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Lot Essay
This impressive architectural cabinet is a superb example from the neo-classical mahogany period, circa 1765-70. The overall form, with broken triangular pediment relates to Chippendale’s designs for Library and secretaire-bookcases in the 1754 edition of the Director, plates LXI-LXIII. This cabinet sits comfortably in the lexicon of Chippendale’s aesthetically plain mahogany furniture, constructed using the finest figured veneers in combination with dense solid timber enhanced by the crisply carved mouldings seen throughout Chippendale’s documented oeuvre.
This distinctive quality finds expression in commissions for Ninian Home for Paxton House, Berwickshire, Sir Rowland and Lady Sabine Winn for Nostell Priory, Yorkshire and Sir Lawrence Dundas at no. 19 Arlington Street, London and Aske Hall, Yorkshire. For Dundas, Chippendale supplied a pair of bookcases in 1764 that feature closely related carved scrolled acanthus brackets above husk or foliate pendants - ornamentation found on this cabinet (1). The distinctive moulded triumphal arch doors on the upper section of this cabinet illustrate Chippendale’s appreciation of the classical orders of architecture. They relate to two drawings attributed to Chippendale for furnishings for an apothecary’s shop, circa 1770, in the collection at Nostell Priory, Yorkshire, that display Tuscan order columns. According to Christopher Gilbert: ‘The draftsmanship, calligraphy and decorative detailing of the pilasters and crestings are fully consistent with Chippendale’s authorship’ (2). In fact, the first eight plates in the first edition of the Director are dedicated to the five classical orders, with the Tuscan Order as plate 1. The triumphal arch doors also relate to those found on a medal cabinet by Chippendale, dated 1767, which has been built into a blind door recess in the library at Nostell (3). Furthermore, the interior drawers of this medal cabinet are also made of similar densely coloured lustrous grain timber to that found inside this cabinet. A further distinctive device by Chippendale is the use of panelled tapered pilasters framed within stepped mouldings with concave elements, the tops or bottoms with half-moon motifs as seen on the supports of cellarets supplied to respectively Paxton and Harewood House, Yorkshire, and dining chairs from Brocket Hall (4).
This cabinet is closely comparable to another cabinet acquired by the Leeds Museum for Temple Newsam House, Leeds from Norman Adams (5). The cabinet was formerly in the collection of Blanche Brooking, a great grand-daughter of Nathanial Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby. Lord Harrowby kept numerous ledgers written in both longhand and shorthand between 1756 and 1777 that record several purchases from leading contemporaneous London cabinet-makers including Vile and Cobb, John Linnell, and Chippendale (6). Following his peerage in 1776, Lord Harrowby acquired Sandon Hall, Staffordshire, and in 1777, purchased ten dining-chairs for the ‘eating parlour’ from Chippendale, probably for that house. His ledgers additionally list smaller payments to Chippendale for unspecified items made between 1763 and 1764. A closely related bureau-cabinet, firmly attributed to Chippendale, varying only from his published design in elements of decorative detail (7), was sold from the collection of the late Dame Pamela Hunter. That cabinet shared a number of the design motifs employed here, including the broken triangular pediment, arched-panel doors to the upper section (in this case mirrored) flanked by recessed panels, echoing the pilasters used here, the panels to the base doors with the same outline and similarly applied with corner rosettes (see Christie’s, London, 4 July 2002, lot 50).
(1) C. Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 48, fig. 73.
(2) Ibid., vol. I, p. 169; vol. II, p. 65, figs. 100-101.
(3) Ibid., vol. I, p. 170; vol. II, p. 64, fig. 99.
(4) Ibid., vol. II, p. 79, fig. 124; p. 80, fig. 125; p. 88, fig. 142.
(5) The Connoisseur, October 1960, p. 79.
(6) Gilbert, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 152-153.
(7) T. Chippendale, The Gentleman & Cabinet Maker’s Director, London, 3rd edition, 1762, pl. CVII.
This distinctive quality finds expression in commissions for Ninian Home for Paxton House, Berwickshire, Sir Rowland and Lady Sabine Winn for Nostell Priory, Yorkshire and Sir Lawrence Dundas at no. 19 Arlington Street, London and Aske Hall, Yorkshire. For Dundas, Chippendale supplied a pair of bookcases in 1764 that feature closely related carved scrolled acanthus brackets above husk or foliate pendants - ornamentation found on this cabinet (1). The distinctive moulded triumphal arch doors on the upper section of this cabinet illustrate Chippendale’s appreciation of the classical orders of architecture. They relate to two drawings attributed to Chippendale for furnishings for an apothecary’s shop, circa 1770, in the collection at Nostell Priory, Yorkshire, that display Tuscan order columns. According to Christopher Gilbert: ‘The draftsmanship, calligraphy and decorative detailing of the pilasters and crestings are fully consistent with Chippendale’s authorship’ (2). In fact, the first eight plates in the first edition of the Director are dedicated to the five classical orders, with the Tuscan Order as plate 1. The triumphal arch doors also relate to those found on a medal cabinet by Chippendale, dated 1767, which has been built into a blind door recess in the library at Nostell (3). Furthermore, the interior drawers of this medal cabinet are also made of similar densely coloured lustrous grain timber to that found inside this cabinet. A further distinctive device by Chippendale is the use of panelled tapered pilasters framed within stepped mouldings with concave elements, the tops or bottoms with half-moon motifs as seen on the supports of cellarets supplied to respectively Paxton and Harewood House, Yorkshire, and dining chairs from Brocket Hall (4).
This cabinet is closely comparable to another cabinet acquired by the Leeds Museum for Temple Newsam House, Leeds from Norman Adams (5). The cabinet was formerly in the collection of Blanche Brooking, a great grand-daughter of Nathanial Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby. Lord Harrowby kept numerous ledgers written in both longhand and shorthand between 1756 and 1777 that record several purchases from leading contemporaneous London cabinet-makers including Vile and Cobb, John Linnell, and Chippendale (6). Following his peerage in 1776, Lord Harrowby acquired Sandon Hall, Staffordshire, and in 1777, purchased ten dining-chairs for the ‘eating parlour’ from Chippendale, probably for that house. His ledgers additionally list smaller payments to Chippendale for unspecified items made between 1763 and 1764. A closely related bureau-cabinet, firmly attributed to Chippendale, varying only from his published design in elements of decorative detail (7), was sold from the collection of the late Dame Pamela Hunter. That cabinet shared a number of the design motifs employed here, including the broken triangular pediment, arched-panel doors to the upper section (in this case mirrored) flanked by recessed panels, echoing the pilasters used here, the panels to the base doors with the same outline and similarly applied with corner rosettes (see Christie’s, London, 4 July 2002, lot 50).
(1) C. Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 48, fig. 73.
(2) Ibid., vol. I, p. 169; vol. II, p. 65, figs. 100-101.
(3) Ibid., vol. I, p. 170; vol. II, p. 64, fig. 99.
(4) Ibid., vol. II, p. 79, fig. 124; p. 80, fig. 125; p. 88, fig. 142.
(5) The Connoisseur, October 1960, p. 79.
(6) Gilbert, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 152-153.
(7) T. Chippendale, The Gentleman & Cabinet Maker’s Director, London, 3rd edition, 1762, pl. CVII.