.jpg?maxwidth=3840)
拍品 101THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE HON. SIR JOHN WARD, K.C.V.O.
(LOTS 101-104)
The following four lots formed part of the distinguished collection assembled by Sir John Ward, K.C.V.O. in the early decades of the 20th Century for Dudley House in London or his country house. Dudley House, amongst the grandest of London's Edwardian palaces that lined Park Lane, housed much of the collection which bore witness to some of the most brilliant and glittering society of the Edwardian period. Dudley House was originally built in 1826 for the 1st Earl of Dudley but was significantly embellished by the 11th Lord Ward after 1855. Leased in 1895 by the South African collector-millionaire, J.B. Robinson, the lease was re-purchased by Sir John in 1912, and he lived there until 1938.
Belonging to the select group who pre-empted R.W. Symonds' taste and formed remarkable collections of mid-Georgian furniture in the early decades of the 20th Century, Sir John's remarkable collection first came to light in a four-part series of articles published in The Connoisseur from January-August 1921. As these articles were written by the furniture historian Herbert Cescinsky, it is perhaps fair to conclude that Sir John's purchases were at least in part guided by the latter. Certainly their relationship remained amicable, as further pieces from Sir John's collection were subsequently published by Cescinsky in The Old World House, 1924, and in English Furniture from Gothic to Sheraton, 1937.
One of the masterpieces of Sir John's collection was the magnificent Dudley House suite of George II mahogany seat-furniture retaining its exceptional original needlework covers, which was sold by David H. Murdock at Christie's New York, 16 April 2002, lots 250-257.
FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE HON. SIR JOHN WARD, K.C.V.O.
(LOTS 101-104)
The following four lots formed part of the distinguished collection assembled by Sir John Ward, K.C.V.O. in the early decades of the 20th Century for Dudley House in London or his country house. Dudley House, amongst the grandest of London's Edwardian palaces that lined Park Lane, housed much of the collection which bore witness to some of the most brilliant and glittering society of the Edwardian period. Dudley House was originally built in 1826 for the 1st Earl of Dudley but was significantly embellished by the 11th Lord Ward after 1855. Leased in 1895 by the South African collector-millionaire, J.B. Robinson, the lease was re-purchased by Sir John in 1912, and he lived there until 1938.
Belonging to the select group who pre-empted R.W. Symonds' taste and formed remarkable collections of mid-Georgian furniture in the early decades of the 20th Century, Sir John's remarkable collection first came to light in a four-part series of articles published in The Connoisseur from January-August 1921. As these articles were written by the furniture historian Herbert Cescinsky, it is perhaps fair to conclude that Sir John's purchases were at least in part guided by the latter. Certainly their relationship remained amicable, as further pieces from Sir John's collection were subsequently published by Cescinsky in The Old World House, 1924, and in English Furniture from Gothic to Sheraton, 1937.
One of the masterpieces of Sir John's collection was the magnificent Dudley House suite of George II mahogany seat-furniture retaining its exceptional original needlework covers, which was sold by David H. Murdock at Christie's New York, 16 April 2002, lots 250-257.
A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY AND PARCEL-GILT CORNER SOFAS
成交价
GBP 26,290
更多信息
专家说明
Inspired by fashionable 'French chair' patterns popularised in London in the late 1750s, these remarkable small settees and bergeres (lot 102) belong to what must have been an extensive and important suite of seat-furniture, of which at least four further armchairs are recorded. Undoubtedly commissioned for a specific architectural interior, perhaps a rotunda, which dictated both their extremely unusual shape with rounded back and the rare arched toprail - a feature apparently only seen on Louis XV bergeres of the 1750's but hitherto not apparently known in England - they were almost certainly conceived for a room decorated with French 'pittoresque' boiserie panelling of complementary shape. Of this suite, one pair of armchairs was sold in these Rooms, 6 July 1995, lot 133, another was illustrated in H. Cescinsky, The Old World House, New York, vol. II, 1924, p.107, and the fourth is illustrated in C. Claxton-Stevens and S. Whittington, English Furniture: The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, 1983, p.40.
Probably the earliest chair design published in England that incorporates acanthus foliage emerging from a Venus scallop-shell is one of those in Gaetano Brunetti's Sixty Different Types of Ornament, published in London in 1736 (see: E. White, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1990, p. 99). The type was later developed in patterns published by Thomas Chippendale, including one in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, London, 3rd. ed., 1762, pl. XXIII (see White, op.cit., p. 101).
A 'burjair' chair of a similar type, on which the ornament is reduced almost to the shells alone, was supplied in the late 1750s to Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness for Hornby Castle, Yorkshire. Holderness was an early patron of the Soho firm of Samuel Norman (d.1768) and James Whittle (d.1759). Their partnership began in 1755 and they are thought to have supplied the Hornby Castle 'burjairs', one of which was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 9 July 1992, lot 92. Further evidence that chairs of this type were being produced by the most fashionable London chair-makers in the late 1750s is provided by a suite of which the larger part remains in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. Two armchairs from the suite were sold from the collection of the late 1st Viscount Leverhulme, The Hill, Hampstead, Anderson Galleries, New York, 13 February 1926 (=5th day), lots 501-502. The frames of the Leverhulme suite of chairs are of very similar type and had originally come from what was probably the most distinguished series of English rococo interiors in the French manner, those at Chesterfield House, London. Certainly the furniture at Chesterfield House was of the highest quality and chairs of this type would have been supplied by the best London makers, possibly Whittle and Norman themselves.
A further armchair of this overall pattern, but without scrolled legs, was sold in these Rooms, 12 November 1998, lot 177.
An entry in Sir John Ward's account books records their purchase:-
April 27th (1909) Pair of Small Chippendale sofas to match chairs p.10 52 10 Bartlett & Collins Brighton, with the comment under the Remarks column make up set of four.
Probably the earliest chair design published in England that incorporates acanthus foliage emerging from a Venus scallop-shell is one of those in Gaetano Brunetti's Sixty Different Types of Ornament, published in London in 1736 (see: E. White, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1990, p. 99). The type was later developed in patterns published by Thomas Chippendale, including one in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, London, 3rd. ed., 1762, pl. XXIII (see White, op.cit., p. 101).
A 'burjair' chair of a similar type, on which the ornament is reduced almost to the shells alone, was supplied in the late 1750s to Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness for Hornby Castle, Yorkshire. Holderness was an early patron of the Soho firm of Samuel Norman (d.1768) and James Whittle (d.1759). Their partnership began in 1755 and they are thought to have supplied the Hornby Castle 'burjairs', one of which was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 9 July 1992, lot 92. Further evidence that chairs of this type were being produced by the most fashionable London chair-makers in the late 1750s is provided by a suite of which the larger part remains in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. Two armchairs from the suite were sold from the collection of the late 1st Viscount Leverhulme, The Hill, Hampstead, Anderson Galleries, New York, 13 February 1926 (=5th day), lots 501-502. The frames of the Leverhulme suite of chairs are of very similar type and had originally come from what was probably the most distinguished series of English rococo interiors in the French manner, those at Chesterfield House, London. Certainly the furniture at Chesterfield House was of the highest quality and chairs of this type would have been supplied by the best London makers, possibly Whittle and Norman themselves.
A further armchair of this overall pattern, but without scrolled legs, was sold in these Rooms, 12 November 1998, lot 177.
An entry in Sir John Ward's account books records their purchase:-
April 27th (1909) Pair of Small Chippendale sofas to match chairs p.10 52 10 Bartlett & Collins Brighton, with the comment under the Remarks column make up set of four.