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Lot Essay
These magnificent armchairs form part of a larger suite which is currently dispersed among various collections. In addition to the present pair, the other known chairs are as follows:
1) a set of six in the collection at Floors Castle, Kelso, Scotland
The chairs appear in a photograph of the drawing room in the Floors Castle guidebook (published 1988, p. 10). They may have been acquired by the American-born heiress May Goelet, following her marriage to the 8th Duke of Roxburghe in 1903. A childhood friend of Consuelo Vanderbilt (who married the Duke's cousin, the Duke of Marlborough), she proceeded to decorate Floors in a distinctly French taste, bringing with her a £2 million dowry as well as many furniture heirlooms. Floors is thought to have been refurbished with the assistance of Lenygon and Morant.
2) a pair previously at Notley Abbey, Buckinghamshire (formerly the home of Sir Lawrence Olivier). The chairs were purchased from Mallett in 1964 by the decorators Colefax and Fowler. They were subsequently sold by the [anonymous] owners at Bonhams, London, 3 February 2004, lot 109. The chairs are currently with Mallett, London and advertised as possibly supplied for Edward, 11th Earl of Derby (d. 1776) at Knowsley Hall, Merseyside.
3) two pairs in private English collections
4) a pair in a European collection.
Interestingly, while the Floors Castle chairs may have been purchased at the turn of the last century, other examples from the set appeared to have come on the market in the 1960s. Mallett puts forth the possibility that their pair may have been commissioned by Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby of Knowsley Hall (1689-1776) who married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Hesketh from Rufford Hall and succeeded to the title in 1736. As the 11th Earl would have been in his 60s at the time the chairs were executed, it is possible the chairs entered the family's collection at a later date.
The chairs are produced in the fully conceived 'French' rococo taste of the mid-eighteenth century. Their sinuous frames entwined by Roman acanthus foliage, reflect the 'picturesque' style that had been invented by artists, architects and ornemanistes such as Juste-Aurele Meissonier (d.1750) and Gilles-Marie Oppenord (d.1742) and praised by the artist William Hogarth in his Analysis of Beauty, 1753. The ornament, with its Venus shell badges, evokes lyric poetry and the history of the triumphal birth the Nature Deity as recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses or Loves of the Gods.
Designed in the manner of the French fauteuil à la Reine, they epitomise Thomas Chippendale's 'Modern' or French 'picturesque' style illustrated in The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's Director, 1754-1762. Chippendale's related 'French Chair' engravings of 1759, shown with French tapestry covers, were added to the third edition of the Director, 1762 (pls.XXII and XXIII). These chairs were similarly designed for tapestry or needlework covers.
These chairs feature a pinned leg construction, exhuberant carving and a most unusual sweep to the arms akin to European tradition and may indicate a craftsman was employed who was trained on the Continent. However the overall robust character of the design is remarkably close to a drawing executed by the specialist carver and designer Matthias Lock (d.1765) for a pattern chair now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (see H. Hayward, 'A Unique Rococo Chair by Matthias Lock', Apollo, October 1973, pp.268-171). The chair, known as the Sitter's Chair of the artist Richard Cosway (d.1821), appears in many of Cosway's portraits executed in the 1760s and 1770s. The design itself is part of an album of undated drawings entitled 'Original Designs by Matts.Lock, Carver 1740-1765' that was purchased by the museum in 1862 from Lock's grandson.
Lock was the first to publish carvers' ornament in the new French rococo taste in pattern books such as Six Sconces published in 1744, Six Tables (1746) and A Book of Ornaments (1747). Lock earned enormous respect from his colleagues who at the time of his death described him as 'the best Draftsman in that way that had ever been in England'. His career as 'Carver' is printed on his trade card dating to around 1752 when he was working at Tottenham Court Road, and according to a diary of that year, he was employed in this capacity by Lord Northumberland, Lord Holderness, and a Mr. Bradshaw. It is conceivable that he supplied to Robert d'Arcy, 4th Earl of Holderness (d. 1778) the remarkable side table, with its ruffled-embellished legs of a similarly squared profile, as well as another, of lighter more elegant form at Hornby Castle (see 'Furniture of the XVII & XVIII Centuries, Furniture at Hornby Castle', Country Life, 30 March 1912, pp. 475-6, figs. 3 and 4). The boldly carved table and mirror from Hinton House, Somerset and now at the Victoria and Albert Museum were executed to Lock's design and Lock himself worked on it for 15 days, with the rest executed by his assistants (D. Fitz-Gerald, Georgian Furniture, London, 1969, pl. 40).
A collaborative relationship between Lock and Thomas Chippendale has been established and, despite the idiosyncratic traits of this ambitious suite, it is not unreasonable to consider this dynamic partnership for their execution and design.
The closest parallel can be drawn to a set of chairs with tapestry covers at Chesterfield House in London and illustrated in the Music Room (C. Simon Sykes, Private Palaces, New York, 1985, p. 126). In the early 19th century, both Chesterfield House and the family seat at Bretby Park, Yorkshire underwent architectural changes, with much of the late 18th century furniture being moved to Bretby. It would appear that this set of chairs was sold as part of the 'Bretby Heirlooms' sale at Christie's, London, 29-30 May 1918, as lot 115. Interestingly, the following lot 116 is virtually identical in description, with the eight chairs covered in crimson silk brocade. Chesterfield House at the middle of the eighteenth century reflected the most sophisticated of interiors, in Lord Chesterfield's own words 'entièrement à la Française'. Another vigorously conceived set of 'French' chairs worthy of comparison may have been supplied to Lord Montfort who had relations with the court of Louis XV at Versailles as well as a plausible Chippendale connection as it is thought that he was the original owner of Chippendale's drawings (since acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1919). A pair of chairs from this suite was sold in these Rooms, 16 October 1998, lot 312. The suite further relates to the set of armchairs reputedly supplied to Lord Clive for Walcot, a pair of which was sold in these Rooms, 13 April 2000, lot 93.
It is worth noting that other leading cabinet-makers were also producing seat furniture in a decidedly French fashion although of a slightly more restrained outline. Of note, John Linnell's suites for Osterley Park, Middlesex and Alnwick Castle, Northumberland (H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. II, figs. 51-53 and 248-249).
1) a set of six in the collection at Floors Castle, Kelso, Scotland
The chairs appear in a photograph of the drawing room in the Floors Castle guidebook (published 1988, p. 10). They may have been acquired by the American-born heiress May Goelet, following her marriage to the 8th Duke of Roxburghe in 1903. A childhood friend of Consuelo Vanderbilt (who married the Duke's cousin, the Duke of Marlborough), she proceeded to decorate Floors in a distinctly French taste, bringing with her a £2 million dowry as well as many furniture heirlooms. Floors is thought to have been refurbished with the assistance of Lenygon and Morant.
2) a pair previously at Notley Abbey, Buckinghamshire (formerly the home of Sir Lawrence Olivier). The chairs were purchased from Mallett in 1964 by the decorators Colefax and Fowler. They were subsequently sold by the [anonymous] owners at Bonhams, London, 3 February 2004, lot 109. The chairs are currently with Mallett, London and advertised as possibly supplied for Edward, 11th Earl of Derby (d. 1776) at Knowsley Hall, Merseyside.
3) two pairs in private English collections
4) a pair in a European collection.
Interestingly, while the Floors Castle chairs may have been purchased at the turn of the last century, other examples from the set appeared to have come on the market in the 1960s. Mallett puts forth the possibility that their pair may have been commissioned by Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby of Knowsley Hall (1689-1776) who married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Hesketh from Rufford Hall and succeeded to the title in 1736. As the 11th Earl would have been in his 60s at the time the chairs were executed, it is possible the chairs entered the family's collection at a later date.
The chairs are produced in the fully conceived 'French' rococo taste of the mid-eighteenth century. Their sinuous frames entwined by Roman acanthus foliage, reflect the 'picturesque' style that had been invented by artists, architects and ornemanistes such as Juste-Aurele Meissonier (d.1750) and Gilles-Marie Oppenord (d.1742) and praised by the artist William Hogarth in his Analysis of Beauty, 1753. The ornament, with its Venus shell badges, evokes lyric poetry and the history of the triumphal birth the Nature Deity as recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses or Loves of the Gods.
Designed in the manner of the French fauteuil à la Reine, they epitomise Thomas Chippendale's 'Modern' or French 'picturesque' style illustrated in The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's Director, 1754-1762. Chippendale's related 'French Chair' engravings of 1759, shown with French tapestry covers, were added to the third edition of the Director, 1762 (pls.XXII and XXIII). These chairs were similarly designed for tapestry or needlework covers.
These chairs feature a pinned leg construction, exhuberant carving and a most unusual sweep to the arms akin to European tradition and may indicate a craftsman was employed who was trained on the Continent. However the overall robust character of the design is remarkably close to a drawing executed by the specialist carver and designer Matthias Lock (d.1765) for a pattern chair now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (see H. Hayward, 'A Unique Rococo Chair by Matthias Lock', Apollo, October 1973, pp.268-171). The chair, known as the Sitter's Chair of the artist Richard Cosway (d.1821), appears in many of Cosway's portraits executed in the 1760s and 1770s. The design itself is part of an album of undated drawings entitled 'Original Designs by Matts.Lock, Carver 1740-1765' that was purchased by the museum in 1862 from Lock's grandson.
Lock was the first to publish carvers' ornament in the new French rococo taste in pattern books such as Six Sconces published in 1744, Six Tables (1746) and A Book of Ornaments (1747). Lock earned enormous respect from his colleagues who at the time of his death described him as 'the best Draftsman in that way that had ever been in England'. His career as 'Carver' is printed on his trade card dating to around 1752 when he was working at Tottenham Court Road, and according to a diary of that year, he was employed in this capacity by Lord Northumberland, Lord Holderness, and a Mr. Bradshaw. It is conceivable that he supplied to Robert d'Arcy, 4th Earl of Holderness (d. 1778) the remarkable side table, with its ruffled-embellished legs of a similarly squared profile, as well as another, of lighter more elegant form at Hornby Castle (see 'Furniture of the XVII & XVIII Centuries, Furniture at Hornby Castle', Country Life, 30 March 1912, pp. 475-6, figs. 3 and 4). The boldly carved table and mirror from Hinton House, Somerset and now at the Victoria and Albert Museum were executed to Lock's design and Lock himself worked on it for 15 days, with the rest executed by his assistants (D. Fitz-Gerald, Georgian Furniture, London, 1969, pl. 40).
A collaborative relationship between Lock and Thomas Chippendale has been established and, despite the idiosyncratic traits of this ambitious suite, it is not unreasonable to consider this dynamic partnership for their execution and design.
The closest parallel can be drawn to a set of chairs with tapestry covers at Chesterfield House in London and illustrated in the Music Room (C. Simon Sykes, Private Palaces, New York, 1985, p. 126). In the early 19th century, both Chesterfield House and the family seat at Bretby Park, Yorkshire underwent architectural changes, with much of the late 18th century furniture being moved to Bretby. It would appear that this set of chairs was sold as part of the 'Bretby Heirlooms' sale at Christie's, London, 29-30 May 1918, as lot 115. Interestingly, the following lot 116 is virtually identical in description, with the eight chairs covered in crimson silk brocade. Chesterfield House at the middle of the eighteenth century reflected the most sophisticated of interiors, in Lord Chesterfield's own words 'entièrement à la Française'. Another vigorously conceived set of 'French' chairs worthy of comparison may have been supplied to Lord Montfort who had relations with the court of Louis XV at Versailles as well as a plausible Chippendale connection as it is thought that he was the original owner of Chippendale's drawings (since acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1919). A pair of chairs from this suite was sold in these Rooms, 16 October 1998, lot 312. The suite further relates to the set of armchairs reputedly supplied to Lord Clive for Walcot, a pair of which was sold in these Rooms, 13 April 2000, lot 93.
It is worth noting that other leading cabinet-makers were also producing seat furniture in a decidedly French fashion although of a slightly more restrained outline. Of note, John Linnell's suites for Osterley Park, Middlesex and Alnwick Castle, Northumberland (H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. II, figs. 51-53 and 248-249).