A FRENCH SILVER-GILT MOUNTED ROCK CRYSTAL BOX AND COVER

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WILLIAM BECKFORD AND CHEVALIER FRANCHI (LOTS 29-31) William Beckford (1760 -1844), renowned connoisseur, traveller and gentleman architect, was celebrated in his youth as the author of the romantic novel 'Vathek'. Famed through his Jamaican properties as 'England's wealthiest son', the 'Kitty' Courtenay scandal, as well as the tragic early death of his wife caused Beckford's almost total withdrawal from both public and conventional social life. Instead his energies were devoted to the formation of art collections and libraries as well as to music, writing and travelling. Beckford perhaps best captured public attention through his replacement of Fonthill Splendens, the Wiltshire mansion of his father Alderman William Beckford (d.1770) with Fonthill Abbey. This monumental Abbey, demonstrating his 'Eye for the Magnificent', was built for him by the architect James Wyatt (d.1813), Surveyor of the Royal Architectural Board of Works. It was occupied by Beckford from 1807 until its spectacular sale was advertised in the early 1820s, when Mr. Christie published a catalogue of the 'Magnificent effects at Fonthill Abbey..to be sold ..on Tuesday, October 1, 1822 and the nine following days'. However, the estate and much of the contents, apart from the smaller objets d'art, were sold by private treaty to John Farquhar, James Christie's banker no less! And it was then Farquhar who instructed Phillips to sell the majority of the Abbey furnishings in the following year. Farquhar was still in possession of the Abbey during the spectacular collapse of its tower in 1825. Beckford's formation of eclectic and luxurious collections of rare curios continued at his new homes in Lansdown Crescent, Bath and at Gloucester Place and, subsequently, at Baker Street, London. The works of art from these properties were later to pass to his daughter Susan, who had married Alexander Hamilton Douglas, Marquess of Douglas and later 10th Duke of Hamilton (d.1852). They later contributed to the fame of Hamilton Palace, Scotland, which was praised as, 'One of noblest residences in Europe.. and probably containing a greater collection of rare works of art than the abode of any man under the rank of sovereign.' At Bath, Beckford also created a garden belvedere pavilion, which provided him with a museum treasury in the manner of a European Kunstkammern or wunderkammern. In 1837 he wrote of its cabinets being 'filled with the rarest gems of art - few but excellent'. Some of these gems later featured in Edmund English's beautifully illustrated Views of Lansdown Tower, London, 1844. During Beckford's stately visit to Portugal in 1787 he took into his service Gregorio Franchi (d.1828), a chorister in Lisbon's College of Music, who was later appointed a 'Chevalier' through Beckford's contacts with the Portuguese Royal family. Franchi shared Beckford's enthusiasm for works of art, and acted as his agent and faithful retainer. He once explained that 'One of [Beckford's] whims is never to discuss business with the person concerned and consequently I have to broach it'. It was he who kept the 'Accounts' of purchases and supervised their repair, transport etc., and so closely were the two of them involved in the assemblage of 'Good Taste', that Beckford was driven to complain in 1813: 'I see from the buying mania which dominates you that we are well on the way to ruin'. From this period until late in his life, Beckford was commissioning works of art, incorporating rock crystal and hardstones, from a number of London goldsmiths. In their manufacture he also made use on occasion of his own collections of prints and drawings. He was considered a patron who demanded, and would accept nothing less than, the most outstanding quality of craftsmanship. Franchi was also employed to survey European collections as they came on the market, and provide detailed reports not only to Beckford, but also to his daughter and son-in-law. By 1821 Franchi was writing that he was '..very attached to M. de B - and very devoted to the Duke and to the dear Duchess of Hamilton'. Unlike Beckford he also made a number of visits to Hamilton Palace, which the latter referred to on occasion as the 'Scottish Court' or the Kingdom of the Cinquefoils' in reference to the family's 'lily' armorials. Beckford's particular admiration for hardstones and lapidary work is evident from his account of an Italian cabinet at neighbouring Stourhead, Wiltshire, which he described as divine - 'the bronzes are of extreme delicacy and elegance, and those lovely agates, alabasters and cornelians, mingled with the glittering mother-of-pearl, produced a rich effect, agreeable and grateful for the eye'. Agate, lapis lazuli, mosaics, rock crystal, jade and cornelian were all amongst the purchases made in Paris on Beckford's behalf in 1814, and it was again Franchi who was instrumental in the commissioning of the pietra dura cabinets designed by Beckford in 1825 (P. Hewat-Jaboor and B. McLeod, 'Pietre dure Cabinets for William Beckford; Gregorio Franchi's Role', Furniture History Society Journal, 2002, pp.135-143). Such items were also featured in the sale of Franchi's own collection - presumably partially fronting for Beckford although he was a considerable connoisseur collector in his own right - in 1827, as well as at the sale of the remainder held after his death in 1829. Perhaps Franchi is best summarised by the following quote from William Gibbs Rogers:- 'Mons Franchi, a man of taste. He would come into the carvers' workshop with a volume of Holbein or Aldegrever select a spoon or handle and get talent to bring them, would watch the progress of work day by day and the question would often be - if you spent another day on it -could it get finer'

A FRENCH SILVER-GILT MOUNTED ROCK CRYSTAL BOX AND COVER

MARK OF CATHERINE-ADELAÏDE DUPONNOIS, PARIS, CIRCA 1825

細節

A FRENCH SILVER-GILT MOUNTED ROCK CRYSTAL BOX AND COVER
MARK OF CATHERINE-ADELAÏDE DUPONNOIS, PARIS, CIRCA 1825
The slightly bombé shaped circular box carved with foliate scrolls to the sides with a female profile portrait to the cover, with silver-gilt plain mount, on a shaped with partly-matted frame, with eight scroll legs and on eight ball feet, marked on base and cover mount
3¾ in. (9.5 cm.)

來源

Commissioned by Chevalier Gregorio Franchi (1769/70-1828), possibly for William Beckford, sold A Valuable and Highly interesting Assemblage of Articles of Taste and Ornament collected in differing Parts of the Continent, and in this Country, by the Chevalier Franchi, Deceased', Christie's London, 22 May 1829, lot 136 (part) (£32 to Byng).

Purchased by George Byng Esq. M.P. (d.1847) at the above sale and by descent.

出版

'List of Furniture, Porcelain, Paintings & C., purchased by George Byng Esq., for Wrotham Park, 1816-43', '1829 Christie's a Crystal Box and Cover with Medallion Head, mounted in Silver Gilt on a Metal stand -£31 0s 0d'.
Wrotham Park 1847 Inventory, 'A Brazilian crystal cup mounted in ormolu', (with annotations in 1880 inventory '4in. white crystal glasses cup and cover raised medallion ormolu rim and base').

注意事項

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.

拍品專文

The rectangular crystal box has indented columnar corners that are striated in sarcophagus fashion. Shells are carved along the top and base, while its lid incorporates a bas-relief medallion of a female figure richly attired in the antique manner. The stand's console supports, paired at the angles, are serpentined, ribbon-tied, and sphere-capped, while the plinth has spherical feet and is likewise enriched with antique-stippled flutes.

This type of kuntskammer object found particular favour with both Beckford and Franchi - who was a considerable collector in his own right, as well as acting as Beckford's agent. Interestingly, it was Franchi who almost certainly supplied Beckford with the ormolu-mounted Sèvres porcelain teapot and cover that displays a similar scroll-footed stand (D. Ostergard et al., William Beckford 1760-1844, An eye for the Magnificent, London, 2001, no.63, p.343).