Chippendale at Wilton

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South East facade of Wilton House. Copyright (c) Wilton House

Wilton House, near Salisbury, is an absolute delight combining architecture, fine interiors, paintings, sculpture and furniture with elegant gardens and the earliest Palladian Bridge in England. It has been the home of the Herbert family (Earls of Pembroke) since 1544. It is famous for its suite of State Rooms which were designed by Inigo Jones and Isaac de Caux in the 17^th century – many of you will recognise the Double Cube Room which has been used as a location for many films and television programmes but nothing quite prepares you for the wow factor of entering it for the first time.

In celebration of the Chippendale tercentenary the Earl and Countess have commissioned a small booklet that highlights Chippendale pieces within the house, including those which can be firmly attributed to his workshop. You will see many of these as you go around the house.

The 10^th Earl commissioned the architect Sir William Chambers to rebuild his London home, Pembroke House and also to provide designs for rooms. It is known from Chippendale’s Director that he provided furniture for these rooms.

Sadly the family papers no longer have any itemized accounts from Chippendale but a receipt for fifteen hundred pound eleven shillings certainly indicate the furniture maker had had a major commission. Other bills show that the firm was still patronised after Chippendale’s death when it was being run by his son Thomas Chippendale the Younger.

Among the items that are definitely ascribed to Chippendale’s workshop are the pair of bookcases in the Large Smoking Room which are en suite with the superb ‘Violin’ bookcase which can be seen in the view of the room. Elsewhere chairs, sofas, hall lanterns, tables, picture frames and pelmet boards remind us of Chippendale’s great design talent.

The Large Smoking Room at Wilton House. Copyright (c) Will Pryce.

All in all I think the best word to sum up Wilton House is sublime!

http://www.wiltonhouse.co.uk/

BOOK REVIEW: Thomas Chippendale 1718-1779: A Celebration of British Craftsmanship and Design

Jul4

Thomas Chippendale 1718-1779: A Celebration of British Craftsmanship and Design

Catalogue of the Tercentenary Exhibition

by Adam Bowett (Author), James Lomax (Author)

ISBN-10: 1999922913

ISBN-13: 978-1999922917

£65.00

The Chippendale Society

Layout 1

This highly readable catalogue is a very welcome addition to the telling of the story of Thomas Chippendale and his enduring legacy. Through it one learns of his life and career, the various styles he used, his customers and his relationship with them and most importantly of all we see examples of the furniture he produced – chairs, chests, tables, stools, beds, picture frames, cornices and lanterns, even coffin furniture. Through the publishing of a pattern book – The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director – in 1754 which depicted ‘Elegant and Useful Designs of Household Furniture in the Gothic, Chinese and Modern Taste’ he attracted the interest of possible commissions among the wealthy and indeed it was an immediate success and was re-published the following year. A third edition with extra plates showing neo-classical designs was published in 1762.

Butler’s Tray, 1763 Dumfries House

The publication of these volumes meant that good examples of furniture could be made by other craftsmen closely following Chippendale’s designs and that is why it has become the norm for firm attributions to Chippendale’s workshop to be backed-up by some sort of documentary evidence such as bills.

Cabinet, c1773 (one of a pair) which may well have been made to display the Sevres service visible inside. Probably Melbourne House, London

His designs are so enduringly popular that they are being copied or evoked right up to the present day such as, for example, the bookcase produced in c.2000 by Arthur Brett (Norwich) whose design is based on a Chippendale one at Wilton House – on which location a little more later.

thechippendalesociety.co.uk

A GENTLE REMINDER – In Pursuit of the Exquisite: Royal Sèvres from Versailles to Harewood

Oct2

A GENTLE REMINDER – In Pursuit of the Exquisite: Royal Sèvres from Versailles to Harewood, Harewood House, until November 2nd, 2014

Sevres Exhibition 2014, Cinnamon Drawing Room
credit: Jonathan Turner and Harewood House Trust

It would be very wrong of me not to remind you that there is just a month to go to see this fabulous exhibition of the collection of Sèvres that was acquired by the first Earl of Harwood’s eldest son Edward, Viscount Lascelles (“Beau” Lascelles) in the period after the French Revolution.

Garniture of three Flower Pots
credit: Harewood House Trust

The Sèvres factory, which was first started at Vincennes, was a royal factory and some of the pieces on view have royal provenances. It really is worth going along to Harewood House to see both the exhibition and the glorious interiors of the house and as I said I would in my original blog I am going back again within the next month.

Sevres mark and painter’s mark
credit: Harewood House Trust

Please see my original blog published on 16th June 2014

Sevres Exhibition 2014, Cinnamon Drawing Room
credit: Jonathan Turner and Harewood House Trust

harewood.org

Sèvres at Harewood House

Jun16

In Pursuit of the Exquisite: Royal Sèvres from Versailles to Harewood, Harewood House, until November 2nd, 2014

Spring – Harewood House
© Simon Warner and Harewood House Trust

To mark the Grand Départ of the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire this year and the ceremonial start being at Harewood House, the House reveals its stunning Sèvres porcelain in a special exhibition that forms part of the Yorkshire Festival 2014. The first time an arts festival has ever preceded a Tour de France.

Pair of Flower pots
© Jonathan Turner and Harewood House Trust

It is certainly a great exhibition of Sèvres and what makes it especially so is the fact that it was collected by “Beau” Lascelles (Edward Viscount Lascelles) who was the first Earl of Harewood’s eldest son. The vogue for things French in England had been fueled by the French Revolution and the subsequent dispersal of Royal and other aristocratic collections by the revolutionary government. Lascelles’s contemporaries such as the Prince Regent and the Marquess of Hertford were also buying Sèvres and other French objects at this time.

It was the connection with the French kings and their families that made Sèvres so desirable. The factory had been established by 1740 and received the patronage of both Madame de Pompadour and King Louis XV, and in 1759 the latter took the factory over (it has been owned by the State ever since). Both Louis XV and Louis XVI were active patrons and each year held a sale of Sèvres in their private apartments to those courtiers privileged enough to be invited.

Sevres Exhibition 2014. Flower vases and porcelain flower heads (© John Kirkwood)

The link between Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour’s great interest in Sèvres is highlighted by a loan display of porcelain flower heads similar to ones that they purchased to adorn their residences to the tune of over a million pounds. It is reported that perfume was sprinkled on the porcelain flowers to evoke the natural smell of flowers in winter months.

Sevres Exhibition 2014, Yellow Drawing Room ( © Jonathan Turner and Harewood House Trust)

Talk of flowers makes the perfect place to start talking about the displays for in the Yellow Drawing Room there is a plethora of Sèvres flower vases of differing shapes and they are being delightfully used for the purpose intended which is to hold plants and flowers as these images show.

In the Cinnamon Drawing Room you find a group of useful wares which includes this two-handled covered cup and saucer (c1770) which was used for a variety of milk drinks.

The covered bowl and plateau was used to serve soup during the lengthy toilette that was part of the morning ritual and during which sustenance was needed.

Interestingly this tea set, long thought to have been a gift to Marie Antoinette from the City of Paris, but in fact now, as the catalogue tells us, has been identified in a 1794 Revolutionary inventory of the Château de Saint-Cloud and was probably either in the king or queen’s rooms there.

While there are two pieces from the sublime Louis XVI service, especially the lemon-juice pot, cover and stand I illustrate a pair of vases which are a model introduced in 1775 to mark Louis XVI’s coronation. They, with a central vase (also celebrating the coronation), were sold to the king’s aunt Madame Adelaide in 1777.

Opening of Sevres Exhibition 2014, Lord Harewood, Kristin Scott Thomas and Dame Rosalind Savill
© Sam Atkins and Harewood House Trust

Progressing through the Gallery where there are Sevres ormolu-mounted vases and biscuit figures from the Great Men of France series you reach the Dining Room. Here the table is set with various pieces from a dessert service, together with some English Derby factory pieces in the Sèvres style. Running down the middle of the table is a group of biscuit figures which were first designed for the factory in 1773 and as originally intended are shown as a centerpiece for the table. This particular group was made by Sèvres in 1922 as a wedding gift from the French Government to the Princess Royal and the future 6th Earl of Harewood.

Sevres Exhibition 2014, Music Room (© Jonathan Turner and Harewood House Trust )

Finally in the Music Room are three vases which were originally part of the Harewood collection and were part of a group sold off to help pay estate duties in 1965 (they have been loaned back for this exhibition). Flanking them are two flower vases (the pair to each is in the Royal collection but somehow they were mixed up) which originally belonged to Madame du Barry. Don’t forget to take a close look at the remarkable Musical clock decorated with Sèvres plaques.

I have long been an admirer of Sèvres porcelain and this collection is part of an important chapter in English collecting and a really most exciting celebration of a remarkable porcelain factory. Harewood is full of marvellous Chippendale furniture, great pictures by renowned artists and Adam decoration but I suggest to you that the Sèvres wins hands down because it will be the one thing that many of you will focus on and enjoy its exquisite beauty close up. Possibly I am prejudiced but that’s the way I see it and I am most certainly going back again before this memorable exhibition closes.

I wish to express my thanks to Anna Dewsnap, Alexis Guntrip and Pauline Chandler at Harewood for their kindness and help and of course especially Dame Rosalind Savill CBE for her help.