A PAIR OF EARLY GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED SIMULATED-BAMBOO WINDOW SEATS
A PAIR OF EARLY GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED SIMULATED-BAMBOO WINDOW SEATS
A PAIR OF EARLY GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED SIMULATED-BAMBOO WINDOW SEATS
4 More
A PAIR OF EARLY GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED SIMULATED-BAMBOO WINDOW SEATS
7 More
Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a fil… Read more THE FORDE ABBEY WINDOW SEATS
A PAIR OF EARLY GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED SIMULATED-BAMBOO WINDOW SEATS

BY WILLIAM VILE AND JOHN COBB, MADE BY WILLIAM STRICKLAND, DATED 1764

Details
A PAIR OF EARLY GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED SIMULATED-BAMBOO WINDOW SEATS
BY WILLIAM VILE AND JOHN COBB, MADE BY WILLIAM STRICKLAND, DATED 1764
Each of serpentine outline, the seats covered in button-tufted antique hand-dyed linen, on straight legs, joined by central stretcher, both with ink inscription 'Strickland fecit Long Acre London / November 1764', the decoration refreshed, the stretchers to one replaced
Each 26 in. (66 cm.) high; 51 in. (130 cm.) wide; 20 ¼ in. (51.5 cm.) deep
Provenance
Probably commissioned by the Gwyn family for Forde Abbey, Somerset.
Almost certainly The Trustees of John Fraunceis Gwyn Esq., Forde Abbey; house sale, English and Son, 26 October - 3 November 1846, Third Day's Sale, lot 26 'Six painted elbow chairs, bamboo pattern, two settees to match and two dressing stools' recorded in the Green Silk Room and Ante-Room.
Almost certainly the Evans family, Forde Abbey, Somerset and by descent.
The Roper family, Forde Abbey, Somerset and by descent.
Acquired from Edward Hurst, November 2015.
Literature
R. Guilding, ‘Jasper Wares’, World of Interiors, April 2021, illustrated p. 157.
Special notice
Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square not collected from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Crozier Park Royal (details below). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. If the lot is transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection on the third business day after 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

Brought to you by

Benedict Winter
Benedict Winter Associate Director, Specialist

Lot Essay


WILLIAM STRICKLAND - NEPHEW OF WILLIAM VILE
These white-painted simulated-bamboo window seats are signed by the cabinet-maker and upholsterer William Strickland of 75 Long Acre, London. Strickland was the nephew of the cabinet-maker William Vile (1700/05-1767), who, together with his partner John Cobb (1715-78) held a Royal Warrant from 1761-1764. Strickland undoubtedly worked for the firm of Vile & Cobb, and later Cobb after September 1767, prior to going into business with Cobb’s foreman, John Jenkins, as Strickland & Jenkins (1777-93). Other signed furniture by Strickland includes a mahogany hall seat bearing a label showing it was made by ‘Strickland nephew of the late Mr. Vile’, exhibited at The Antique Dealers’ Fair in 1954 (E. Perry, ‘Impressions of the Antique Dealers’ Fair’, Country Life, 10 June 1954, p. 1896). Notably, Vile & Cobb were supplying simulated-bamboo furniture: in July 1758, the firm invoiced the 6th Earl of Coventry at Croome Court, Worcestershire, for ‘8 Neat Bamboo Arm'd Chairs with Can'd Seats and Loose Cushions, Cover'd with Your India Damask, and Check Cases’ costing £14 12s (https://bifmo.history.ac.uk/entry/vile-william-1700-67. Accessed 7 December 2020). A mahogany stool, signed 'Strickland, Sept 1st 1763' is illustrated in R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, p. 508, fig. 50. and at that time in the stock of H.W. Keil Ltd., one of the pre-eminent dealers of the time.

These window seats are from Forde Abbey, Dorset, and probably would have been part of a larger suite of seat-furniture. Interestingly, the 1846 sale catalogue for the contents of the mansion lists the following in the Green Silk Room, and Ante Room: lot 25, ‘Six painted elbow chairs, bamboo pattern, with cushions’ and lot 26, ‘Two settees to match, and two dressing stools’ (English & Son, Catalogue of the Magnificent and Matchless … The Entire Effects of Ford Abbey, 26 October 1846 and seven following days, p. 12). Although these lots are not described in detail it is almost certain that the present window seats are in fact the ‘two dressing stools’ recorded as lot 26 in 1846.

FORDE ABBEY
Forde Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery. The house and estate were eventually bought by Edmund Prideaux (d. 1659), Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis who greatly improved the residence and collected impressively. It was his descendant John Fraunceis Gwyn who eventually inherited the estate and who almost certainly commissioned the present lot, either for Forde or the family's other seat Llansannor Court, Glamorgan.

More from Jasper Conran: The Collection Part I

View All
View All