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Lot Essay
These orange tubs were almost certainly bought directly by Byng from the English marchand-mercier Edward Holmes Baldock (d.1846). Appointed 'Purveyor of China, Earthenware and Glass to William IV', Baldock was responsible for the formation of many of the greatest 19th century English collections of French furniture, including those of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Northumberland, the Earl of Lonsdale and William Beckford (G. de Bellaigue, 'Edward Holmes Baldock - Part 1', The Connoisseur, August, 1975, p.292). Acting both as a manufacturer and retailer, Baldock established his Hanway Street business trading in Sèvres about 1806. Baldock's name appears as a buyer in many of the more spectacular public auctions of the 19th century, and he specialised in selling not only the chefs-d'oeuvres of the Ancien Regime, but also in embellishing plainer examples of 18th century porcelain and ébénisterie and commissioning ormolu mounts in the Louis XV style to mount existing 18th century Sèvres and Oriental porcelain.
Byng's relationship with Baldock had begun at least by 1829, when his name is first mentioned in the acquisition lists - and the latter continued to supply him up until 1846, both with Sèvres porcelain and porcelain-mounted furniture. Baldock's influence - and much of the furniture he supplied to Byng - can clearly be seen in the interiors of the Blue Drawing Room, painted by Jane Parry circa 1845 (see introduction).
The turquoise ground colour and gilding was perhaps inspired by the Louis XV service recently sold by Baldock to the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch in 1830 (T.Murdoch et al., Boughton The English Versailles, London, 1992, p.144). For two pairs of plant pots or caisses of related form but with contemporary ground colour and gilding see Carl Christian Dauterman, The Wrightsman Collection (Greenwich, 1970), Vol. IV, pp. 191 and 194 nos. 75 A and B and 77 A and B.
Byng's relationship with Baldock had begun at least by 1829, when his name is first mentioned in the acquisition lists - and the latter continued to supply him up until 1846, both with Sèvres porcelain and porcelain-mounted furniture. Baldock's influence - and much of the furniture he supplied to Byng - can clearly be seen in the interiors of the Blue Drawing Room, painted by Jane Parry circa 1845 (see introduction).
The turquoise ground colour and gilding was perhaps inspired by the Louis XV service recently sold by Baldock to the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch in 1830 (T.Murdoch et al., Boughton The English Versailles, London, 1992, p.144). For two pairs of plant pots or caisses of related form but with contemporary ground colour and gilding see Carl Christian Dauterman, The Wrightsman Collection (Greenwich, 1970), Vol. IV, pp. 191 and 194 nos. 75 A and B and 77 A and B.