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Lot Essay
This settee derives from the tripartite-back settee with bergère sides in the Louis XVI 'antique' manner, illustrated in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, London, 1791 - 94, fig. 46. Its bold Grecian ornament, such as the festive lion-masks bearing folded drapery, relate to the 'baluster' curtain cornices engraved by George Smith, Upholsterer to George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, and published in his Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808, pl. 8.
A baluster-crested chair with lion-headed arms featured in Thomas Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 1814. It was described as being 'black and the ornamental parts in gold' and having a 'cushion made to fit exactly to the seat which is either caned or covered with strong linen' (P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture and Interiors, London, 1984).
The diplomat and architect Lord Gerald Wellesley, later 7th Duke of Wellington (1885 - 1972) formed a collection of then-called 'Empire' furniture in his London house on Titchfield Street. He was, along with the likes of Edward Knoblock and Sir Albert Richardson, responsible for a revival in popularity of the Regency during the inter-war years; all three owned pieces that were sold in 1917 from Thomas Hope’s house The Deepdene, and Wellesley wrote on the subject in `Regency Furniture’, The Burlington Magazine, vol. 70, no. 410, May 1937, pp. 233 – 235 and 238 – 241. As an architect his most important schemes were at Hinton Ampner, where he was employed from 1936 – 39 by Ralph Dutton who also owned a fine collection of Regency furniture, and at his own seat Stratfield Saye, Hampshire, after he succeeded his nephew in 1943 (see Frances Collard, Regency Furniture, Woodbridge, 1985, pp. 267 - 273).
A baluster-crested chair with lion-headed arms featured in Thomas Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 1814. It was described as being 'black and the ornamental parts in gold' and having a 'cushion made to fit exactly to the seat which is either caned or covered with strong linen' (P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture and Interiors, London, 1984).
The diplomat and architect Lord Gerald Wellesley, later 7th Duke of Wellington (1885 - 1972) formed a collection of then-called 'Empire' furniture in his London house on Titchfield Street. He was, along with the likes of Edward Knoblock and Sir Albert Richardson, responsible for a revival in popularity of the Regency during the inter-war years; all three owned pieces that were sold in 1917 from Thomas Hope’s house The Deepdene, and Wellesley wrote on the subject in `Regency Furniture’, The Burlington Magazine, vol. 70, no. 410, May 1937, pp. 233 – 235 and 238 – 241. As an architect his most important schemes were at Hinton Ampner, where he was employed from 1936 – 39 by Ralph Dutton who also owned a fine collection of Regency furniture, and at his own seat Stratfield Saye, Hampshire, after he succeeded his nephew in 1943 (see Frances Collard, Regency Furniture, Woodbridge, 1985, pp. 267 - 273).