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Lot Essay
The elegant, richly carved serpentine frames of this distinctive pair of library armchairs reflect the 'French fashion' as interpreted by mid-18th century London cabinet-makers. The dissemination of this style was led by the St. Martin's Lane Academy and influenced by the artist and author William Hogarth (1697-1764). His 1753 publication, The Analysis of Beauty' emphasized the importance of 'variety' and the beauty of the serpentine or 'natural' line. The cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale depicts several versions of these 'French chairs' in his iconic Gentleman and Cabinet Makers Director of 1754, from which many London cabinet-makers drew direct inspiration.
The ornament on these chairs, with the trellised ground incised with flowered and losenged compartments, recall Rome's Temple of Venus and flank her shell badge. Roman foliage issues from the Ionic volutes of the feet and the leaves emerging from the scrolled trusses above the taper-hermed legs are accompanied by further shells, which also serve as a distinctive detail to the carved arm terminals. This pattern enjoyed considerable popularity, and though the maker of the offered lot is as yet unknown, closely related, documented examples could indicate the work of several renowned London cabinetmakers.
The chairs are virtually identical in design to the celebrated suite formerly in the collection of Sir John Ward, K.C.V.O of Dudley House, the scene of London's most lavish gatherings at the turn of the 20th Century. While the original commission has yet to be discovered, the art historian Helena Hayward acclaimed in her 1964 Conoisseur article "Though suites of seat furniture of comparable splendour were certainly made in the eighteenth century, it would be no exaggeration to claim that no finer example of its period is now known to exist." A part of this suite, retaining their original needlework covers, was sold from the collection of David Murdock at Christie's, New York, 16 April 2002 which included a pair of armchairs, lot 256 ($559,500).
When the Dudley House Suite was sold in 2002, the discussion regarding attribution led to several top London cabinet-makers as potential authors of this model. One of the closest comparisons is with the documented work of William Bradshaw, cabinet-maker, upholder and 'tapissier' of Greek Street, Soho. He received payments between May 1740 and July 1742 that came to the enormous sum of £339 12s from the 2nd Earl of Lichfield for Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire. This almost certainly included the closely related suite of six armchairs and a settee Bradshaw listed in his 1743 inventory of the Principal Drawing Room on the North Side (J. Cornforth, "How French Style Touched the Georgian Drawing Room," Country Life, 6 January 2000, pp.52-55). The Ditchley suite was ostensibly inspired by the same pattern as the offered armchairs; the stiffness of both the line and ornament suggests a more experimental, earlier and less sophisticated understanding of 'French' Rococo seat furniture. Bradshaw's partner, Paul Saunders (d.1771), is also a strong possibility for the authorship of these chairs. He was appointed Tapestry Maker to His Majesty in 1757 and with Bradshaw, supplied related suites of tapestry covered seat furniture to both Hagley Hall, Worcestershire (between 1758-60) and Petworth, Sussex. (J. Cornforth, "Hagley Hall, Worcestershire-II", Country Life, 4 May 1989, pl.155).
A further contender is James Whittle Snr. (fl.1731-59) of St. Andrew's Street, Soho, who entered into partnership with Samuel Norman in 1755. Norman and Whittle were employed by the Earl of Holderness at Hornby Castle, Yorkshire between 1758-59 and probably supplied a closely related suite of parcel-gilt furniture which displays the same distinctive cross-hatch pattern to the seatrail and the more restrained decoration to the side seat-rails.
Lastly, documented work from the celebrated partnership of William Vile (d. 1763) and John Cobb (d.1778) of St. Martin's Lane must be considered. They are known to have supplied related cabriole legged chairs to both John Chute at the Vyne, Hampshire in 1753 (at a cost of 19s. each) and the Hon. John Damer of Came House, Dorset between 1756-62. Further links are seen with Vile and Cobb's 'neat mahogony Work Table with Shape Legs neathly Carved & a Scrole on the foot and a Leaf on the knee a Carved finishing to the rail' supplied in 1763 to Queen Charlotte's apartments at Buckingham Palace. The table has the same Ionic scrolled feet and the distinctive, ribbon twist border as seen on this pair of armchairs. (G. de Bellaigue et al., Buckingham Palace, London, 1968, p.113).
Other armchairs of this pattern include a pair of armchairs from private single owner collection were sold at Sotheby's, New York, 22 April 1995, lot 82,and an evidently identical pair sold anonymously at Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1996, lot 57.
The ornament on these chairs, with the trellised ground incised with flowered and losenged compartments, recall Rome's Temple of Venus and flank her shell badge. Roman foliage issues from the Ionic volutes of the feet and the leaves emerging from the scrolled trusses above the taper-hermed legs are accompanied by further shells, which also serve as a distinctive detail to the carved arm terminals. This pattern enjoyed considerable popularity, and though the maker of the offered lot is as yet unknown, closely related, documented examples could indicate the work of several renowned London cabinetmakers.
The chairs are virtually identical in design to the celebrated suite formerly in the collection of Sir John Ward, K.C.V.O of Dudley House, the scene of London's most lavish gatherings at the turn of the 20th Century. While the original commission has yet to be discovered, the art historian Helena Hayward acclaimed in her 1964 Conoisseur article "Though suites of seat furniture of comparable splendour were certainly made in the eighteenth century, it would be no exaggeration to claim that no finer example of its period is now known to exist." A part of this suite, retaining their original needlework covers, was sold from the collection of David Murdock at Christie's, New York, 16 April 2002 which included a pair of armchairs, lot 256 ($559,500).
When the Dudley House Suite was sold in 2002, the discussion regarding attribution led to several top London cabinet-makers as potential authors of this model. One of the closest comparisons is with the documented work of William Bradshaw, cabinet-maker, upholder and 'tapissier' of Greek Street, Soho. He received payments between May 1740 and July 1742 that came to the enormous sum of £339 12s from the 2nd Earl of Lichfield for Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire. This almost certainly included the closely related suite of six armchairs and a settee Bradshaw listed in his 1743 inventory of the Principal Drawing Room on the North Side (J. Cornforth, "How French Style Touched the Georgian Drawing Room," Country Life, 6 January 2000, pp.52-55). The Ditchley suite was ostensibly inspired by the same pattern as the offered armchairs; the stiffness of both the line and ornament suggests a more experimental, earlier and less sophisticated understanding of 'French' Rococo seat furniture. Bradshaw's partner, Paul Saunders (d.1771), is also a strong possibility for the authorship of these chairs. He was appointed Tapestry Maker to His Majesty in 1757 and with Bradshaw, supplied related suites of tapestry covered seat furniture to both Hagley Hall, Worcestershire (between 1758-60) and Petworth, Sussex. (J. Cornforth, "Hagley Hall, Worcestershire-II", Country Life, 4 May 1989, pl.155).
A further contender is James Whittle Snr. (fl.1731-59) of St. Andrew's Street, Soho, who entered into partnership with Samuel Norman in 1755. Norman and Whittle were employed by the Earl of Holderness at Hornby Castle, Yorkshire between 1758-59 and probably supplied a closely related suite of parcel-gilt furniture which displays the same distinctive cross-hatch pattern to the seatrail and the more restrained decoration to the side seat-rails.
Lastly, documented work from the celebrated partnership of William Vile (d. 1763) and John Cobb (d.1778) of St. Martin's Lane must be considered. They are known to have supplied related cabriole legged chairs to both John Chute at the Vyne, Hampshire in 1753 (at a cost of 19s. each) and the Hon. John Damer of Came House, Dorset between 1756-62. Further links are seen with Vile and Cobb's 'neat mahogony Work Table with Shape Legs neathly Carved & a Scrole on the foot and a Leaf on the knee a Carved finishing to the rail' supplied in 1763 to Queen Charlotte's apartments at Buckingham Palace. The table has the same Ionic scrolled feet and the distinctive, ribbon twist border as seen on this pair of armchairs. (G. de Bellaigue et al., Buckingham Palace, London, 1968, p.113).
Other armchairs of this pattern include a pair of armchairs from private single owner collection were sold at Sotheby's, New York, 22 April 1995, lot 82,and an evidently identical pair sold anonymously at Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1996, lot 57.