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THE FURNITURE HISTORY SOCIETY Newsletter No. 197 February 2015

A NOTE ABOUT THE MANNING CHAIR AT

Fig. 1 Manning Chair at Brown University, Spanish, c.1700 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 2

Fig. 2 Manning chair, detail of tooled leather upholstery

Brown University in Providence, , is observing the 250th anniversary of its founding in 1764 with a special exhibition of its institutional relics. Chief among these is the Manning chair, in which presidents of the university are seated when they are inaugurated. Otherwise it is removed from the special case in which it is kept only on the occasion of Brown’s yearly commencement exercises. In a reference to the medieval tradition of ceremonial chairs, the Manning chair is intended to signify the authority of the university’s president (Fig. 1). A Spanish armchair dating from c.1700 and upholstered in embossed leather and studded with brass tacks and bosses (Fig. 2), the Manning chair has long been associated with the founding president of the university, Rev. James Manning (1738–91). University tradition records that since his presidency it has been passed down to his successors in that office. So closely is the Manning chair associated with the presidents of Brown that several of them have been pictured with it in their official portraits (Fig. 3). Over the years the Manning chair has been revered at Brown not only because it is the oldest artifact associated with the founding of the institution, but also because its presence and ceremonial use on campus implies that the university is among a select group of American schools originating in the colonial era. Like the venerable chairs used by its colleague schools Harvard University and Yale University to symbolize the authority of their presidents, Brown University’s Manning chair invokes the ancient traditions of Europe and Great Britain of employing thrones both great and small as the visual evidence 2 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 3

Fig. 3 Portrait of Brown University president by John Lavalle 1957

of institutional power so well illustrated in the ‘Ceremonial Chairs’ exhibition at the V&A in 1994. It was, therefore, a matter of considerable interest at Brown when, a few years ago, the university’s archivist uncovered a letter written in 1848 by Stephen Hopkins Smith, grand- nephew and namesake of Brown University’s first chancellor Stephen Hopkins, a colonial governor of Rhode Island, accompanying Smith’s gift of the Spanish arm chair to Brown and detailing an entirely different history. The history of the old chair which I present to Brown University, once the property of Stephen Hopkins, who was the first chancellor of what was then R.I. College, is as follows. In the contest between Hopkins and Ward for the Chief Magistrary, with various success to each party, for a number of years, a friend of Gov. Hopkins, Benjamin Wickham, had an interest in a prize vessel, which was brought into Newport, onboard of which was this Spanish chair, designed as a present to the Gov. of one of the W. I. islands— Mr. Wickham presented it to Gov. Hopkins as a ‘Governors’ chair’ with the remark that he could occupy it without fear of being turned out by Ward. It was his favorite seat until the end of his life. Smith’s account reveals that the Manning Chair was never owned or used by James Manning. It did not come to the university during his presidency or the presidency of his next two successors. Apparently the ancient tradition of seating a leader in a great chair to symbolize institutional authority was not established at Brown until 1848, when the school was 84 years old and its founding president, whose name the chair bears, had been dead for 57 years. 3 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 4

Fig. 4 Wood engraving of Harvard University presidential chair, from Josiah Quincy, The History of Harvard University, 1840

By the time it actually acquired an ancient chair to emphasize the gravity of its official functions, Brown University was well-enough established to ally itself with an elite cadre of schools with comparable traditions and equipage. In its founding years in the eighteenth century this association would have been a stretch, but by the middle of the nineteenth century asserting peer status in what would later come to be called the was a more reasonable aspiration for Brown. The impetus to acquire a presidential chair for Brown may have been sparked in 1841, when the President and Fellows of Harvard University presented the Brown University Library with a copy of Josiah Quincy’s 1840 History of Harvard University. Quincy’s history featured a description of the president’s chair at Harvard, accompanied by a wood engraving after a drawing by his daughter Eliza (Fig. 4). ‘The antique chair represented in this vignette has been used in the College for conferring degrees on Commencement day, for time beyond the memory of man,’ wrote Quincy. One can imagine his illustrated description of the venerable artifact whetted the appetite of the younger and smaller school for its own presidential chair. The ease with which the provenance of Brown’s newly-acquired chair soon began to encompass an apocryphal link to founding president James Manning suggests the eager- ness of the bearers of Brown University traditions to assume a past as distinguished as those of its potential peer institutions. While no doubt unintentional, by enhancing this story over the years Brown was able to see a brighter image of itself in this burnished tradition. While the English origin of Harvard’s turned three-square chair and the English antecedents of the joined wainscot chair Yale acquired in 1841 (Fig. 5) are tacit reminders 4 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 5

Fig. 5 Wainscot chair, Yale University Art Gallery. Gift of John E. Bray

of the ceremonial chairs used at Oxford and Cambridge, the presence of a Spanish leather chair was not necessarily incongruous in the maritime colony of Rhode Island. The seaport towns of Narragansett Bay were flush with goods imported from around the world, and Rhode Island’s fleet of privateers — raiders licensed by the colonial government to prey on merchant ships of nations at war with Great Britain — was a constant source of exotic bounty. Colonial Rhode Island was a cosmopolitan place, and the Spanish chair presented to Governor Stephen Hopkins found a welcome place in his front hallway and in the houses of his descendants for much of a century before his grand-nephew donated it to Brown. The recent discovery of the donor’s 1848 letter in the University Archives has not dimmed the enthusiasm at Brown for this most venerated relic of the university. When the president presides at Commencement exercises the pageantry of university tradition is sustained regardless of its documented history, to the enjoyment of parents and alumni. Iconoclasts who are unimpressed with the solemnity of Brown’s traditions are delighted to think of the president conducting the rituals of her office while seated upon pirate loot. Students of anthropology or material culture are fascinated by the evolving meanings the university has attached to the chair over the years. On the occasion of its semi - quincentennial anniversary Brown’s ceremonial chair continues to serve as the university’s greatest . Robert P. Emlen University Curator and Senior Lecturer in American Studies Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 5 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 6

A DESIGN FOR A SILVERED TABLE AT THE YALE CENTRE FOR BRITISH ART

As a Victoria and Albert Museum curatorial exchange scholar at the Yale Center for British Art in October–November 2014, I was presented with the opportunity to study an intri- guing design which drew on my knowledge of seventeenth-century silver and giltwood furniture and to consult with resident and visiting experts. The design is of generous propor tions, 45.8 ×54.7 cm, sketched in graphite on slightly textured blue laid paper. It has been subsequently gone over in brown ink with brown wash and highlighted with gouache (Fig. 1). The design (B1977.14.6164) was first brought to my attention by Dr Olivia Fryman, Assistant Curator, Kensington Palace, who was interested in discussing its nationality, date and a potential attribution. She had been alerted to the drawing by Matthew Hargraves, Chief Curator of Art Collections at the Center, who had come across the drawing and was anxious to know more about it. Olivia Fryman cited the online record which gives the date as 1670–80. From the image available, I surmised that it was English, and likely to be a

Fig. 1 Design for a silvered table/stand, English, c.1690–1700, graphite and brown ink with brown wash, highlighted with gouache, on blue laid paper. Yale Centre for British Art, Newhaven, B1977.14.6164 6 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 7

design for a carved silvered cabinet stand perhaps intended to support one of those rare white ‘lacquer’ cabinets such as the example recently acquired and conserved by the Holburne Museum, Bath A silvered finish and a white lacquer cabinet would fit perfectly with the iconography represented by the head of the goddess Diana, identified by the new moon on her head, which forms the central feature overlapping the frieze, and unites the three stepped mould- ings which combine to form a housing for a cabinet. The uppermost moulding is decorated with scrolled acanthus foliage; the central guilloche is embellished with flowers and leaves; the lower moulding is gadrooned or ‘knurled’ in imitation of contemporary decoration found on silver vessels, with the gadroons splaying outwards from the centre. A similar feature occurs as the lowest moulding on the giltwood stand supporting a japanned cabinet at Saltram, dated 1700–1720 (illustrated by Adam Bowett, English Furniture from Charles II to Queen Anne, 2002, pl. 5:33). A clue to the potential patron are the animal heads which act as caryatid supporters to the top of the stand and have foliate neckbands. Variously identi - fied as deer or horse heads, they may refer to armorial supporters, often designed into status enhancing furniture and silver in the late seventeenth century as a family badge which might lead to the eventual identification of the commission. It is not known whether a stand was made up from this design, although the measurement scale at the foot of the drawing, and the degree of finish of the upper part, suggest that the designer had a patron in mind. Ellenor Alcorn, Associate Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decora - tive Arts at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, suggested that the animal heads might represent the Devonshire stag (minus the antlers); certainly the sophistication of the design is worthy of such a noble patron as William Cavendish, 1st earl of Devonshire. Paul Mellon acquired the drawing from Geoffrey Bennison in February 1973. At the time it was described simply as ‘English School’ and its similarity to designs supplied to Charles II for his new palace at Winchester was proposed. In a note in the object file, Geoffrey Beard suggested that this could indeed have been intended as a royal commission but more likely for Windsor Castle in the later part of Charles II’s reign. The use of blue laid paper and the hesitant under-drawing, clearly visible in the sketch of the lower legs and stretcher supporting a vase of flowers, are compatible with contempo - rary English practice. The composition of the frieze with the skilled rendering of pendant flowers and foliage and the sophisticated weaving of acanthus leaves through strapwork flanking the central apron suggest French influence and a later date of 1690–1700. These features invite a comparison with the giltwood stands to a pair of lacquer tables supplied by Gerrit Jensen for Queen Anne at St James’s Palace in 1704. (Bowett, op.cit. pl. 5.7). The apron is much shallower than that on giltwood cabinet stands associated with the 1670s (see for example the silvered cabinet stand, c.1688, in the V&A’s British Galleries W.29- 1912). The neat bun feet, of which the right hand example is embellished with flowers, and the sophisticated curved brackets for the animal head supports, all point to this later date. Could this possibly be a design by Jean Pelletier, the Parisian carver and gilder, who came from Paris via Amsterdam to London in the 1680s? The animal and human heads are of a quality commensurate with Pelletier’s documented work, although his giltwood furniture is more architectural. The flowers are rendered in the Dutch/Flemish tradition of naturalistic carving associated with Grinling Gibbons (see the carved picture surround from Cassiobury Park, 1675–77, W.47-1926 in the Dr Susan Weber Furniture Gallery) or the looking glass frame made for Sir Henry Gough 1665–72, British Galleries, W.37-1949). The contemporary inscription in brown ink on the back centre, written upside down ‘Proof 0 -12-0’ and the number ‘3’ on the bottom of the reverse, suggest that the drawing may have been executed in preparation for an engraving perhaps intended for a suite of 7 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 8

furniture designs such as were published in Amsterdam by Daniel Marot, c.1703 and again in 1712. If the attribution to the Pelletier workshop is accepted, perhaps the engraving was consigned to René Pelletier, Jean’s younger son who was recorded in the accounts of Ralph, later 1st Duke of Montagu, preserved at Boughton House, Northamptonshire, as teaching drawing in 1706 to Montagu’s son and heir, John, Marquis of Monthermer. René Pelletier was listed in the city records of Amsterdam in 1681, before he settled in London, as a ‘Plaatsnyder’ (engraver). On reflection this seems the most likely purpose of this rare surviving design for a spectacular cabinet stand. Matthew Hargraves ([email protected]) Chief Curator of Art Collections at the Yale Center for British Art and Tessa Murdoch, Deputy Keeper, Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass at the V&A, [email protected] would be delighted to receive further thoughts and suggestions from members of the Furniture History Society. Tessa Murdoch

THE AUTHENTICITY OF AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH CABINET MAKER’S STAMP

In June 2013, an iron stamp bearing the name of Jean-Henri Riesener (1734–1806, master 1768) was sold at an auction in France (25ème vente aux enchères à Cheverny, Rouillac, June 10, 2013, lot 347). Its provenance was unrecorded and its authenticity uncertain. Research has been done to gather more information on this stamp and to trace its origin in order to establish whether it could be the original iron stamp of Jean-Henri Riesener. By the eighteenth century, the manufacture of furniture in Paris was strictly controlled by guild statutes. As described in Article 36, masters were required to mark their name on each piece with an iron stamp to comply with guild rules: Chaque Maître sera obligé d’avoir sa marque particulière, & la Communauté la sienne, les empreintes desquelles marques, seront déposées au Bureau sur une nape de plomb qui y sera à cet effet, & ne pourront lesdits Maîtres délivrer aucun ouvrage, excepté ceux des bâtimens qui n’en sont pas susceptibles, qu’ils ne les ayent préalablement marqués de leur marque, à peine de confiscation & de 20 liv. d’amende par piece d’ouvrage non marquée, applicable comme ci-devant; & ceux qui se trouveroient avoir contrefaits la marque d’un Maître, outre l’amende de 300 liv. seront poursuivis extraordinairement, ainsi que ceux qui sciemment y auroient prêté leur ministere. (Statuts, privilèges, ordonnances, et règlemens de la communauté des Maîtres Menuisiers et Ebénistes de la Ville, Fauxbourgs et banlieue de Paris, A Paris Chez J. Chardon, rue Galande, près la Place Maubert, à la Croix d’or, 1751, pp. 44–45.) To ensure authenticity and prevent faulty workmanship, as soon as he became a master craftsman, each cabinet maker or joiner had to register his stamp at the guildhall where it was struck on a lead disc by wardens of the guild as a permanent record. Thus, any buyer could identify the maker by his signature and complain to the guild in case of defective production. Obviously, the mark enabled the buyer to differentiate between true master work, the quality of which was monitored as per the guild’s instructions, and the work of unaccepted craftsmen (faux ouvriers). Imitators who forged the marks of master craftsmen were pun- ished with a heavy fine. Over time, the value of furniture signed by master cabinet makers of the eighteenth century has appreciated considerably. As a result, the counterfeiting of stamps and furniture has become more and more profitable. A forged iron of good quality could be extremely valuable to fakers. 8 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 9

The Riesener stamp was chemically analysed using scanning electron microscopy to try to find some clues about its date. The absence of aluminium, nickel or chrome revealed that the iron predates the twentieth century but the results were still inconclusive about an eighteenth-century date. Traces of cobalt were found in the composition of the metal but only a more complete analysis would help determine with precision the provenance of the metal used to make the iron. Jean-Henri Riesener was one of the most celebrated cabinet-makers of his time. His furniture has been famous since the late eighteeth century and avidly collected by museums, dealers and private collectors. Photographs of stamps on authenticated furniture made by Riesener in public collections (Château de Versailles, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wallace Collection, Waddesdon Manor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art), private collections and auction catalogues were analysed and compared to a reversed photo of the iron (Fig. 1) and to the impression of the iron stamp.

Fig. 1 Reversed photo of the iron

Before the analysis, each stamp’s photograph was sized to the same scale. Then, the first and the last letter of each stamp were aligned. For comparison, different criteria were taken into account, such as letter shape, size (height and width), separation (contiguous or not), and the shape of the symbol repeated between the J and H and H and the first R. The results of the analysis showed several slight differences. In the true stamp, the letters are slightly shorter; the loop of the ‘J’ is more pronounced; the shape of the symbol between the J and the H and the H and the first R is not the same, and the distance between letters is narrower (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 Differences between the iron’s mark and an authentic stamp

A noticeable exception was found during the comparisons: a mark stamped on a desk (bureau plat) in the John Jones Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum (1061–1882), which perfectly matches the iron stamp (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4). Here is the description of the desk taken from the V&A’s online catalogue: ‘Jean-Henri Riesener was cabinet-maker to Louis XVI of France and specialised in furniture of the very highest quality. Although this piece is competently made, and carries his stamp, it is of good rather than exceptional quality and it is possible that the stamp was added in the nineteenth century, for the benefit of the English art market, at the same time as the porcelain plaques. Certainly, Riesener is not known for making porcelain-mounted furniture. John Jones, who left this table, with the rest of his large collection, to the Museum in 1882, was a keen collector, who rated porcelain-mounted pieces very highly. Dealers must have known this and one may have ordered the embellishment of this table, knowing

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Fig. 3 Stamp on the V&A desk

Fig. 4 Impression of the iron stamp

that Jones would be attracted by such a small, delicate and highly ornamented piece.’ Thus, it is very likely that the iron stamp sold in 2013 is the one used to stamp the desk from the Jones collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The iron was probably made in the middle of the nineteenth century which partly explains the results of the chemical analysis. The original iron stamp of Jean-Henri Riesener remains untraced. In course of this review, several suspicious stamps have been detected in public or private collections. A database of authenticated stamps for the well-known French cabinet makers and joiners of the eighteenth century could be very useful to identify and trace the counterfeit stamps back to their origin. I would like to thank Marc Molin for his help in the interpretation of the chemical analysis results. Eric Detoisien [email protected]

ENGLISH INFLUENCES ON PORTUGUESE CABINET MAKING IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

I was born into a family linked to antiques and furniture restoration. I worked for thirty years in the workshop established by my grandfather in Porto. With the experience gained there, I embarked on a PhD examining Portuguese furniture of English influence. I was the fortunate recipient of a Tom Ingram grant towards travel to England to assist my research. The histories of England and Portugal have intersected for centuries. The importance of British influences on Portuguese eighteenth-century furniture was already well-known, but not thoroughly examined in contemporary sources. Moreover, the distinction between court furniture, which in Portugal was of French influence, and the furniture made for the middle classes had not been established. It was the middle classes who profited from colonial trade and who sought to emulate their British counterparts. How was this aesthetic feeling transmitted to Portuguese workshops and to local clientele? What are the actual figures of English exports to Portugal? I travelled to the National Archives in Kew to look at Customs records for the years 1698–1808. I also looked at Court and ambassadorial records. For this I needed to learn English palaeography. After compiling the customs data and after verifying the existence in Portugal of eighteenth- century furniture manufactured for this market, I visited English museums, palaces, country houses, antique dealers and restorers workshops, in order to try to look closely into the aesthetic and technical essence of English cabinet-making. 10 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 11

What kind of written or pictorial information reached Portuguese cabinet-makers? How was English fashion transmitted? Which English characteristics were selected locally? I consulted multiple Portuguese sources which, surprisingly, revealed the presence of English furniture books, engravings and information. I must mention a special chapter of my thesis: the analysis of Francisco José de Paiva’s collection of 128 Portuguese eighteenth- and nineteenth-century furniture drafts and draw- ings, deposited in the Portuguese Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, in Lisbon. De Paiva (1744–1822) was a designer, architect and cabinetmaker in Porto who was closely linked to the British colony that lived in in the city. The second half of the eighteenth century was a time of great public works and prosperity in Porto. Consul John Whitehead (1726–1802), also an amateur architect and mathematician, wielded great influence on both local auth - orities and public aesthetic choices. He designed the building of local English Factory House and recommended that John Carr be chosen to design Saint Anthony’s Hospital. Other important buildings reflecting British influences still survive and grant the city a special character. As one might expect, analysis of the drafts and drawings in De Paiva’s collection reveals the adoption of the English way of life as well as taste and style. The collection includes patterns and designs that may have had their origins in English workshops. Although, so far, there is no definite evidence to show that Gillows exported to Portugal, two mahogany nineteenth-century Gillows labelled stools were recently sold at a Portuguese Auction House. Also, the young Robert Gillow IV (1771–98) died in the catholic English College while in Lisbon. I would like to thank Adriana Turpin, on behalf of the Tom Ingram Fund, for the grant which made several flights possible between England and Portugal. I am also deeply grate- ful to Adam Bowett and to my course tutor Gonçalo de Vasconceles e Sousa. Adelina Valente

THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY APPEAL

At the Society’s Annual General Meeting at Nostell Priory on 22 November last year I was able to announce that it was virtually certain that the Appeal had achieved its target by raising £250,000, and promised to confirm this in due course. This I am now able to do: as of 9 December 2014 the Grand Total stands at about £253,930 (the ‘about’ because of pend - ing technical adjustments on certain donations from the ). The Appeal is still open to receive further donations, although active fund-raising came to a formal close at the AGM (donation forms and information may be obtained from The Hon Secretary, 25 Wardo Avenue, London SW6 6RA, [email protected]), and a definitive list of donors will be printed in this year’s Furniture History. This remarkable achievement reflects the respect which the Society now commands from a wide range of funding bodies, the loyalty of its members, and a universal endorsement of the desirability of doing more to encourage education, research and publication, particu- larly among curators, scholars and professionals at an early stage in their careers, the purpose of the Appeal in a restricted fund. The members of the Appeal Committee deserve to be listed here: Caroline Rimell (Vice-Chairman), Martin Levy, June Baxter, Jonathan Harris, Philip Hewat-Jaboor and Adriana Turpin. They were energetic and effective in soliciting donations, and received excellent support from the Committee’s Secretary, Clarissa Ward, who, not for the first time, is owed the Society’s thanks, along with all those whose generosity secured the success of the Appeal. Simon Swynfen Jervis Chairman (now retired) of the Appeal Committee 11 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 12

NEW SUBSCRIPTION RATES

The last time that subscription rates were revised was in 2000, but in the fifteen years since then costs have risen considerably, and for the last few years they have exceeded income in the Society’s General Fund. A resolution was therefore placed before the AGM on 22 November 2014 to revise subscription rates and this was passed unanimously. The new rates set out below will take effect from 1 July 2015 for the 2015–16 membership year and onwards.

UK sole and institutional members £50 per annum UK young members (under 25 years of age) £30 per annum UK joint membership £60 per annum International sole and institutional members £55 per annum International young members £36 per annum International joint membership £65 per annum

An alternative way of paying subscriptions will be introduced. This is payment by Direct Debit, which will simplify the collection of subscriptions and save both time and cost. For this reason members who choose this method will receive a discount of £5 per annum reducing the UK rates to £45 for sole membership, £25 for young members and £55 for joint memberships. The discount will also apply to inter- national members who pay by Direct Debit using a UK bank account. The Membership Secretary will be writing to all UK members, and overseas members currently paying by banker’s order, with further information about the methods of payment before the end of February, and forms that may be required will be enclosed. Cheque and credit/debit card payments will continue to be accepted. Those currently paying by bankers order will be allowed to update their payments to the new rate but further changes to this method will not be accepted. The rates for members paying by US dollar check are $90 for sole membership and $110 for joint membership.

If you have any questions that you require answered please contact the Membership Secretary on +44(0)1444 413845 or by email at: [email protected]

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FUTURE SOCIETY EVENTS

bookings For places on visits please apply to the Events Secretary Anne-Marie Bannister, Bricket House, 90 Mount Pleasant Lane, Bricket Wood, St Albans, Herts., AL2 3XD, Tel. 07775 907390 enclosing a separate cheque using the enclosed booking form. There is no need to send an SAE if you provide a clearly-written email address as, when possible, joining instructions will be dispatched by email. N.B. PLEASE NOTE THE EVENTS EMAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] Applications should only be made by members who intend to take part in the whole programme. No one can apply for more than one place unless they hold a joint mem- bership, and each applicant should be identified by name. If you wish to be placed on the waiting list please enclose a telephone number where you can reached. Please note that a closing date for applications for visits is printed in the Newsletter. Applications made after the closing date will be accepted only if space is still available. Members are reminded that places are not allocated on a first come, first served basis, but that all applications are equally considered following the closing date for applications. There is now an extra facility on the website for members to express interest in certain events and then pay, if assigned a place after the closing date (where this is applicable). This is now possible for all day events and the Annual Symposium. If you have no on-line facility or are uneasy about using this new procedure, please just use the blue form as usual or email [email protected]. WHERE POSSIBLE, JOINING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE DESPATCHED BY EMAIL SO PLEASE REMEMBER TO PROVIDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF YOU HAVE ONE.

cancellations Please note that no refunds will be given for cancellations for events costing £10 or less. In all other cases, cancellations will be accepted up to seven days before the date of a visit, but refunds will be subject to a £10 deduction for administrative costs. Please note that in the rare instances where members cannot pay until the day of a visit they will still be charged the full amount for the day if cancelling less than seven days before the visit or if they fail to attend. This is necessary as the Society has usually paid in advance for a certain number of members to participate in eg. a tour/lunch. Separate arrangements are made for study weekends and foreign tours and terms are clearly stated on the printed details in each case.

The 39th Annual Symposium of the Furniture History Society The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1 Saturday 28 March 2015, 10.00 am – 5.00 pm ‘Rustic Adornments’: furniture for the garden The study of furniture made for use in gardens tends to fall between the disciplines of furniture history and garden history. The speakers gathered for this day will explore the variety of design for rest and relaxation outside, from the classical period to the late- nineteenth century. Many designs were made by architects, but others arose from the adaptation or exploitation of new materials. By the nineteenth century the variety of forms of garden furniture had proliferated, providing for the millions of new leisure gardeners in 13 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 14

cities and suburbs. The day will be chaired by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, garden historian and garden designer. 10.00–10.25 am Registration and coffee 10.25–10.30 am Welcome by Christopher Rowell, Chairman of the Furniture History Society 10.30–10.40 am Introduction by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, who will chair the day 10.40–11.10 am Edward Hollis, Director of Research, Edinburgh College of Art The Seat of Inspiration: garden furniture in ancient Rome 11.10–11.40 am Dr Paula Henderson, lecturer and writer on British architecture and garden history Adorning the Arbour: Tudor & Stuart garden furniture 11.40–12.10 pm George Carter, garden historian and garden designer Architects’ Designs for Garden Seats 1700–1830 12.10–12.40 pm Bob Parrott, independent furniture historian The eighteenth-century ‘Forrest Chair’: the fashionable garden seat that influenced English and American chair design 12.40–1.00pm Q&A 1.00–2.00pm Lunch 2.00–2.30 pm Lisa White, MA, FSA, former Director Attingham Summer School, chairman NT Arts Panel Chinioserie, Darly and the Root of the Matter 2.30–3.00 pm John Powell, Librarian, Ironbridge Gorge Museums The Coalbrookdale Connection: cast-iron furniture 3.00–3.30 pm Kate Hay, Assistant Curator, Furniture, Textiles and Fashion Department, Victoria and Albert Museum Infinite variety: Victorian ingenuity in the design of garden furniture 3.30–4.00 pm John Danzer, lecturer and manufacturer of replica garden furniture The Adirondack Chair: an Atlantic Journey 4.00–4.20 pm Q&A 4.20–4.30 pm Summing up by Todd Longstaff-Gowan 4.30–4.35 pm Thanks 4.35–5.00 pm Tea Tickets must be purchased in advance and early booking is recommended. Fee: £45 for FHS members/£35 for FHS student members. All non-members £55, reduced to £50 if taking out FHS membership on the day. Ticket price includes morning coffee and afternoon tea. A light lunch will be available for FHS members in the Meeting Room at the Wallace Collection at a cost of £20 to include a glass of wine. Tickets for lunch must be purchased at least 7 days in advance from the Events Secretary. The Wallace Collection Restaurant will be open for bookings (Tel: 0207 563 905) and there are plenty of local cafes/restaurants. Booking online is via the FHS website: www.furniturehistorysociety.org. Alternatively, please contact the Events Secretary using the standard blue form/cheque procedure or via email: [email protected] or tel. 07775907390. 14 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 15

Study Weekend to York and North Yorkshire Friday 24 April – Sunday 26 April 2015 Led by Adam Bowett, this weekend will include private visits to Newby Hall with its Adam-designed tapestry room furnished by Thomas Chippendale; to Norton Conyers, winners of the 2014 HHA/Sotheby’s Restorations Award and to Fairfax House, the York townhouse designed by Carr of York and home to the Noel Terry collection of furniture. The group will also visit two private collections. Closing date for applications: 27 February 2015. Please contact the Events Secretary for an application form.

Study Weekend to North Lancashire and the Lakes Friday 18 – Sunday 20 September 2015 Based at the Grade 2* listed Art Deco Midland Hotel in Morecambe, this two-night study trip will cover a sweep of furniture history, from Elizabethan to Arts and Crafts, with plenty in between, with a particular focus on Gillows. A visit to Lancaster will include the castle and the Gillows Museum at the Judge’s Lodgings. In the Kendal area visits will include Levens Hall and the Castle Dairy. It is hoped to visit Holker Hall, which is owned by the Cavendish family and has many links to Chatsworth and Blackwell with its noted Arts and Crafts collection. Please register your interest via the Events Secretary or the website.

OCCASIONAL VISITS

Blythe House, 23 Blythe Road, London W14 0QX Thursday 26 February 2015, 2.00 pm for 2.15 pm start – 4.15 pm This visit was advertised in the November 2014 edition of the Newsletter and is now fully subscribed.

Mallett Antiques, Ely House, 37 Dover Street, London W1S 4NJ Friday 6 March 2015, 10.30 am – 1.00 pm Visit to Showrooms in the 150th anniversary year. This visit was advertised in the November 2014 edition of the Newsletter. At the time of going to press places are still available. Please contact the Events Secretary for details.

Chastleton House and Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire Thursday 30 April 2015, 10.15 am – 4.00 pm approx. Martin Drury has kindly offered to lead a visit to Chastleton House on a closed day. The house was built in 1607–12 and remained in the same family until 1991, with remarkably little change. The National Trust has practised minimum intervention to protect its unique atmosphere. In the afternoon we will visit the medieval, moated, Broughton Castle, home 15 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 16

of Lord and Lady Say and Sele. The rooms show exceptional plasterwork and panelling of the late-sixteenth century, as well as fine furniture from later centuries. We are privileged to visit on a day when it is closed to the public. Cost: £55 to include a pub lunch Limit: 20 members Closing Date for applications: Friday 20 March 2015

Frampton Court, Frampton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, GL2 7EP Tuesday 30 June 2015, 10.30 am – 3.30 pm approx. A private visit to Frampton Court has been arranged with Mr and Mrs Rollo Clifford, and will be led by Lisa White. The house was built in 1734 by Richard Clutterbuck, in baroque classical style, and retains, in addition to much fine eighteenth-century furniture, excep - tional oak panelling — including the rare survivals of a dog-gate on the stairs and, in the dining-room, a fitted buffet within a cupboard. We shall also visit the Manor House. Cost: £65 to include lunch Limit: 20 members Closing date for applications: Friday 1 May 2015

Renishaw Hall, Renishaw, Sheffield, S21 3WB Tuesday 16 June 2015, 10.30 am – 4.00 pm approx. Alexandra Sitwell, Osbert Sitwell’s great-niece and Renishaw’s current owner, has kindly organised a study day exclusively for FHS members, to explore Renishaw’s fascinating collection and history. With a guided tour of the hall focusing on the furniture, this is a unique opportunity to access original documentary material from the private family archive and examine in more detail the provenance of key pieces of furniture at Renishaw. Renishaw Hall has been the home of the Sitwell family for almost 400 years. Four centuries of life as a family home has created Renishaw’s fascinating and eclectic private collection of furniture, paintings and literature, not only reflecting the changing fashions in decorative arts but highlighting key family figures as collectors. These include Sir Sitwell Sitwell, the 1st Baronet, Sir George Sitwell 4th Baronet and Sir Osbert Sitwell, 5th Baronet, the influential writer, critic, essayist and art collector of the mid-twentieth century. Renishaw archivist Christine Beevers will be leading the study day. The cost for the visit covers the private tour, including archive material, entrance to the gardens and museum, lunch and afternoon tea. Cost: £55 Limit: 20 members Closing Date for applications: Friday 1 May 2015

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OVERSEAS EVENTS

Members should note that the Council is pleased to announce that Dr Melanie Doderer- Winkler has been appointed as Overseas Events Secretary. She will take responsibility for all overseas events from June 2015. Please note, however, that requests for initial informa - tion should still be addressed to Anne-Marie Bannister who will continue to manage the application process.

Chicago, Wednesday 21 – Saturday 24 May 2015 Ireland on a World Stage 1690–1840 at the Art Institute of Chicago will be the first exhibition to concentrate on Irish decorative arts of the eighteenth century. Three hundred objects of furniture, metalwork, glass and textiles as well as paintings, sculpture and architecture will be on show. A ‘long weekend’ private visit to the exhibition is planned for the spring of 2015 and will also include visits as well to private and public collections in and around Chicago, including that of Mr John Bryan. This visit will be led by David Wurtzel. At the time of going to press places may still be available. Please contact the Events Secretary.

Visit to Münsterland, Westphalia Friday 12 – Monday 15 June 2015 This tour is the first joint-venture between the FHS and Mobile — Gesellschaft der Freunde von Möbeln und Raumkunst e.V. and is co-led by Dr Melanie Doderer-Winkler and Dr Henriette Graf. The visit is organised around a specially arranged study day at the Museum of Lacquer Art Münster (owned by BASF) and their upcoming exhibition ‘Gérard Dagly 1660–1715 and the Berlin Court Workshop’ (19 April to 26 July). 2015 is the 300th anniversary of the death of this outstanding Flemish artist, who founded in 1686 the first European court workshop for lacquer ware. In the twenty-five years of its existence, lacquer furniture, musical instruments and small objects of various kinds were created in such extraordinary quality that the workshop gained recognition far beyond the borders of Brandenburg-Prussia. Staying stylistically close to the Chinese and Japanese models and patterns, Dagly pushed European lacquer art to new heights. Curated by the museum’s director, Dr Monika Kopplin, the exhibition brings together the most significant examples of Dagly’s work and compares them to their Oriental prototypes. Objects have been loaned mainly from the collections of the Prussian Palaces and Garden Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg, the Decorative Arts Museum Berlin and the Administra - tion of Palaces and Gardens in Hesse. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue of works by Dagly and including restoration case-studies and essays which shed new light on the historical and material context of lacquer furniture in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In addition to the Dagly study day, visits are planned to include Schloss Benrath, Schloss Anholt as well as other private collections, museums and workshops in the region. Please register your interest via the Events Secretary or via the website. The FHS Grants Committee now meet quarterly to consider all grant applications, either for independent travel/incidental expenses for the purpose of study or research, and for participation in FHS foreign and UK study trips. Please contact Jo Norman at [email protected] for further information and grant application forms. 17 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 18

CALL FOR PAPERS Furniture History Society Research Seminar 2015: British & Continental Furniture and Interiors, 1500–1900 Friday 20 November 2014, 10 am – 5 pm Hosted by the Wallace Collection Following the success of the inaugural FHS Research Seminar in November 2012 at the Wallace Collection, London, and a similar academic event held in February 2014 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Society is delighted to announce that a third Research Seminar will take place, once again hosted by the Wallace Collection, on 20 November 2015. The aim of the research seminar is to present current research on topics of British and European furniture history, construction, design, conservation and historical interiors. There will be a series of Powerpoint papers each lasting twenty minutes from PhD/Post Doc. students, junior museum/heritage curators and other researchers based in the UK and Europe at an early stage of their career development. Interested speakers are requested to send an abstract of c.300 words outlining their proposed topic, research methodologies and sources. They should also send a current Curriculum Vitae and arrange for one reference to be sent to the FHS Grants Secretary, [email protected] by 15 May 2015. A panel from the Furniture History Society Grants Committee will consider submissions and confirm the programme by the middle of June. Some limited assistance with travel expenses may be available and any requests should be included, with justification, with the applicant’s abstract. The Society is also happy to provide further details, outlining the aims and objectives of the seminar, to enable participants to apply to their own institution for funding.

OTHER NOTICES

Please note that these are not organised by the Furniture History Society. Information/booking instructions will be found under individual items.

Last chance to see! 18th Century, Birth of Design: Furniture Masterpieces 1650 to 1790 Versailles, until 22 February 2015 This exceptional exhibition of French furniture continues until 22 February 2015 at Versailles. It features international loans from private and public collections and is highly recommended to those members who were unable to attend the November visit. It is open every day except Monday (last admission 4.30 pm). The catalogue, with essays by a num - ber of furniture scholars, led by Daniel Alcouffe, is available in French and English.

Exhibition: ‘Vornehmste Tischlerarbeiten aus Leipzig — Friedrich Gottlob Hoffman (1741–1806), Hoftischler und Unternehmer’ Grassi Museum for Decorative Arts, Leipzig, , until 12 April 2015 This is the first exhibition dedicated to the cabinetmaker F. G. Hoffmann, a near contempo- rary of David Roentgen (1743–1807). Hoffmann also headed a manufactory specialising in Neoclassical mechanical furniture often aimed at the same international clientele. 18 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 19

The co-curators, FHS member Michael Sulzbacher and Peter Atzig, are to be con - gratulated at bringing together over eighty pieces of wide-ranging types of furniture made by this often overlooked but important Leipzig manufactory. Their difficult task in finding and attributing these pieces, many of which come from private collections, was greatly helped by Hoffmann himself. In 1789 and 1795 he published two fully illustrated workshop catalogues thus making it possible for Germany’s nobility and gentry to order his wares simply by post and using reference numbers. The exhibition also sheds light on the eighteenth-century luxury market in Leipzig, which was famed for its trade fairs that drew merchants and visitors from all over Europe. The focus here lies on the art dealer Carl Christian Heinrich Rost (1742–98), who, amongst other things, supplied his customers with paintings, furniture, music and scientific instruments and other contemporary wares by Wedgwood and Bentley as well as Meissen porcelain, cork models and plaster casts of newly discovered antiquities. The accompanying book Friedrich Gottlob Hoffmann — Vornehmste Tischlerarbeiten aus Leipzig (Sulzbacher and Atzig, Sandstein Verlag, 2014) comes highly recommended as it is not only richly illustrated but also contains a CD featuring the facsimiles of Hoffmann’s catalogues (€28 through http://grassi-shop.de for the duration of the exhibition or €48 thereafter and in bookshops).

Waddesdon Special Interest Days 2015 Dr Ulrich Leben, Associate Curator of Furniture, will lead three furniture-related special interest days at Waddesdon Manor in 2015: The Drawings Cabinet at Waddesdon Manor Wednesday 23 September The collection of drawings at Waddesdon Manor is characterised by the unusual number of fine examples relating to the decorative arts in France and other European countries during the eighteenth century. The collection is one of the largest of its kind, comparable only with those of the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin or the Cooper Hewitt Collection in New York. Principal items from the collection will be presented with an introduction to its history, comparing design drawings at Waddesdon with existing works of art. High Tech for High Life Thursday 24 September In previous centuries new materials attracted the curiosity of designers and craftsmen, as they do nowadays. A selection of unusual materials used in the manufacture of furniture will be discussed, including iron, steel, silver, glass, mirror and the use of porcelain for furniture and decorative objects. Furniture Migrations Thursday 8 October The furniture at Waddesdon comes from many different places and former owners. The sometimes tumultuous and adventurous histories of a selection of pieces will be presented and their relationship to furniture in museums worldwide explored. Special interest days run from 10.30 am – 4.00 pm and include morning coffee, a two- course lunch with wine and afternoon tea and cake. £50. Normal admission charges apply. To make a booking please telephone the Booking Office (open Monday–Friday, 10.00 am – 4.00 pm) on 01296 653226. www.waddesdon.org.uk/events 19 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 20

BOOK REVIEW

Suggestions for future reviews and publishers’ review copies should be sent to Simon Swynfen Jervis, 45 Bedford Gardens, London W8 7EF, tel. 020 7727 8739, email [email protected]

Greig Parker, Probate Inventories of French Immigrants in Early Modern London, Farnham (Ashgate), 2014, xiii + 334 pp., 1 map, 2 diagrams, ISBN 9781472420855 £80 One of the few general observations advanced in British and Irish Inventories (2010) was that transcriptions of London inventories were disproportionately few. A batch of Kensington and Chelsea transcriptions noted in the Addenda (2012) helped to bulk up the London component: the book under review provides a further boost, with no fewer than 92 transcriptions of probate inventories, dating from 1661 to 1748 (the 1670s, 1730s and 40s are thin, but other decades are well represented). What these have in common are French names, and in many cases independent documentation backs up their identification as Huguenot. For a few the name alone has to be sufficient evidence of Frenchness. That names may be deceptive is illustrated by the late Dennis Severs’s choice of the surname ‘Jervis’ for his fictive Huguenot family at 18 Folgate Street, which Greig Parker mentions as a reconstruction of a French immigrant home. The name has a French ring and Severs must have known of Thomas Jervis who lived in nearby White’s Row, exercising a typically Huguenot trade as a silk-thrower. But in fact Jervis was from a family long resident in Staffordshire, as noted in Dugdale’s 1664 visitation. Parker’s John Bloys and Henry Veere who both died in 1665, the latter the only cabinet-maker included and perhaps a relation of the timber merchant John Veere (d.1695), might easily be English: certainly their appraisers, William Dunkington and John Butler, and William Powell and John Dethicke, bear English names. By contrast the only carver who crops up, Alexander Braquet (d.1703), was from Paris and his appraisers were John Guillaud, who may be the father of the carver, James Guillot, and René Pelletier, one of the carver sons of the celebrated Jean Pelletier, a wholly Huguenot nexus. As might be expected there is a good representation of the textile and luxury trades, with stock or debt lists of jewels and jewellery, silks, embroidery, hosiery, bodices, shoes, hats and wigs — and one nice list of garden tools and plants. Mentions of a ‘half pistole’ (p. 162) and of ‘Eighty French Pistolls’ (p. 216) have been misinterpreted as fire-arms: these are coins. It is indeed notable how much of the value in these inventories consists of cash, outstanding debts or various forms of investment. The household goods tend not to be very rich or luxurious, and, frustratingly for Greig Parker, who is particular interested in mar - kers of Huguenot identity, they do not appear to display particularly French characteristics, and seem rather to be typical of contemporary London interiors of a more-or-less middle- class status. These 92 inventory transcriptions, supported by a glossary, bibliography and indices, are thus a very solid addition to the existing corpus and, although the price is high and production is basic ‘print-on-demand’, this book should be in any serious library. And there are enlivening touches: the only ‘gentleman’ present, Peter Chasseloup, owned ‘a Turkish scimitar’; a relatively wealthy widow, Mary Le Monnier, had ‘one dozen of great chaires’; and in 1716 the hatter, Daniel Breon, was owed £104 ‘for Goods delivered for his Grace the Duke of Mountague for his Troop’. Simon Swynfen Jervis

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The Oliver Ford Trust and Tom Ingram Memorial Fund In line with one of its roles — the promotion of interest in interior design — the Oliver Ford Trust has generously expressed the desire to sponsor a place on each FHS study weekend or foreign tour. Applicants should either be a student with a particular interest in interiors, or a junior museum professional. Applications from non-members will be considered. Grants will be awarded via the Tom Ingram Fund, to which candidates should apply. The Tom Ingram Memorial Fund makes grants towards travel and other incidental expenses for the purpose of study or research into the history of furniture (a) whether or 30 NL 197:Layout 1 02/02/2015 15:19 Page 31

not the applicant is a member of the Society; (b) only when the study or research is likely to be of importance in furthering the objectives of the Society; and (c) only when travel could not be undertaken without a grant from the Society. Applications towards the cost of FHS foreign and domestic trips and study weekends are particularly welcome from scholars. Successful applicants are required to acknowledge the assistance of the Fund in any resulting publications and must report back to the Panel on completion of the travel or project. All enquiries about Grant applications to the Tom Ingram Memorial Fund or Oliver Ford Trust should be addressed to Clarissa Ward, Secretary FHS Grants Committee, 25 Wardo Avenue, London SW6 6RA, email [email protected], or the application form can be downloaded from the Grants page of the Society’s website, www.furniturehistorysociety.org. The FHS Grants Committee now meets quarterly to consider all grant applications, either for independent travel/incidental expenses for the purpose of study of study or research, or for participation in FHS foreign and UK study trips. Completed application forms should be submitted, with current Curriculum Vitae, by the following deadlines so that they can considered at these meetings: a) 10 March, b) 10 June, c) 10 September or d) 10 December.

Copy Deadline The deadline for receiving material to be published in the next Newsletter is 15 March. Copy should be sent, preferably by email, Elizabeth Jamieson [email protected] or posted to Elizabeth Jamieson, 10 Tarleton Gardens, Forest Hill, London SE23 3XN.

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Officers and Council Members

President: Sir Nicholas Goodison Council Members: Yannick Chastang, John Cross, Max Donnelly, Helen Jacobsen, Fergus Lyons, Chairman of the Council: Christopher Rowell Annabel Westman Honorary Secretary: Clarissa Ward Honorary Newsletter Editors: Elizabeth Jamieson and Matthew Winterbottom Honorary Treasurer: Martin Williams Website Editor: Laura Ongaro Honorary Editorial Secretary: Elizabeth White Events Committee Chairman: Sarah Medlam

Membership Secretary (Membership, Subscriptions, Address Changes, and Publications): Dr Brian Austen, 1 Mercedes Cottages, St John’s Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 4EH. Tel. and fax 01444 413845, email: [email protected] Events Secretary (Events Booking): Anne-Marie Bannister, Bricket House, 90 Mount Pleasant Lane, Bricket Wood, St Albans, Herts, AL2 3XD. Tel: 07775 907390 email: [email protected] Website Enquiries (Passwords/Notices Etc.): Laura Ongaro email: [email protected] Tom Ingram Memorial Fund/FHS Grants: Joanna Norman, 8 Robert Court, 4 Sternhall Lane, London SE15 4BE, email: [email protected]

Web site: www.furniturehistorysociety.org

Council members can be contacted through the Events or Membership Secretaries whose details are shown above. Contributors can be contacted through the Newsletter Editor who in the case of this issue is Matthew Winterbottom at The Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PH, tel 01865 278 289 or email: [email protected] This issue edited by Matthew Winterbottom Published by the Furniture History Society c/o Furniture, Textiles and Fashion Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London SW7 2RL Produced in Great Britain by Oblong Creative Ltd, 416B Thorp Arch Estate, Wetherby LS23 7FG The views expressed in this Newsletter are those of the respective authors. They are accepted as honest and accurate expressions of opinion, but should not necessarily be considered to reflect that of the Society or its employees.

Registered UK Charity No. 251683

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