A GEORGE III MAHOGANY WARDROBE

AFTER A DESIGN BY JOHN VARDY, ORIGINALLY AN ORGAN CASE

Details

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY WARDROBE
After a design by John Vardy, Originally An Organ Case
The moulded cornice with breakfront centre and angles above concave-cut dentils and a pair of long doors, the sides and uprights headed by acanthus and rockwork-carved volutes suspending drapery, the panels applied with foliate blind fretwork with central columns and scroll arches, the lower part of each door with quatrefoil scroll motifs within angles of rockwork clasps, the sides flush-panelled and the channels inset with a single reed, the interior now with two brass hanging rails but with traces of earlier fittings, on plinth base, each panel inscribed in chalk '153' and with two paper labels inscribed in pencil 'Best bedroom no 5', the backboards inscribed in chalk 'all fittings are in chest 71', the backing mahogany behind the carving in the two upper panels of later date but almost certainly pre-1795, the organ works removed before 1795, the upper panels originally cloth-backed, the front lacking some carved elements, repairs to others and some replaced
71½ in. (182 cm.) wide; 95 in. (241 cm.) high; 28 in. (71 cm.) deep

Provenance

Supplied in 1763 to John Vardy's design to the 5th Duke of Bolton (d.1765) for the East End Room at Hackwood
By descent until sold in 1935 with Hackwood to William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose (d.1954)
Thnce by descent

Literature

John Vardy's Bill, March 1763: 'To a Design for a Sopha for the Inside of the Alcove in the Drawing Room at Hackwood, of a Drawing for an Organ Case in the East End Room at ditto'
The 1765 Inventory; the Great Hall: 'Chamber Organ'
The 1795 Inventory, the Great Hall: 'Chamber Organ' with annotation 'organ removed'

Lot Essay

The upper backing panels of mahogany behind the foliate carving in the doors of this press are not original; there are traces of the nail holes left by fabric which formerly backed the panels. Furthermore, there are traces of more elaborate fittings in the interior than are likely with a simple clothes-press. This evidence makes it almost certain that this is the organ-case for which John Vardy was paid for a design. It must have been a barrel organ because there would have been no access to a keyboard once the door was closed. The evidence of the 1795 inventory, with an organ barrel stored in a wainscot box, confirms this.
The fretwork carving is derived from a contemporary design by Thomas Chippendale, from his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 3rd. ed., 1762, pl. XCVIII.

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