 84, fig. 46), for which the invoice dated 31 May 1806 survives:- listing six grained rosewood armchairs 'richly finished with carved ram's heads.' This bacchic ram-headed arm may have derived from the 'antique' style illustrated in C. Percier and P. Fontaine's Recueil de Decorations Interieures, 1801. A further suite displaying this same motif was commissioned from Morel & Hughes by either the 13th Earl of Clanricarde (d. 1808), who succeeded his brother in 1797, or his son the 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (d. 1874) (sold Christie's London, 28 June 1951, lot 45).
Relating to 'French Bed' patterns issued in G.Smith's Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808 (pls.29 and 30), this bed evolved from the Roman triclinium couch and is ornamented in evocation of fertility deities. During his Rome studies sponsored by Henry Holland in the 1790s, the court architect Charles Heathcote Tatham (d. 1842) collected a related antique marble lion foot, which was illustrated in his Etchings of Antique Grecian and Roman Architectural Ornament, London, 1806.
Its distinctive ram's mask terminals are shared by the suite of seat-furniture supplied by Morel & Hughes to the 1st Earl of Bradford for Weston Park, Straffordshire (P. Rogers, 'A Regency Interior: The Remodelling of Weston Park,' in Furniture History, 1987, pp. 11-34, fig. 7 and M. Jourdain, Regency Furniture 1795-1820, rev. ed., 1948, p. 84, fig. 46), for which the invoice dated 31 May 1806 survives:- listing six grained rosewood armchairs 'richly finished with carved ram's heads.' This bacchic ram-headed arm may have derived from the 'antique' style illustrated in C. Percier and P. Fontaine's Recueil de Decorations Interieures, 1801. A further suite displaying this same motif was commissioned from Morel & Hughes by either the 13th Earl of Clanricarde (d. 1808), who succeeded his brother in 1797, or his son the 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (d. 1874) (sold Christie's London, 28 June 1951, lot 45).
Relating to 'French Bed' patterns issued in G.Smith's Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808 (pls.29 and 30), this bed evolved from the Roman triclinium couch and is ornamented in evocation of fertility deities. During his Rome studies sponsored by Henry Holland in the 1790s, the court architect Charles Heathcote Tatham (d. 1842) collected a related antique marble lion foot, which was illustrated in his Etchings of Antique Grecian and Roman Architectural Ornament, London, 1806.