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Lot Essay
This magnificent cabinet-on-stand, intended for the display of Chinese porcelain, is a masterpiece of rococo cabinet-making in the fashionable 'Chinese' style. The design is taken directly from one of Thomas Chippendale's (1718-1779) own drawings in his renowned pattern-book The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, plate CXLIII, titled 'Designs for China Shelves'. It is attributed to the Wakefield, Yorkshire cabinet-makers Wright and Elwick, whose work often is often Director-inspired and contains certain stylistic nuances exhibited here, such as the elongated quatrefoil panels seen on the legs. Comparable fret-filled furniture attributed to them include the Marchioness of Rockingham's Secretaire-Cabinet, sold from Wentworth, Christie's, London, 8 July 1998, lot 35 (£507,500), which shares a nearly identical pagoda-form roof. A further related example that was almost certainly commissioned by Sir Roger Palmer, 1st Bt. and Lady Palmer (née Ambrose; 1718-1816) of Castle Lacken, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo and later Kenure Park, Co. Dublin, Ireland, was sold Christie's, London, 17 June 2008, lot 8 (£2,729,250).
WALTER P. CHRYSLER, JR.
This lot was sold as part of the celebrated two-part sale of The Collection of Mr. Walter P. Chrysler Jr., at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 29-30 April 1960 (part I) and 6-7 May 1960 (part II). The collection comprised many extraordinary examples attributable to London's pre-eminent Georgian cabinet-makers and was characterized as one of the most important groups of English furniture ever offered at auction. A number of these objects came from notable country house collections such as Rokeby Hall in Yorkshire, Croome Court in Worcestershire, Hamilton Palace in Glasgow, and Ditton Park in Surrey.
Walter P. Chrysler Jr.'s interest in art began at a very early age. The son of the famed automobile magnate, he purchased his first painting, a small Renoir landscape, at the age of fourteen. He was a passionate collector, one without bounds, collecting items from all continents, from the ancient to the modern. In 1971 he gave a large part of his collection to the city of Norfolk, Virginia whose museum now bears his name.
WALTER P. CHRYSLER, JR.
This lot was sold as part of the celebrated two-part sale of The Collection of Mr. Walter P. Chrysler Jr., at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 29-30 April 1960 (part I) and 6-7 May 1960 (part II). The collection comprised many extraordinary examples attributable to London's pre-eminent Georgian cabinet-makers and was characterized as one of the most important groups of English furniture ever offered at auction. A number of these objects came from notable country house collections such as Rokeby Hall in Yorkshire, Croome Court in Worcestershire, Hamilton Palace in Glasgow, and Ditton Park in Surrey.
Walter P. Chrysler Jr.'s interest in art began at a very early age. The son of the famed automobile magnate, he purchased his first painting, a small Renoir landscape, at the age of fourteen. He was a passionate collector, one without bounds, collecting items from all continents, from the ancient to the modern. In 1971 he gave a large part of his collection to the city of Norfolk, Virginia whose museum now bears his name.