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Lot Essay
These chairs are very closely related to a suite of Regency giltwood seat furniture in the Grecian taste at Caledon Castle, Country Tyrone, Northern Ireland which probably date from the alterations undertaken by the James Alexander, 2nd Lord Caledon (1777-1839) and his architect John Nash (1752-1835), responsible for Brighton Pavilion and much of the layout of Regency London under the patronage of George IV. The result at Caledon was described as ‘the most complete example that has survived of a house furnished in the style favoured by the Regent and his architect during the last years of the Napoloenic War’ (M. Jourdain, ‘Regency Furniture at Caledon’, Country Life, 26 September 1936, p. 324).
The published Caledon suite (illustrated in R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1987, London, p. 165, pl. 196; and C. Musgrave, Regency Furniture 1800-1830, London, fig. 41A) comprises armchairs, open armchairs and a long stool (Jourdain, op. cit. p. 325). They are almost identical in design to the present lot, with lion-heads carved to the top of the monopodia and distinctive gadrooning to the seatrail, but they are simpler, in that they do not have a hairy mane carved to the lions on the front legs.
Despite this small difference, it is still possible that present suite was commissioned by the 2nd Earl of Caledon but for a different room at Caledon, or commissioned at a slightly earlier or later date, as this was not uncommon. For example, at Harewood House, Yorkshire, Thomas Chippendale was commissioned to make a second long set of white-painted and parcel-gilt seat furniture by Edwin Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood that were very closely related to those he made for the Music Room at Harewood but had subtle differences.
Another possibility is that they were made for the another of Caledon’s properties, either his London townhouse at 5 Carlton House Terrace or Tyttenhanger House, St. Alban’s, Hertfordshire, which the 2nd Earl of Caledon inherited through his wife Catherine Yorke (d. 1863), when his father-in-law, Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (1757-1834) died. Tyttenhanger House was later sold and the contents dispersed by Ralph, Pay & Ransom, 27-29 June 1972.
The published Caledon suite (illustrated in R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1987, London, p. 165, pl. 196; and C. Musgrave, Regency Furniture 1800-1830, London, fig. 41A) comprises armchairs, open armchairs and a long stool (Jourdain, op. cit. p. 325). They are almost identical in design to the present lot, with lion-heads carved to the top of the monopodia and distinctive gadrooning to the seatrail, but they are simpler, in that they do not have a hairy mane carved to the lions on the front legs.
Despite this small difference, it is still possible that present suite was commissioned by the 2nd Earl of Caledon but for a different room at Caledon, or commissioned at a slightly earlier or later date, as this was not uncommon. For example, at Harewood House, Yorkshire, Thomas Chippendale was commissioned to make a second long set of white-painted and parcel-gilt seat furniture by Edwin Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood that were very closely related to those he made for the Music Room at Harewood but had subtle differences.
Another possibility is that they were made for the another of Caledon’s properties, either his London townhouse at 5 Carlton House Terrace or Tyttenhanger House, St. Alban’s, Hertfordshire, which the 2nd Earl of Caledon inherited through his wife Catherine Yorke (d. 1863), when his father-in-law, Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (1757-1834) died. Tyttenhanger House was later sold and the contents dispersed by Ralph, Pay & Ransom, 27-29 June 1972.