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Lot Essay
Thomas Johnson (1714-1799) was one of the most influential carvers and designers of the eighteenth century, responsible for the development of rococo style in England. Johnson's prowess as a carver is best illustrated by a story involving James Whittle (1731-1759), to whom Johnson was first apprenticed and later employed as a junior hand for fifteen shillings a week. Johnson agreed to carve 'a glass frame that had a dragon in the top' for Matthias Lock, another member of Whittle's workshop. However, when Whittle learnt that Johnson had been taking on work of his own, he was sacked, as Whittle exclaimed that 'he employed no master carvers'. When Whittle eventually saw the frame his opinion was changed. Johnson was reinstated at twenty-six shillings a week, which he wrote 'doubled my diligence, and fired me with ambition'. (1)
Our understanding of Johnson's life and legacy is remarkably complete, helped by his autobiography, written whilst in prison in 1777 and published in 1793. Few works survive which allow us so clear an account of the training, work and influence of a craftsman of this period. And although Johnson left school before he was thirteen, he was clearly ambitious and educated as his autobiography is accompanied by quotations from Shakespeare, Dryden and Milton. Johnson also published numerous design books between 1755 and 1762, perhaps inspired by those published by Matthias Lock in the 1740s. In 1755 Johnson produced a girandole 'in a taste never before thought on; the principle of it was a ruinated building, with cattle, &c' which Johnson wrote was 'so well received... I immediately published a small book of designs for girandoles'. (2) Johnson was particularly interested in this question of 'taste', particularly the so-called 'rural taste', of which the girandole is one example. The present tables are another example: boars' heads, grape vines, and acanthus leaves all relating to nature, though the latter are more indebted to antiquity than to one Johnson's own inventions.
Importantly, references to antiquity also occur throughout these tables. Boars were considered courageous in battle, with no natural competitors, and the boar hunt was a noble sport requiring supreme skill. In Greek mythology, the boar hunt was a harbinger of Spring. Grape vines, conversely representative of autumn, are associated with Bacchus, the Roman god of festivity whose mask is depicted at the centre of each frieze. Bacchus is shown wearing his headdress of vines which extend to the full width of the frieze. Given the numerous allusions to food and festivity, it is likely the present tables were commissioned for a dining room.
A design for this table, though possibly drawn in the nineteenth century from these tables, is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Two related tables also in the 'rural taste' were sold from St Giles's House, Dorset; Christie's, 26 June 1980, lots 71 and 72.
(1) J. Simon, 'Thomas Johnson' Life of the Author', Furniture History, vol. XXXIX (2003), p. 4.
(2) J. Simon, 'Thomas Johnson' Life of the Author', Furniture History, vol. XXXIX (2003), p. 12.
Our understanding of Johnson's life and legacy is remarkably complete, helped by his autobiography, written whilst in prison in 1777 and published in 1793. Few works survive which allow us so clear an account of the training, work and influence of a craftsman of this period. And although Johnson left school before he was thirteen, he was clearly ambitious and educated as his autobiography is accompanied by quotations from Shakespeare, Dryden and Milton. Johnson also published numerous design books between 1755 and 1762, perhaps inspired by those published by Matthias Lock in the 1740s. In 1755 Johnson produced a girandole 'in a taste never before thought on; the principle of it was a ruinated building, with cattle, &c' which Johnson wrote was 'so well received... I immediately published a small book of designs for girandoles'. (2) Johnson was particularly interested in this question of 'taste', particularly the so-called 'rural taste', of which the girandole is one example. The present tables are another example: boars' heads, grape vines, and acanthus leaves all relating to nature, though the latter are more indebted to antiquity than to one Johnson's own inventions.
Importantly, references to antiquity also occur throughout these tables. Boars were considered courageous in battle, with no natural competitors, and the boar hunt was a noble sport requiring supreme skill. In Greek mythology, the boar hunt was a harbinger of Spring. Grape vines, conversely representative of autumn, are associated with Bacchus, the Roman god of festivity whose mask is depicted at the centre of each frieze. Bacchus is shown wearing his headdress of vines which extend to the full width of the frieze. Given the numerous allusions to food and festivity, it is likely the present tables were commissioned for a dining room.
A design for this table, though possibly drawn in the nineteenth century from these tables, is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Two related tables also in the 'rural taste' were sold from St Giles's House, Dorset; Christie's, 26 June 1980, lots 71 and 72.
(1) J. Simon, 'Thomas Johnson' Life of the Author', Furniture History, vol. XXXIX (2003), p. 4.
(2) J. Simon, 'Thomas Johnson' Life of the Author', Furniture History, vol. XXXIX (2003), p. 12.