A GEORGE II MAHOGANY AND BOXWOOD PEDESTAL CUPBOARD
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A GEORGE II MAHOGANY AND BOXWOOD PEDESTAL CUPBOARD

ALMOST CERTAINLY DESIGNED BY JAMES 'ATHENIAN' STUART, ATTRIBUTED TO MAYHEW AND INCE, CIRCA 1758-65

Details
A GEORGE II MAHOGANY AND BOXWOOD PEDESTAL CUPBOARD
ALMOST CERTAINLY DESIGNED BY JAMES 'ATHENIAN' STUART, ATTRIBUTED TO MAYHEW AND INCE, CIRCA 1758-65
The circular top with a concave-moulded foliate and beaded edge above a frieze with applied rosette paterae and fluted body with arched pilasters enclosing a mahogany shelf, on a foliate-moulded plinth, one roundel, a 2½ in. section of plinth moulding and the knob handle replaced
30 in. (76 cm.) high; 12½ in. (32 cm.) diameter
Provenance
Supplied to Georgiana, later 1st Countess Spencer (1758-1834) for her bedroom at Spencer House, London.
Thence by descent at Spencer House to Albert Edward John, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975), by whom moved to Althorp, Northamptonshire circa 1926 and thence by descent.
Literature
Albert Edward John, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975), Althorp, Furniture, Vol. I, circa 1937 and later
D. Watkin, Athenian Stuart, Pioneer of the Greek Revival, London, 1982, pl. 35
S. Weber Soros (ed.), James "Athenian" Stuart: The Rediscovery of Antiquity, New Haven and London, 2006, p. 447, fig. 10-55
Special notice
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. Please note Payments and Collections will be unavailable on Monday 12th July 2010 due to a major update to the Client Accounting IT system. For further details please call +44 (0) 20 7839 9060 or e-mail info@christies.com

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Victoria von Westenholz
Victoria von Westenholz

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Lot Essay

This cylindrical 'night' cupboard of Roman temple form originally formed part of the celebrated suite of bedroom furniture designed by James 'Athenian' Stuart for Georgiana, Countess Spencer's appartment on the principal floor at Spencer House. The suite, executed in both sabicu and mahogany, comprised a wardrobe, a chest, a pair of bedside tables, a small table or washstand and a writing-table. The beds belonging to the suite were apparently burnt in the fire at Wimbledon in 1785. Arthur Young, visiting Spencer House in 1772, described the the room as having 'beds and tables very finely carved and inlaid' and the suite must have been in the room by 1766, when the family started to occupy the whole house and not merely the Ground Floor. Designed in extremely advanced Neo-Classical taste, the attribution of this suite has long been the subject of conjecture as no bills survive for the commission. However, a prime candidate must be Messrs. Mayhew and Ince - in part because of the boxy form of the chest (as opposed to a chest-of-drawers) which is a form which they are known to have favoured, but also because of the reeded bun feet and elegant treatment of the legs. This cylindrical washstand is perhaps the most restrained element in the suite, although it is carved with the same foliate moulding - and this similar cylindrical form was also used by Mayhew and Ince on a piece supplied to Lord Chesterfield from Bretby Park, illustrated in H.H. Mulliner, Decorative Arts in England during the late 17th and 18th Century, London, 1923, fig. 28.

The rest of the suite remains at Althorp, save for the 'washstand' which is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (W.31-1979), illustrated in Soros, op. cit., p. 449, fig. 10-58.

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