Lot 164
164
A GEORGE III POLYCHROME-PAINTED FITTED BREAKFRONT BOOKCASE
Specified lots are being stored at Crozier Park Ro… Read more JAMES WYATT'S GOTHIC FITTINGS FOR LEE PRIORY, KENTThe following lots comprise the late 18th-century Gothic Revival bookcases and architectural fittings from the Ante-Chamber at Lee Priory, Kent, designed by the architect-designer James Wyatt (1746-1813) between 1783 and 1790 for Thomas Barrett (1744-1803). They are important relics from a house central to the late 18th-century Gothic Revival. The Gothic architecture of Lee Priory, and its interiors, was highly regarded in its day - as a worthy successor to Strawberry Hill, Twickenham (Horace Walpole), and a precursor to Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire (Wyatt) and Eaton Hall, Cheshire (William Porden). Horace Walpole (1717-97), antiquarian, advocate of Gothick, collector and friend to Barrett, was significantly involved with the architecture and interiors at Lee Priory. Walpole’s praise for Lee Priory was effusive in both letters and in print; in October 1794, in a letter to his friend, Mary Berry, he reserved his highest praise for the Library, decorated similarly to the Ante-Chamber, noting: ‘to me it is the most perfect thing I ever saw, and has the air it was intended to have, that of an abbot’s library, supposing it could have been so exquisitely finished three hundred years ago…’. The rectilinear Gothic Ante-Chamber was one of the principal rooms of the first floor at Lee Priory and led from the Staircase Hall to the octagonal Gothic Library, a reproduction of the Octagon Lantern Tower at Ely Cathedral. With its plaster imitation fan-vaulted ceiling centred by a glazed circular or rose panel to let in light, the Ante-Chamber complemented the ornamentation and fittings of the Library; it shared the same architectural character and likewise was lined with virtually identical bookcases (offered here). In each room, these had the same cresting and panelled doors below a diaper-encrusted dado only differing in the treatment of the upper shelves; in the Library they were open (two bookcases from the Library are in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, W.51-1953) whereas the bookcases from the Ante-Chamber are entirely enclosed behind doors. In 1953, prior to the demolition of Lee Priory, the bookcases and architectural fittings from the Ante-Chamber were dismantled, and sold to a notable collector and antiques dealer, Ian Phillips. Of the remaining fixtures and fittings of Lee Priory’s interiors only the ‘Strawberry Room’/Walpole Closet and two bookcases from the Library were further saved; both at the Victoria & Albert Museum, while a hexagonal red and gilt-decorated metal hall-lantern possibly designed for the entrance hall at Lee Priory was sold at Christie's, London, 6 June 1996, lot 36 (£4,370 including premium).PROVENANCE FOR THE SUITE:Designed by James Wyatt for Thomas Barrett (d.1803) for Lee Priory, Kent.By descent at Lee Priory to his great-nephew Thomas Bridges Barrett.Thence at Lee Priory to Mr. PhilipsAcquired in 1953 prior to the demolition of Lee Priory by Ian Phillips Esq. LITERATURE FOR THE SUITE:H. Honour, 'A House of the Gothic Revival', Country Life, 30 May 1952, pp. 1665-1666. J.M. Robinson, James Wyatt: Architect to George III, New Haven and London, 2011, pp. 220-223. M.M. Reevie, P.N. Lindfield, 'A Child of Strawberry': Thomas Barrett and Lee Priory, Kent', The Burlington Magazine, December 2015, CLVII, pp. 836-842. P.N. Lindfield, 'Rediscovering Lee Priory's Lost Library Ante-Chamber', The Georgian Group Journal, vol. XXV, 2017, pp. 207-212.
A GEORGE III POLYCHROME-PAINTED FITTED BREAKFRONT BOOKCASE

DESIGNED BY JAMES WYATT, CIRCA 1785-90

Details
A GEORGE III POLYCHROME-PAINTED FITTED BREAKFRONT BOOKCASE
DESIGNED BY JAMES WYATT, CIRCA 1785-90
With four pine doors applied with blind arches and tracery, opening to reveal an oak interior with fitments for shelving above four further doors with gothic tracery and central shield, formed as removable panels, hinging forward to reveal further shelf fitments, each section flanked by cluster columns and surmounted by a strawberry leaf cornice, the interior with eighteenth century hand painted lettering to the upper doors ‘Aa’, ‘Bb’, ‘Cc’ and ‘Dd’ and to the lower compartments ‘Aa Cl:’, ‘Bb Cl:’, Cc Cl:’ and Dd Cl:’
108 ½ in. (276 cm.) high; 185 in. (470 cm.) wide; 18 in. (46 cm.) deep
Special notice
Specified lots are being stored at Crozier Park Royal (details below) or will be removed from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London, SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. If the lot has been transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day following the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm Cancellation under the EU Consumer Rights Directive may apply to this lot. Please see here for further information.
Sale room notice
The last line of provenance acquired in 1953 prior to the demolition of Lee Priory by Ian Phillips Esq.

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