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President: Lord St. Oswald
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News The Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair is rightly considered the great shop window of the British antiques trade where the cream of each year’s art market is to be seen in all its glory. This year was no exception, and among the many stunning things on view there was one item in particular which beckoned to a seasoned Chippendale connoisseur across the crowded ballroom. It was a stupendous chimney-glass with many of the ingredients and coded signatures which proclaimed it to be an undisputed piece from the St Martin’s Lane workshops of Thomas Chippendale senior. Indeed, on enquiry it turned out to be the chimney-glass from the library at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, one of Chippendale’s most mature and complete commissions dating from c.1773 and now, alas, almost entirely depleted. The frame had not been seen since it was photographed by Country Life in 1923 just prior to the sale of many of the contents of the house (including the library’s lyre-back chairs, one of which is now owned by the Society). Not only is the frame a masterpiece of carving but also of design. The central tablet consists of a lion’s head flanked by leafy swags – identical to the aprons of the chairs in the State Bed and Dressing Rooms at Harewood, while the satyr masks of the ‘ears’ are identical to the same motif in the dining room looking-glass frames in the same house. Again, the Greek key motif on the lower buttresses is repeated on the Library chairs at Nostell as well as those made for this room. It is sincerely to be hoped that this wonderful piece of furniture can be found a sympathetic home in Britain. It is for sale with Michael Lipitch of Mayfair. Evening Visit and Supper At the kind invitation of Colonel C.V. Dawson, members of the Society have been invited to visit his home, Weston Hall, Otley on Monday 21 August at 6pm. This is the magnificent Elizabethan mansion of the Vavasours, while the park contains the almost unique late 16th century Banqueting House. We are also invited to visit the adjoining picturesque church of All Saints with its rare ‘triple decker’ pulpit, box pews and fine monuments. Weston is approx one mile north west of Otley off the Askwith
Road. There is ample parking adjacent to the church and hall. Please
be punctual. |
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Autumn Lecture Dr Susan Stuart, the authority on the great firm of furniture makers Gillows of Lancaster and whose book is to be published shortly, will give the autumn lecture on Friday 13th October at 7.30, entitled Gillows of Lancaster and the Chippendale
connection
Gillows of Lancaster became a serious rival to Chippendale
after they opened a showroom in Oxford Street, London, in the1770s.
Their success can be measured by the great quantities of high
quality furniture from the late 18th and early 19th centuries
surviving in country houses to this day, especially in the North.
Unlike almost every other firm of cabinet-makers Gillows stamped
or signed much of their furniture. In addition, most of their
archives have survived making it possible to follow the minutiae
of their business practices, their relationships with their clients
and the ebb and flow of their fortunes. |
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