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Lot Essay
THE PROVENANCE
This table was in the important collection of Sir John Ramsden, 6th Baronet (1877-1958). The majority of Sir John’s collection of English furniture was sold at Christie’s in 1930 and 1932, however this table lot was retained at Bulstrode until his death in 1958. The Ramsden family had been large landowners in South Yorkshire for several centuries, particularly in Huddersfield. Their oldest seat was Byram Hall, at Ferrybridge, near Wakefield, a house that was extensively remodelled in the 1770s by John Carr of York with interior decoration by Robert Adam in 1780. Sir John’s collection at Bulstrode Park was a composite one, formed from pieces taken from Byram (following its sale in 1922) and pieces Sir John bought himself between 1917-1922.
One family relationship which suggests a tantalizing earlier provenance and attribution is the marriage of Sir William Ramsden, 2nd Bt. (1672-1736) to The Hon. Elizabeth Lowther in 1695. Sir William and Lady Elizabeth’s daughter was also married to a Lowther, putting the family firmly in the Lowthers' sphere of influence well into the mid to late 18th century. The Lowther family, under James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1736-1802), who inherited the estates in 1745, undertook a huge renovation of all his residences. They commissioned furniture from leading makers of the time, including a set of seat furniture attributed to Paul Saunders (see Christie’s, London, 16 May 1912, lot 127, a set of four, and Christie’s, New York, 18 October 2017, lot 578), and engaged Robert Adam at Lowther Castle and Whitehaven Castle.
This table was in the important collection of Sir John Ramsden, 6th Baronet (1877-1958). The majority of Sir John’s collection of English furniture was sold at Christie’s in 1930 and 1932, however this table lot was retained at Bulstrode until his death in 1958. The Ramsden family had been large landowners in South Yorkshire for several centuries, particularly in Huddersfield. Their oldest seat was Byram Hall, at Ferrybridge, near Wakefield, a house that was extensively remodelled in the 1770s by John Carr of York with interior decoration by Robert Adam in 1780. Sir John’s collection at Bulstrode Park was a composite one, formed from pieces taken from Byram (following its sale in 1922) and pieces Sir John bought himself between 1917-1922.
One family relationship which suggests a tantalizing earlier provenance and attribution is the marriage of Sir William Ramsden, 2nd Bt. (1672-1736) to The Hon. Elizabeth Lowther in 1695. Sir William and Lady Elizabeth’s daughter was also married to a Lowther, putting the family firmly in the Lowthers' sphere of influence well into the mid to late 18th century. The Lowther family, under James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1736-1802), who inherited the estates in 1745, undertook a huge renovation of all his residences. They commissioned furniture from leading makers of the time, including a set of seat furniture attributed to Paul Saunders (see Christie’s, London, 16 May 1912, lot 127, a set of four, and Christie’s, New York, 18 October 2017, lot 578), and engaged Robert Adam at Lowther Castle and Whitehaven Castle.