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Lot Essay
THE PROVENANCE
When the table was acquired by the North Carolina Museum of Art in 1952, the London dealer Basil Dighton represented it as having come from Grimsthorpe Castle 'and made for the house'. Grimsthorpe, the seat of the Dukes of Ancaster, is a magnificent house situated in the rolling hills of southern Lincolnshire and built to the designs of the celebrated architect, Sir John Vanbrugh (d. 1726). The purported provenance is an intriguing one as Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster died in 1951, the year prior. Certainly, a boldly carved table of this date fits with the history of its house and then owner, Peregrine, 3rd Duke of Ancaster (d. 1778). The 3rd Duke succeeded upon the death of his father in 1742 and took on his position as Lord Great Chamberlain. The Duke's second marriage in 1750 to the legendary beauty, Mary Panton, brought a substantial dowry of £60,000 which helped to finance the continued refurbishment of the house including the old state rooms in the east range which were re-decorated in the rococo taste and the dining room with its paper mache wall decoration. Similar tables appear in a photograph of the State Dining Room (see H.A. Tipping and C. Hussey, English Homes, period IV, vol. II, 1928, p. 307, fig. 461).
Despite the likelihood of the provenance, the table does not appear among the many auctions held on behalf of the Ancasters at Grimsthorpe or the family's other main properties at Normanton Park, Gwydyr and Drummond; nor does it figure in the 1903 inventory at Grimsthorpe or a catalogue of the furniture at Normanton in 1904. However, the family owned various London properties as well. It is entirely possible that the table was sold privately at the time of the 2nd Earl's death in 1951; other known pieces were acquired privately from the 2nd Earl in years prior such as the magnificent pagoda-capped chairs attributed to William Hallett which were sold to Tom Lumley in 1940 (two pairs sold from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Saul P. Steinberg; Sotheby's, New York, 26 May 2000, lots 189-190).
The dealer who handled the table, Basil Dighton, worked at 3 Saville Row (a building designed by the 3rd Lord Burlington). By the 1920s he was in partnership with Leonard Partridge and the historian Percy MacQuoid wrote the text to Dighton's catalogues.
When the table was acquired by the North Carolina Museum of Art in 1952, the London dealer Basil Dighton represented it as having come from Grimsthorpe Castle 'and made for the house'. Grimsthorpe, the seat of the Dukes of Ancaster, is a magnificent house situated in the rolling hills of southern Lincolnshire and built to the designs of the celebrated architect, Sir John Vanbrugh (d. 1726). The purported provenance is an intriguing one as Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster died in 1951, the year prior. Certainly, a boldly carved table of this date fits with the history of its house and then owner, Peregrine, 3rd Duke of Ancaster (d. 1778). The 3rd Duke succeeded upon the death of his father in 1742 and took on his position as Lord Great Chamberlain. The Duke's second marriage in 1750 to the legendary beauty, Mary Panton, brought a substantial dowry of £60,000 which helped to finance the continued refurbishment of the house including the old state rooms in the east range which were re-decorated in the rococo taste and the dining room with its paper mache wall decoration. Similar tables appear in a photograph of the State Dining Room (see H.A. Tipping and C. Hussey, English Homes, period IV, vol. II, 1928, p. 307, fig. 461).
Despite the likelihood of the provenance, the table does not appear among the many auctions held on behalf of the Ancasters at Grimsthorpe or the family's other main properties at Normanton Park, Gwydyr and Drummond; nor does it figure in the 1903 inventory at Grimsthorpe or a catalogue of the furniture at Normanton in 1904. However, the family owned various London properties as well. It is entirely possible that the table was sold privately at the time of the 2nd Earl's death in 1951; other known pieces were acquired privately from the 2nd Earl in years prior such as the magnificent pagoda-capped chairs attributed to William Hallett which were sold to Tom Lumley in 1940 (two pairs sold from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Saul P. Steinberg; Sotheby's, New York, 26 May 2000, lots 189-190).
The dealer who handled the table, Basil Dighton, worked at 3 Saville Row (a building designed by the 3rd Lord Burlington). By the 1920s he was in partnership with Leonard Partridge and the historian Percy MacQuoid wrote the text to Dighton's catalogues.