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Lot Essay
This pair of chandeliers are after a pair in the Collonade Roms at Knole Park, Kent (cf. H. Avray Tipping, 'Knole, Kent - The Seat of Lord Sackville,' Country life, 8th June 1912, p. 871). Though at Dunecht, the chandeliers relate to the important commission of the 'Mexican' silver suite in the Silver Bedroom at Cowdray and were almost certainly commissioned by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray around the same time (circa 1920). Country Life first illustrated the interiors at Knole in 1912 (notably illustrating this chandelier) which may have inspired Lord Cowdray to have copies made.
These chandeliers were most probably supplied by the firm of Lenygon & Co., Interior Decorators, of 31 Old Burlington Street. The firm, regarded in their day as a model for the modern 'interior decorator', had a number of important aristocratic and wealthy clients and patrons including the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Pembroke and W.H. Lever, later Lord Leverhulme for whom they provided a complete decorating service and supplied antique and high quality copies of Georgian furniture and works of art. Founded in 1904, the firm expanded its operation in 1909 with an amalgamation with Colonel H.H. Muliner. In the same period, the owner, Francis Lenygon published The Decoration of Furniture of English Mansions during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, a volume, despite its accreditation, probably the work of Margaret Jourdain who became one of the most important English furniture historians of the early 20th century. Although many of the illustrations in this publication were genuine pieces, others were almost certainly reproductions by Lenygon & Co. In 1912, the firm opened an office in New York and four years later merged with Morant & Co., a company established in the 18th century, antique furniture specialists and purveyors of furniture to the Great Exhibition (1851), to become Lenygon & Morant Ltd. of Old Burlington Street where the firm remained until 1953, later trading from 48 South Audley Street.
Three chandeliers after the same model sold in The Leverhulme Collection, Thornton Manor, Wirral, Merseyside, Sotheby's; 26-27 June 2001, lots 59-61.
These chandeliers were most probably supplied by the firm of Lenygon & Co., Interior Decorators, of 31 Old Burlington Street. The firm, regarded in their day as a model for the modern 'interior decorator', had a number of important aristocratic and wealthy clients and patrons including the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Pembroke and W.H. Lever, later Lord Leverhulme for whom they provided a complete decorating service and supplied antique and high quality copies of Georgian furniture and works of art. Founded in 1904, the firm expanded its operation in 1909 with an amalgamation with Colonel H.H. Muliner. In the same period, the owner, Francis Lenygon published The Decoration of Furniture of English Mansions during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, a volume, despite its accreditation, probably the work of Margaret Jourdain who became one of the most important English furniture historians of the early 20th century. Although many of the illustrations in this publication were genuine pieces, others were almost certainly reproductions by Lenygon & Co. In 1912, the firm opened an office in New York and four years later merged with Morant & Co., a company established in the 18th century, antique furniture specialists and purveyors of furniture to the Great Exhibition (1851), to become Lenygon & Morant Ltd. of Old Burlington Street where the firm remained until 1953, later trading from 48 South Audley Street.
Three chandeliers after the same model sold in The Leverhulme Collection, Thornton Manor, Wirral, Merseyside, Sotheby's; 26-27 June 2001, lots 59-61.