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Lot Essay
These highly unusual jardinieres display a rich combination of classical details featured in the work of highly influential architect/designers including Robert Adam and James Wyatt.
The pre-emininent cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) can be considered a likely maker of these extraordinary objects. He supplied a number of pieces variously japanned in tones of green, blue, gilt and white, for many of his best clients in the 1770s. The State Bedroom at Harewood House, one of Chippendale's most illustrious and extensive commissions, is an opulent display of green and gilt japanned furniture. It is particularly instructive to compare the design of the 'Large Antique Vauze [sic]' surmounting the 'exceedingly richly Carved' State Bed to the present urns (reproduced here; C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 32, fig. 51).
As at Harewood, japanned furniture was considered particularly appropriate for fashionable 'Chinese-style' bedrooms, where neoclassical details consistently prevail in Chippendale's designs. Even Sir Rowland Winn's bedroom at Nostell Priory, with its chintz hangings and imported 'India' wallpaper supplied and installed by Chippendale, reveals the maker's predilection for classicism (Gilbert, fig. 308). Other such suites were supplied for Mercham Le Hatch, Paxton House and the homes of the famed actor David Garrick, who was declared by Dr. Johnson to live 'rather as a prince than an actor'. Famous even in the 18th century, Garrick's bedroom suite from his Hampton villa on the Thames is now at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Gilbert, figs. 46, 62, 155 and 238).
Japanned furniture was also considered an acceptable alternative to gilding in formal receiving rooms. Lord Melbourne, writing to Chippendale's rival, Sir William Chambers in 1774, stated: 'I am more and more averse to admit any gilding whatever even in the furniture, in my opinion the Elegance of that room is from the lightness of well disposed well executed Ornaments; vastly preferable to any load of gilding we could have introduced' (p. 262). As such, Chippendale's japanned stands supporting Chinese porcelain bowls exist in the saloons at Harewood as well as Nostell (figs. 383-384).
Intriguingly, Chippendale invoices the politician and wit George Selwyn in 1772 for a 'large Stand for Flower potts, Japand Green & white like Mrs. St. Johns' (p. 259). Gilbert suggests this may compare to a small japanned two-tiered stand for flower pots at Osterley Park (R. Edwards, ed., The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. edn., 1954, vol. III, p. 155, fig. 6). The existence of the present pair of jardinieres opens up new possibilities for the stands supplied to Mr. Selwyn and Mrs. St. Johns.
Stylistically, one cannot dismiss related designs by the architect James Wyatt. These include a design for the loggia at Syon House with similar jardinieres, a stone urn and pedestal executed for Lucan House in Dublin and a drapery-swagged urn design for Mrs. Coade, for whom he produced as many as 600 patterns (J. M. Robinson, James Wyatt: Architect to George III, New Haven and London, 2012, pp. 104-105, 127 and 155, figs. 6, 116 and 172-173).
THE WRIGHTSMAN PROVENANCE
The urns formed part of the remarkable collection of Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Wrightsman showcased in their Palm Beach estate. 'Blythedunes' was purchased from Mona Williams (later Countess von Bismarck), who together with Syrie Maugham, created stylish interiors in the 1930s, a hybrid of modern and English traditional. The Wrightsmans bought the house in 1947. The stunning Chinese wallpaper installed by the Williams became a backdrop for Mrs. Wrightsman's gradual transformation to her preferred style of the French ancien regime. These urns were among the few pieces of Georgian furniture to complement these new spectacular interiors, appropriately placed in the Chinese-papered drawing room.
The pre-emininent cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) can be considered a likely maker of these extraordinary objects. He supplied a number of pieces variously japanned in tones of green, blue, gilt and white, for many of his best clients in the 1770s. The State Bedroom at Harewood House, one of Chippendale's most illustrious and extensive commissions, is an opulent display of green and gilt japanned furniture. It is particularly instructive to compare the design of the 'Large Antique Vauze [sic]' surmounting the 'exceedingly richly Carved' State Bed to the present urns (reproduced here; C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 32, fig. 51).
As at Harewood, japanned furniture was considered particularly appropriate for fashionable 'Chinese-style' bedrooms, where neoclassical details consistently prevail in Chippendale's designs. Even Sir Rowland Winn's bedroom at Nostell Priory, with its chintz hangings and imported 'India' wallpaper supplied and installed by Chippendale, reveals the maker's predilection for classicism (Gilbert, fig. 308). Other such suites were supplied for Mercham Le Hatch, Paxton House and the homes of the famed actor David Garrick, who was declared by Dr. Johnson to live 'rather as a prince than an actor'. Famous even in the 18th century, Garrick's bedroom suite from his Hampton villa on the Thames is now at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Gilbert, figs. 46, 62, 155 and 238).
Japanned furniture was also considered an acceptable alternative to gilding in formal receiving rooms. Lord Melbourne, writing to Chippendale's rival, Sir William Chambers in 1774, stated: 'I am more and more averse to admit any gilding whatever even in the furniture, in my opinion the Elegance of that room is from the lightness of well disposed well executed Ornaments; vastly preferable to any load of gilding we could have introduced' (p. 262). As such, Chippendale's japanned stands supporting Chinese porcelain bowls exist in the saloons at Harewood as well as Nostell (figs. 383-384).
Intriguingly, Chippendale invoices the politician and wit George Selwyn in 1772 for a 'large Stand for Flower potts, Japand Green & white like Mrs. St. Johns' (p. 259). Gilbert suggests this may compare to a small japanned two-tiered stand for flower pots at Osterley Park (R. Edwards, ed., The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. edn., 1954, vol. III, p. 155, fig. 6). The existence of the present pair of jardinieres opens up new possibilities for the stands supplied to Mr. Selwyn and Mrs. St. Johns.
Stylistically, one cannot dismiss related designs by the architect James Wyatt. These include a design for the loggia at Syon House with similar jardinieres, a stone urn and pedestal executed for Lucan House in Dublin and a drapery-swagged urn design for Mrs. Coade, for whom he produced as many as 600 patterns (J. M. Robinson, James Wyatt: Architect to George III, New Haven and London, 2012, pp. 104-105, 127 and 155, figs. 6, 116 and 172-173).
THE WRIGHTSMAN PROVENANCE
The urns formed part of the remarkable collection of Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Wrightsman showcased in their Palm Beach estate. 'Blythedunes' was purchased from Mona Williams (later Countess von Bismarck), who together with Syrie Maugham, created stylish interiors in the 1930s, a hybrid of modern and English traditional. The Wrightsmans bought the house in 1947. The stunning Chinese wallpaper installed by the Williams became a backdrop for Mrs. Wrightsman's gradual transformation to her preferred style of the French ancien regime. These urns were among the few pieces of Georgian furniture to complement these new spectacular interiors, appropriately placed in the Chinese-papered drawing room.