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Descriptif du lot
This remarkable set of carved walnut side chairs was formerly in the collection of Nancy Lancaster (1897-1994), and was present in four homes associated with Nancy and the firm of Colefax & Fowler, with which she is celebrated for pioneering the English Country House style.
The chairs were clearly of great significance to Nancy as she wrote that 'the chairs came from Lord Chesterfield. They were heavy Chippendale, carved with wonderful grotesques in all four knees and covered in a sort of dirty dandelion-coloured leather’. (1) They first appear at Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire, where they are pictured in the dining room. Nancy moved to Kelmarsh with her husband Ronald Tree (1897-1976) in 1929, leasing the house from Claude Lancaster (1899-1977). Kelmarsh was 'just the house for Nancy', and her interiors there earned much acclaim. The dining room, as Martin Wood writes, 'revolved around the... dining chairs. With claw feet and deeply carved grotesques on each knee, they were upholstered in dandelion yellow leather, the colour being picked up by the curtains, which were in a buff yellow fabric "like old gold"'. (2) The current upholstery was likely chosen by Nancy, and the yellow leather would have appeared even warmer in the candlelight above.
Nancy and Ronald moved to Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, in 1933, which they had bought along with its contents. Both Kelmarsh and Ditchley were designed by the great eighteenth-century architect James Gibbs, and Nancy brought the chairs to Ditchley despite the house already being furnished. Here too Nancy entertained great parties, and during the war Churchill and his staff used the house frequently as an alternative to Chequers, then considered vulnerable to enemy bombing. Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1920-2014), recalls Nancy 'sitting bolt upright at the end of the dining room table on one of the high-backed yellow chairs'. (3)
It was Nancy's decoration at Kelmarsh and Ditchley which propelled her to such acclaim before the war, and this set of chairs remained a focal point for both interiors. The chairs passed to her son, Michael Tree (1921–1999), by whom they were sold from Mereworth Castle, Kent, which he had inherited from his uncle Peter Beatty (1910-1949), in 1960. They appear again in 1968, then sold by Lady Anne Tree (1927-2010), Michael's wife. Some years later the chairs reappear at Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire. Lord and Lady Rotherwick approached John Fowler (1906-1977) to redecorate the interiors in 1967. (4) As the chairs were sold the following year, it is possible that they were acquired by John Fowler for Cornbury around that time, perhaps motivated by their provenance with Nancy Lancaster.
Mistakenly described by Nancy Lancaster as 'Chippendale', a common misattribution in twentieth-century collecting circles, the design in fact relates much more closely to the work of William Kent (circa 1685-1748), particularly the carved masks, which are found in mirror frames, sconces, console tables, and chairs and stools by Kent. He visited Paris in 1919 and likely saw the work of French furniture designers such as André-Charles Boulle (1694-1774), whose use of masks may have been the precedent for Kent's own. (5) But French and Roman Baroque design share many features, and it is difficult to discern the exact source. Whether French or Roman, the motif was indebted to classical antiquity, and the rediscovery of the Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea in the late fifteenth century, where masked grotesques were originally seen and adopted by artists such as Giovanni da Udine (1487–1564) and the studio of Raphael.
A comparable suite of chairs was supplied by Robert Sapp (active 1715-1739) for the new Treasury building in Whitehall in 1939, after designs by William Kent, with similarly carved lion masks on the legs. A further suite was commissioned by Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) to line the state rooms at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, two pairs of which sold Works of Art from Houghton; Christie's, London, 8 December 1994, lots 131 and 132 (£331,500 and £397,500). The Houghton suite was also executed walnut, though were oil-gilt. Another was commissioned by the Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope (1714-1786) and supplied by William Bradshaw (1700-1775) for Chevening House, Kent. The latter relates most closely to the present suite, with carved grotesque masks to the front legs.
When sold Sotheby’s, London, 13 May 1960, lot 11, the chairs were described as 'formerly in the Collection of Philip Former Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield'. Lord Chesterfield was certainly a known collector of furniture, but the chairs do not appear to have been in the Bretby Heirlooms; Christie's, London, 29 May 1918, sold under the wills of George Stanhope, 7th Earl of Chesterfield and the Dowager Countess of Chesterfield. Nancy's description that 'the chairs came from Lord Chesterfield' suggests a more recent provenance, but the chairs do not appear in the Contents of Holme Lacy, Herefordshire; Knight, Frank & Rutley, 31 January-3 February 1910, sold under the direction of the Edwyn Francis Scudamore-Stanhope, 10th Earl of Chesterfield; nor the Remaining Contents of Chesterfield House, Mayfair; Sotheby's, London, 7 April 1932, sold by Henry George Charles Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood. Though we have so far been unable to confirm this provenance, it remains a tantalising possibility.
(1) R. Becker, Nancy Lancaster: Her Life, Her World, Her Art, 1996, pp. 167.
(2) M. Wood, Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style, 2005, p. 36.
(3) M. Wood, Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style, 2005, p. 71.
(4) J. Goodall, 'Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire: The seat of Lord and Lady Rotherwick' in Country Life (26 September 2012), p. 115.
(5) S. Webber, 'The Well of Inspiration: Sources for Kent's Furniture Designs', William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain, ed. S. Webber (2014), p. 463.
The chairs were clearly of great significance to Nancy as she wrote that 'the chairs came from Lord Chesterfield. They were heavy Chippendale, carved with wonderful grotesques in all four knees and covered in a sort of dirty dandelion-coloured leather’. (1) They first appear at Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire, where they are pictured in the dining room. Nancy moved to Kelmarsh with her husband Ronald Tree (1897-1976) in 1929, leasing the house from Claude Lancaster (1899-1977). Kelmarsh was 'just the house for Nancy', and her interiors there earned much acclaim. The dining room, as Martin Wood writes, 'revolved around the... dining chairs. With claw feet and deeply carved grotesques on each knee, they were upholstered in dandelion yellow leather, the colour being picked up by the curtains, which were in a buff yellow fabric "like old gold"'. (2) The current upholstery was likely chosen by Nancy, and the yellow leather would have appeared even warmer in the candlelight above.
Nancy and Ronald moved to Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, in 1933, which they had bought along with its contents. Both Kelmarsh and Ditchley were designed by the great eighteenth-century architect James Gibbs, and Nancy brought the chairs to Ditchley despite the house already being furnished. Here too Nancy entertained great parties, and during the war Churchill and his staff used the house frequently as an alternative to Chequers, then considered vulnerable to enemy bombing. Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1920-2014), recalls Nancy 'sitting bolt upright at the end of the dining room table on one of the high-backed yellow chairs'. (3)
It was Nancy's decoration at Kelmarsh and Ditchley which propelled her to such acclaim before the war, and this set of chairs remained a focal point for both interiors. The chairs passed to her son, Michael Tree (1921–1999), by whom they were sold from Mereworth Castle, Kent, which he had inherited from his uncle Peter Beatty (1910-1949), in 1960. They appear again in 1968, then sold by Lady Anne Tree (1927-2010), Michael's wife. Some years later the chairs reappear at Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire. Lord and Lady Rotherwick approached John Fowler (1906-1977) to redecorate the interiors in 1967. (4) As the chairs were sold the following year, it is possible that they were acquired by John Fowler for Cornbury around that time, perhaps motivated by their provenance with Nancy Lancaster.
Mistakenly described by Nancy Lancaster as 'Chippendale', a common misattribution in twentieth-century collecting circles, the design in fact relates much more closely to the work of William Kent (circa 1685-1748), particularly the carved masks, which are found in mirror frames, sconces, console tables, and chairs and stools by Kent. He visited Paris in 1919 and likely saw the work of French furniture designers such as André-Charles Boulle (1694-1774), whose use of masks may have been the precedent for Kent's own. (5) But French and Roman Baroque design share many features, and it is difficult to discern the exact source. Whether French or Roman, the motif was indebted to classical antiquity, and the rediscovery of the Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea in the late fifteenth century, where masked grotesques were originally seen and adopted by artists such as Giovanni da Udine (1487–1564) and the studio of Raphael.
A comparable suite of chairs was supplied by Robert Sapp (active 1715-1739) for the new Treasury building in Whitehall in 1939, after designs by William Kent, with similarly carved lion masks on the legs. A further suite was commissioned by Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) to line the state rooms at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, two pairs of which sold Works of Art from Houghton; Christie's, London, 8 December 1994, lots 131 and 132 (£331,500 and £397,500). The Houghton suite was also executed walnut, though were oil-gilt. Another was commissioned by the Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope (1714-1786) and supplied by William Bradshaw (1700-1775) for Chevening House, Kent. The latter relates most closely to the present suite, with carved grotesque masks to the front legs.
When sold Sotheby’s, London, 13 May 1960, lot 11, the chairs were described as 'formerly in the Collection of Philip Former Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield'. Lord Chesterfield was certainly a known collector of furniture, but the chairs do not appear to have been in the Bretby Heirlooms; Christie's, London, 29 May 1918, sold under the wills of George Stanhope, 7th Earl of Chesterfield and the Dowager Countess of Chesterfield. Nancy's description that 'the chairs came from Lord Chesterfield' suggests a more recent provenance, but the chairs do not appear in the Contents of Holme Lacy, Herefordshire; Knight, Frank & Rutley, 31 January-3 February 1910, sold under the direction of the Edwyn Francis Scudamore-Stanhope, 10th Earl of Chesterfield; nor the Remaining Contents of Chesterfield House, Mayfair; Sotheby's, London, 7 April 1932, sold by Henry George Charles Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood. Though we have so far been unable to confirm this provenance, it remains a tantalising possibility.
(1) R. Becker, Nancy Lancaster: Her Life, Her World, Her Art, 1996, pp. 167.
(2) M. Wood, Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style, 2005, p. 36.
(3) M. Wood, Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style, 2005, p. 71.
(4) J. Goodall, 'Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire: The seat of Lord and Lady Rotherwick' in Country Life (26 September 2012), p. 115.
(5) S. Webber, 'The Well of Inspiration: Sources for Kent's Furniture Designs', William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain, ed. S. Webber (2014), p. 463.