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拍品專文
This pair of hall stools has an illustrious provenance having been in two prestigious collections: probably commissioned by William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington (1719-1799) for Petersham Lodge, Richmond, Surrey, and more recently, in the collection of H.R.H. Prince George, Duke of Kent and H.R.H. Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent.
THE DESIGN
Designed in the Greek style popularised by James Stuart’s Antiquities of Athens (1762), these stools were probably originally part of a suite of hall furniture that comprised another pair of matching stools (1), and at least one large triple-panelled hall settee; the latter sold from the collection of Charles Henry Leicester Stanhope, Viscount Petersham, later 12th Earl of Harrington, at Christie’s, London, 9 April 1987, lot 47 (1). This hall settee is closely related to a design by John Linnell (1729-96) for a pair of hall settees supplied in 1767 to William Drake (1723-96) for Shardeloes, Buckinghamshire, and on that basis, these stools too can be confidently attributed to this craftsman (2). The Shardeloes hall settees survive; they are unique for being the only settees for which a bill and a drawing by Linnell exists. The original drawing refers to four stools but these are no longer extant. However, their mention fully supports the assumption that the present stools, and their matching pair were also en suite with one or more hall settees. Notably, the stools offered here, and the hall settee formerly in Lord Petersham’s collection include the distinctive neo-classical square and tapering fluted leg for which Linnell is renowned; a form, which could be selected as an option for legs illustrated in the innovative 1767 neo-classical design Linnell prepared for William Drake for Shardeloes.
William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington is included in ‘The schedule of clients of John Linnell’ by Helena Hayward (3). The Linnell firm’s association to Lord Harrington was probably through the intermediary of the building firm, John Phillips (additionally, Clerk of the Works at the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford) and his business partner, Shakespear, with whom Linnell, father (William) and presumably his son, worked at Radcliffe Camera in 1745, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire in 1749 and Alscot Park, Warwickshire in 1750. The connection between Linnell and Phillips and Shakespear endured long after William Linnell’s death in 1763. Between 1763 and 1772, John Linnell was subcontracted as a carver to the building firm for which he charged £672 6s 7d, and in 1773, he again undertook a carving commission on contract to them, which included work for Lord Harrington as well as the Earl of Holderness, the Duke of Bolton and William Pitt, among others, and in sum came to over £400 (4). Sub-contracting was a normal practice in the 18th century because so many crafts and trades were involved in the building, decorating and furnishing of houses (5).
Another drawing for a hall bench, part of the Linnell/Tatham designs held in the Victoria and Albert Museum, can also be compared to the hall bench formerly belonging to Lord Petersham (6). A set of six hall benches designed by William Kent (1685-1748) in circa 1735-40 for Devonshire House, London, and now at Chatsworth, Derbyshire is ultimately the inspiration for this Linnell pattern (7). In 1969, John Harris suggested that the Chatsworth hall benches may be as late as 1765, however, another hall bench, almost identical to the Chatsworth hall benches, designed for the Praeneste in the garden at Rousham, Oxon, by Kent, must have been supplied when the garden was nearing completion in 1737-9. The Kent design was re-used as late as 1765 by Linnell and Linnell’s drawing illustrates how closely he modelled himself on Kent as he developed his neo-classical style (8).
PETERSHAM LODGE
In 1733, Lord Harrington (from 1742, Viscount Petersham and 1st Earl of Harrington) had a ‘new’ Petersham Lodge built to the Palladian designs of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753), 'the architect Earl' and patron to Kent, on the site of an earlier house that had been destroyed by fire in 1721. The poet, James Thomson, who is commemorated at Poet’s Corner in the grounds of Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, refers to the new lodge in ‘Summer’, one of a set of four poems published as ‘The Seasons’: ‘the pendent woods That nodding hang o’er Harrington’s retreat’, and the lodge during Lord Harrington’s residency was known as ‘Harrington’s Retreat’. Lord Harrington later used Edward Shepherd, largely known now as the builder of Shepherd’s Market, London, to add wings in 1740. The Burlington-designed Petersham Lodge was sold after the death of 2nd Earl of Harrington in 1779. In 1783, an Act of Parliament was passed to enable George III to grant the inheritance of the capital messuage or mansion-house called Petersham Lodge to Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford, who had purchased it from Lord Harrington’s son, Charles, 3rd Earl of Harrington, and by whom it was sold in 1790 to the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV, who occasionally lived there (9).
The storage label was applied by the Lord Chamberlain’s department, when the benches were stored at Buckingham Palace.
(1) The matching stools sold Christie’s, London, 20 November 2009, lot 45 (£163,250 inc. premium).
(2) H. Hayward, ‘The Drawings of John Linnell in the Victoria and Albert Museum’, Furniture History, 1967, fig. 27.
(3) Ibid., p. 41.
(4) H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, vol. I, London, 1980, p. 30; P. Kirkham, ‘The Careers of William and John Linnell’, Furniture History, 1967, p. 36.
(5) Ibid.
(6) E. 126 1929.
(7) Hayward, Kirkham, op. cit., vol. II, fig. 230.
(8) Hayward, op. cit., p. 89.
(9) 'Parishes: Petersham', in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3, ed. H E Malden (London, 1911), pp. 525-532. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp 525-532.
THE DESIGN
Designed in the Greek style popularised by James Stuart’s Antiquities of Athens (1762), these stools were probably originally part of a suite of hall furniture that comprised another pair of matching stools (1), and at least one large triple-panelled hall settee; the latter sold from the collection of Charles Henry Leicester Stanhope, Viscount Petersham, later 12th Earl of Harrington, at Christie’s, London, 9 April 1987, lot 47 (1). This hall settee is closely related to a design by John Linnell (1729-96) for a pair of hall settees supplied in 1767 to William Drake (1723-96) for Shardeloes, Buckinghamshire, and on that basis, these stools too can be confidently attributed to this craftsman (2). The Shardeloes hall settees survive; they are unique for being the only settees for which a bill and a drawing by Linnell exists. The original drawing refers to four stools but these are no longer extant. However, their mention fully supports the assumption that the present stools, and their matching pair were also en suite with one or more hall settees. Notably, the stools offered here, and the hall settee formerly in Lord Petersham’s collection include the distinctive neo-classical square and tapering fluted leg for which Linnell is renowned; a form, which could be selected as an option for legs illustrated in the innovative 1767 neo-classical design Linnell prepared for William Drake for Shardeloes.
William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington is included in ‘The schedule of clients of John Linnell’ by Helena Hayward (3). The Linnell firm’s association to Lord Harrington was probably through the intermediary of the building firm, John Phillips (additionally, Clerk of the Works at the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford) and his business partner, Shakespear, with whom Linnell, father (William) and presumably his son, worked at Radcliffe Camera in 1745, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire in 1749 and Alscot Park, Warwickshire in 1750. The connection between Linnell and Phillips and Shakespear endured long after William Linnell’s death in 1763. Between 1763 and 1772, John Linnell was subcontracted as a carver to the building firm for which he charged £672 6s 7d, and in 1773, he again undertook a carving commission on contract to them, which included work for Lord Harrington as well as the Earl of Holderness, the Duke of Bolton and William Pitt, among others, and in sum came to over £400 (4). Sub-contracting was a normal practice in the 18th century because so many crafts and trades were involved in the building, decorating and furnishing of houses (5).
Another drawing for a hall bench, part of the Linnell/Tatham designs held in the Victoria and Albert Museum, can also be compared to the hall bench formerly belonging to Lord Petersham (6). A set of six hall benches designed by William Kent (1685-1748) in circa 1735-40 for Devonshire House, London, and now at Chatsworth, Derbyshire is ultimately the inspiration for this Linnell pattern (7). In 1969, John Harris suggested that the Chatsworth hall benches may be as late as 1765, however, another hall bench, almost identical to the Chatsworth hall benches, designed for the Praeneste in the garden at Rousham, Oxon, by Kent, must have been supplied when the garden was nearing completion in 1737-9. The Kent design was re-used as late as 1765 by Linnell and Linnell’s drawing illustrates how closely he modelled himself on Kent as he developed his neo-classical style (8).
PETERSHAM LODGE
In 1733, Lord Harrington (from 1742, Viscount Petersham and 1st Earl of Harrington) had a ‘new’ Petersham Lodge built to the Palladian designs of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753), 'the architect Earl' and patron to Kent, on the site of an earlier house that had been destroyed by fire in 1721. The poet, James Thomson, who is commemorated at Poet’s Corner in the grounds of Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, refers to the new lodge in ‘Summer’, one of a set of four poems published as ‘The Seasons’: ‘the pendent woods That nodding hang o’er Harrington’s retreat’, and the lodge during Lord Harrington’s residency was known as ‘Harrington’s Retreat’. Lord Harrington later used Edward Shepherd, largely known now as the builder of Shepherd’s Market, London, to add wings in 1740. The Burlington-designed Petersham Lodge was sold after the death of 2nd Earl of Harrington in 1779. In 1783, an Act of Parliament was passed to enable George III to grant the inheritance of the capital messuage or mansion-house called Petersham Lodge to Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford, who had purchased it from Lord Harrington’s son, Charles, 3rd Earl of Harrington, and by whom it was sold in 1790 to the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV, who occasionally lived there (9).
The storage label was applied by the Lord Chamberlain’s department, when the benches were stored at Buckingham Palace.
(1) The matching stools sold Christie’s, London, 20 November 2009, lot 45 (£163,250 inc. premium).
(2) H. Hayward, ‘The Drawings of John Linnell in the Victoria and Albert Museum’, Furniture History, 1967, fig. 27.
(3) Ibid., p. 41.
(4) H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, vol. I, London, 1980, p. 30; P. Kirkham, ‘The Careers of William and John Linnell’, Furniture History, 1967, p. 36.
(5) Ibid.
(6) E. 126 1929.
(7) Hayward, Kirkham, op. cit., vol. II, fig. 230.
(8) Hayward, op. cit., p. 89.
(9) 'Parishes: Petersham', in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3, ed. H E Malden (London, 1911), pp. 525-532. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp 525-532.