ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, CIRCA 1870

Details

A SET OF TEN MID-VICTORIAN GILTWOOD DINING-CHAIRS
ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, CIRCA 1870
Each with tapering turned fluted and cabochon carved legs with brass capped castors, the castors stamped 'COPE & &COLLINSON PATENT' variations in the upholstery, two chairs previously with a printed canvas label 'HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER, G.C.V.O., D.S.O. BOURDON HOUSE, DAVIES STREET, LONDON, W.1.' (10)

Provenance

Almost certainly supplied to Robert, 2nd Earl Grosvenor and 1st Marquess of Westminster (d. 1845) for Grosvenor House, London and by descent to
Anne, Duchess of Westminster (+); Two Ducal Collections, Christie's house sale, Woburn Abbey, 20-21 September 2004, lot 1016.

Literature

Illustrated in situ in the Drawing Room of Grosvenor House in an undated late 19th Century photograph (D. Pearce, London's Mansions, London, 1986, fig.125.

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 2nd Earl Grosvenor purchased the lease of Gloucester House in Upper Grosvenor Street in 1805 for £20,000 and immediately turned to William Pordern to redecorate the house between 1807-8 - although with an eye for economy, crimson damask from Eaton being reused on the walls. Designed as a Gallery for his newly assembled picture Collection, Grosvenor House was described as 'a mass of damask, velvet, gilding, statues and pictures and magnificence of all sorts, beyond all powers of description and imagination'. Subsequently remodelled by Thomas Cundy and Anthony Salvin, these chairs almost certainly date from the 1870's remodelling of the principal rooms by Henry Clutton, with J.G. Crace responsible for the redecoration.

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