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Lot Essay
These bookcases were originally supplied by Newton with pier mirrors and a corresponding narrower bookcase en suite, all of which are listed first in the 1847 Inventory above. The narrower bookcase remains in a Private Collection.
Designed in the French-Grecian manner popularised by Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, these plinth-supported and mirror-backed bookshelves, with reeded-columnettes and galleried superstructure, relate to patterns for 'Chiffoniers' and 'Drawing Room' pier tables published in George Smith's Collection of Designs for Household Furniture, 1808, pls. 114 and 122. The flowered palmette and columnettes relate to Hope's patterns for a pedestal and a candelabrum illustrated op. cit., pls. XXI and XXII.
An almost identical pair of chiffoniers, labelled by James Newton and Son, 63 Wardour Street, Soho, but later white-painted, was sold frrom the collection of Maureen, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, in these Rooms, 25 March 1999, lot 320 (£28,750), whilst a further pair of side cabinets almost en suite was sold at Christie's London, 21 April 2005 lot 209 (£36,000). Established in Wardour Street in the late 1780s by James Newton Senior, the firm of James Newton and Son specialised in the prodcution of Regency furniture in the latest 'Grecian' taste, and their clients included the Earl of Exeter at Burghley House, Lincolnshire and the Lords Brownlow at Belton House, Lincolnshire. Newton's work is discussed by Giles Ellwood, 'James Newton', Furniture History Society Journal, 1995 (pp.128 - 205).
A closely related table with mirror-backed centre is illustrated in M.Jourdain, Regency Furniture, London, rev.ed, 1965, figs. 191 and 126. It is now at Stratfield Saye but was originally supplied to the 1st Duke of Wellington for Apsley House. There is also a small group of side cabinets with large Japanese lacquer panels in the centre flanked by identical columnettes and mounts to these chiffoniers. One was sold from the collection of J.R.D.S.Trelawney, Esq., Christie's London, 29 April 1965, lot 38. These lacquer-centred cabinets may possibly correspond to a type of which one was supplied by Dowbiggin to Lord Willoughby at Drummond Castle in 1831, 'A Large Chinese Commode Mounted with Brass, 3 Drawers Enclosed by Doors with Marble Slab on the Top' (The Dictionary of English Furniture-Makers, Leeds, 1986, p.253).
Designed in the French-Grecian manner popularised by Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, these plinth-supported and mirror-backed bookshelves, with reeded-columnettes and galleried superstructure, relate to patterns for 'Chiffoniers' and 'Drawing Room' pier tables published in George Smith's Collection of Designs for Household Furniture, 1808, pls. 114 and 122. The flowered palmette and columnettes relate to Hope's patterns for a pedestal and a candelabrum illustrated op. cit., pls. XXI and XXII.
An almost identical pair of chiffoniers, labelled by James Newton and Son, 63 Wardour Street, Soho, but later white-painted, was sold frrom the collection of Maureen, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, in these Rooms, 25 March 1999, lot 320 (£28,750), whilst a further pair of side cabinets almost en suite was sold at Christie's London, 21 April 2005 lot 209 (£36,000). Established in Wardour Street in the late 1780s by James Newton Senior, the firm of James Newton and Son specialised in the prodcution of Regency furniture in the latest 'Grecian' taste, and their clients included the Earl of Exeter at Burghley House, Lincolnshire and the Lords Brownlow at Belton House, Lincolnshire. Newton's work is discussed by Giles Ellwood, 'James Newton', Furniture History Society Journal, 1995 (pp.128 - 205).
A closely related table with mirror-backed centre is illustrated in M.Jourdain, Regency Furniture, London, rev.ed, 1965, figs. 191 and 126. It is now at Stratfield Saye but was originally supplied to the 1st Duke of Wellington for Apsley House. There is also a small group of side cabinets with large Japanese lacquer panels in the centre flanked by identical columnettes and mounts to these chiffoniers. One was sold from the collection of J.R.D.S.Trelawney, Esq., Christie's London, 29 April 1965, lot 38. These lacquer-centred cabinets may possibly correspond to a type of which one was supplied by Dowbiggin to Lord Willoughby at Drummond Castle in 1831, 'A Large Chinese Commode Mounted with Brass, 3 Drawers Enclosed by Doors with Marble Slab on the Top' (The Dictionary of English Furniture-Makers, Leeds, 1986, p.253).