A WILLIAM IV WALNUT AND PARCEL-GILT SOFA

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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN (LOTS 355-358) THE MAMHEAD DRAWING-ROOM SUITE The magnificent 'Mamhead' suite of seat furniture is designed in the French 'Louis Quatorze' fashion that George IV had introduced at Windsor Castle in the 1820s with assistance from his Paris-trained upholsterers Nicolas Morel and Desire Dellier (see H. Roberts, For the King's Pleasure: The Furnishing and Decoration of George IV's Apartments at Windsor Castle, London, 2001). It was commissioned for the Drawing-Room Salon of Mamhead, the romantic Gothic mansion, which recalled the 'Olden Time' of Queen Elizabeth and William Shakespeare and was built in the 1820s by Mr. (later Sir) Robert Newman, Bt. (d. 1848) in place of the ancient Devon seat of the Earls of Lisburne. The suite, with its elegantly serpentined and golden flowered frames, would have been supplied in the early 1830s, and was probably upholstered en suite with the paned wall-hangings of the luxuriously mirrored Drawing-Room that had been designed by the architect Anthony Salvin (d. 1881). Salvin was employed at Mamhead from 1827-1833 and Morant supplied furnishings in 1831 (Hussey 1958, op. cit., p. 205). The inclusion of a central sofa (lot 354) reflects the contemporary fashion for transforming the character of earlier Georgian parlours or Drawing Rooms into Living Rooms by spreading comfortable seat furniture throughout the room centres rather than ranging it around the walls. The centre bergere chair, with open arms (lot 357) is of a type later popularised by Henry Wood's, Supplement to General Furniture Work, 1848. The Mamhead suite was designed by George John Morant, trading in partnership with his father as George Morant and Son of New Bond Street; and relates to their furnishings supplied in the 1830s for Stafford House, St. James's. G. J. Morant later served as interior decorator and upholsterer to Queen Victoria, (J. Yorke, 'The Furnishing of Stafford House', Furniture History, 1996, pp. 46-80).

A WILLIAM IV WALNUT AND PARCEL-GILT SOFA

BY G. J. MORANT, CIRCA 1831

Details

A WILLIAM IV WALNUT AND PARCEL-GILT SOFA
BY G. J. MORANT, CIRCA 1831
The serpentine padded back, arms and seat covered in striped magenta silk, with serpentine arm supports and seat rail centred by foliage, on short cabriole legs, refreshments to the gilding
80 in. (203 cm.) wide

Provenance

Supplied to Robert Newman (created Baronet 1836) (1776-1848) for Mamhead, Devon, circa 1831 and by descent at Mamhead until sold by Lord Mamhead, Whitton & Laing house sale, 11-14 November 1963.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Sale room notice

Additional provenance for lots 355-358:
David Lay Auctioneers, Penzance, 18-19 July 1996, lots 1823-1831 (all 19 pieces of the suite were sold as 9 lots).
With Chevertons of Edenbridge, Kent.
Offered anonymously, Sotheby's, London, 7 November 1997, lot 101 (17 pieces) (sold after sale).

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