Furniture for Grown and Court by DR GEOFFREY BEARD Chairman of the Furniture History Society

In spite of the sharp division ready survival of furniture can be between the late Tudor and appreciated. Jacobean periods - Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 - it was The important items of furniture at inevitable that the early years of Knole were acquired by the 6th James Ps reign should have been Earl of Dorset, Lord Chamberlain overcast by an aura of aggressive of the Household to William III, heroics, all done in the name of the but the presence of some earlier Queen. Within the domestic pieces allows us to note here a sphere, however, there was a significant category of furniture, growing awareness of the kind of ‘Canopies, Couches and Chairs of settings furniture needed. The State*. Vitruvian ideals of harmony, symmetry, decor and suitability of From whatever source it came the rooms for ‘office, entertainment or upholstered furniture at Knole pleasure* were to be lauded years provides adequate testimony both later in Sir Henry Wotton’s to the use of rich fabrics, and as an Elements of Architecture (1624), but announcement of rank. There are patrons were already eager at the five ‘chairs of state’ intended to be turn of the 17th Century to set under a canopy for important understand foreign ideas. The persons - the Mytens portrait of fortunes of the nation were James I at Knole shows him in nevertheless still linked to ministers such a chair - made between 1 Armchair, circa 1610-20 upholstered in of the late reign, particularly Sir about 1610 and 1625. One, (Plate red satin with cloth of gold applique (Knole, Robert Cecil, the builder of 7), circa 1610-20 is covered in red Kent, The National Trust) Hatfield House, and Thomas silk and gold applique, whilst Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, Lord another, of slightly later date, has a journeyings, together with those Treasurer, and a friend of Cecil’s white and red painted frame with Royalists who had also fled abroad, father (and Elizabeth’s principal arabesque decoration. This were of immense importance at officer), William Cecil, 1st Lord obviously complemented the their return in heralding a new Burghley. Lord Dorset lived at original scarlet and silver cover. mood in the decorative arts in Knole in Kent. Both were lavish in Yet another of the 1620s is England. They had observed, their support of the furniture- upholstered in crimson and silver questioned and even commissioned makers. damask and is stamped with the craftsmen to produce furniture. Hampton Court inventory mark They saw to it that when Charles The 1st Earl of Dorset had come and the date of the inventory II returned to England in 1660 into possession of Knole at some ‘1661*. It is an indication that a Italian and Dutch ideas in time between 1603 and 1605, and leading court official such as particular were likewise given a began to alter and add elaborate Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of lively reception - Samuel Pepys new buildings to it. However, his Dorset (? 1642-1706) had the right wrote at the end of May 1660: official duties as Lord High to take ‘perquisites’ - furniture for ‘This day the month ends . . . and Treasurer often kept him in his private use at the death of the all the world in a merry mood London at Sackvillc House. He sovereign. because of she King’s coming*. He died in 1603; the 2nd Earl of had come :■ lew days earlier, fresh Dorset died within a few months of The ravaging of property, the from a fin;-.I banquet at the Hague succession, and the 3rd Earl, dipersal of the Royal collections, given by t! States of Holland. But despite his marriage to the and the imposition of severe within a leu years an additional celebrated but shrewd Lady Anne restraint on luxury and ornament interest in what Portugal and its Clifford, castle builder in the north during the Commonwealth period territories, such as Goa, could of England, was noted above all for in the 1640s and ’50s was produce was evident after the King wild extravagance. Add to these disastrous for the creation, or married the (iatholic Catherine of calamities a disastrous fire at Knole survival, of upholstered furniture. Braganza by proxy in May 1661. in 1623, and something of the Moreover, the King, Charles II, She remain'd in Lisbon and did nature of events which prevent the was in exile abroad. His not come to England for the formal

24 ceremony until a year later. The French and Anglo-Dutch furniture- furniture-makers soon had to create makers and embellishers. appropriate furniture to take account of the Queen’s predilection Marot’s engraving of a state for drinking tea. The introduction bedchamber, {Plate 3), plate 34 in of a new fashion or the revival of his Second Lime d’Appartements {circa an old one was always good for 1700), show a ‘lit a la duchcsse’ or trade - tea tables, tea kettles, State Bed, which was already cups, to use with what the poet popular in Holland and was Edmund Waller in 1680 called the immediately so on its introduction ‘best of herbs’. It was a fashion to England. Making the elaborately which furniture-makers did their draped tester and flamboyant head best to encourage and to serve. and footboards were severe tests even for specialist craftsmen. Something of the abilities needed The overwhelming influence on the can be seen in the enchanting King and his courtiers, however, fragments surving at Hardwick came from Holland. Its successful Hall from the bed supplied by East India Company had long Francis Lapierre in 1697 to the 1st imported lacquer cabinets, and Duke of Devonshire for use at English makers soon set these on Chatsworth. The superb flying or elaborate gilt-wood stands. {Plate 2). ‘angel’ tester allowed the front posts to be dispensed with, and skilfully cut fabric set over carved In France Louis XIV revoked in wood shapes on the headboard 1685 the Edict of Nantes, by imitated baroque flourishes which, in 1598, Henri IV had unknown in England. The granted religious toleration to 2 Cabinet, japanned inside and out with decoration follows closely plate 29 Protestants. It caused many partly raised chinoisienc scenes, circa 1690. in Marot’s book and caused the craftsmen, particularly silver­ (Temple Newsam House, Leeds) Duke to pay the not inconsiderable smiths, tapestry and fabric weavers, sum of £497, of which the crimson furniture-makers and upholsterers, hangings alone cost £470. The bed to flee to other countries, and in was paid for at the instalment rate particular to come to England. The of £6 a week. accession to the English throne of the Protestant, William, Prince of Francis Lapierre was a talented Orange, in 1688 as William III not upholsterer, who with the fringe- only allowed these craftsmen a maker Dufresnoy, had also worked home, but encouraged the adoption in the 1690s for the Crown and at of ideas and influences they Burghley House, Northamptonshire, brought with them. One of the seat of the Duke of Devonshire’s travellers, and one of seminal brother-in-law, the 5th Marquess of importance to decoration and Exeter. Another of William’s furnishing, was Daniel Marot the courtiers, the dour William elder (1661 - 1752). He had sought Blathwavt, also ordered a State Bed refuge in Holland the year before from Lapierre about 1702 for his the V;ih was revoked, and entered Gloucestershire seat, Dyrham Park. Prim < William’s service. His By his industry Blathwayt had de.'i,>* a highly decorative become a Secretary of State to the baroque • haracier, were soon king, and after his marriage to the ug; uui whilst available in Dyrham heiress in 1686, spent pans. u.v. . veil greater several years transforming and influence vi England when they furnishing the house. He controlled were is.vu* • us collection at the much of the work from Holland Hague in ; 702. Styling himself where he served as one of 'arclii(>•< »'*• Guillaume III, roy de William's diplomats at Amsterdam la Gr:u>: Evsagne’, Marot made and The Hague. He was therefore at le.-er • its to England in an ardent supporter of Dutch ideas, ihe 1690:., . ii.: worked for King 3 Daniel Marot (circa 1663-1752). A and was fluent in the language William i'i ai »lampion Court and state Bed. Plate from the Second Livrc having served the Stuart court in elsewhere at the head of the Anglo- d’Appartements, circa 1700 Holland

25 served the Stuart court in Holland craftsmen engaged by the King at in earlier years, and before he was Hampton Court, and by the 1st twenty. The Dyrham State Bed is Duke of Devonshire for the fitting covered with yellow and crimson and decoration of Chatsworth. The velvet and has an interior of range of his activities at sprigged satin. Marot had indicated Chatsworth included the provision in his book that costly hangings of glass for the South and East should be protected from sunlight front windows, the silvered mirror and dust by a case curtain (tour dc glass for the Dining Room, and he lit). The 1710 inventory of the was also paid for some doors, Dyrham contents describes the wainscot-framing, and carving in original case curtains as in a light some of the State Rooms. Jensen’s woollen fabric called ‘red cheney’, name is, however, more usually and the present ones approximate associated with furniture decorated to that. with marquetry or Japan, and in some instances inlaid with metal. In 1707 John Meller (1665-1733), He was an accomplished Master in Chancery during the technician, and almost had a reign of Queen Anne, enlarged monopoly in using the Boulle and refurnished his house of technique of metal inlay. Mentions Erddig, N. Wales. He had contacts of Jensen in the royal and certain with London craftsmen, and in the private accounts has allowed a early 1720s he was provided with a 4 State Bed, assumed to be by John Belchier, small but significant group of with upholstery by Philip Hunt, circa 1720. considerable amount of gesso (The National Trust, Erddig, Clwyd) furniture at Windsor, Hampton furniture - some in silver gesso - Court, Kensington Palace, by John Belchicr, a London Royal Preferment Boughton, Drayton, Clandon (Plate cabinet-maker at ‘Ye Sun’ in St. 5) and Deene to be credited to Paul’s Churchyard. Only one A specialist cabinet-maker to the him. Erddig bill by Belchier survives, Royal household was Gerrcit (or but as it covers four years, Gerrit) Jensen. His activities In Queen Anne’s reign the 1722-6, it may be assumed he had extended from the reign of Charles furniture supplied by Jensen been employed on the State Bed II to the end of that of Queen became less elaborate and had to itself, which is dateable, by a Anne (circa 1680-1715). Of Dutch compete with that which was further letter, to the early months origin, Jensen was one of the japanned or gilded. At his death in of 1720. (Plate 4). John Mellcr was told in this letter, dated April 7, 1720, written by his nephew and heir Simon Yorke, that he had called about the bed on ‘Mr Hunt’ - presumably the upholsterer Philip Hunt who had premises in St. Paul’s Churchyard. Hunt had been provided with a number of Chinese coverlets and hangings to use in covering the bed. They may have been a gift to Meller from his near-neighbour Elihu Yale (later founder of the college which became in turn the American university), who had worked for twenty years for the East India Company. In later years the bed suffered grievously from the depredations which were caused to the house by mining subsidence. It was restored with great care in 1968 as part of the extensive programme by the National Trust in reopening the house to the 5 Card table, seaweed marquetry in the manner of Gerrit Jensen, circa 1695. (Tli ional Trust, public. Clandon Park, Sussex, Gubbay collection)

26 1715 his trade in supplying Moore gave evidence against 1741-3, and the three apprentices chimney mirrors and glass panels Henry Joynes, the Comptroller of recorded as put to him (including was taken over by Peter and the Works at Blenheim Palace - his nephew, Benjamin Parran), are Elizabeth Gumley and their son Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, perhaps but a partial indication of John, and in due course they were who called Moore her ‘oracle’, had his success. He was putting money joined by James Moore, who was gone to law against many of the into property, and phrases in his adept at incising and gilding gesso- Blenheim craftsmen in 1724-5 - will show him to have been an covered furniture. he stated his age to be fifty-four. unusually pious man. He was not We can assume therefore he was above the small commissions For reasons of continuity and born about 1670, and that his alongside the more considerable - convenience, a safe reliability, with presence on jobs with the Gumleys £22 worth of furniture to Lady adequate resources to withstand came about 1690. There is no note Monson for example in 1751 - non-payment for long periods, the of his apprenticeship but he seems and he attended to many minor royal cabinet-makers followed one to have set up about 1712 and been and major tasks at Holkham for the another in office. The Gumleys also active in royal commissions Earls of Leicester over several spanned in active years from the with John Gumley from 1714-15. years. In particular, a mahogany late 1680s to the late 1720s, and table press with wire doors for specialised in Japan cabinets, In 1720 he was working for the 3rd which Goodison charged tables, stands, chest of drawers and Earl of Burlington, then decorating £14.16s.0d. in 1757 and ’2 card writing-tables as any cabinet-maker Burlington House in Piccadilly, and tables for ye Gallery’ with ‘white might, but concentrated even more his apprentice Benjamin Goodison Frett workt round the tops and on providing looking-glasses. At received money on his behalf. frames and ye feet ornamented with Jensen’s death the names of Goodison also succeeded Moore in carveing and gilding’ relate to Gumley and Moore, often royal preferment soon after his items in the house. The table press separately, start to appear in the master’s death from a wound on has applied foliated ovals that have Lord Chamberlain’s records. John the head, having fallen whilst out been regarded as a distinctive Gumley had inherited his father’s walking in October 1726. feature of furniture made by business about 1694, and became William Vile (circa 1700-67), but free of the Glass Sellers’ Company Two significant private patrons which I feel may have been in 1704. A mirror at Chatsworth whose confidence Goodison enjoyed supplied by the talented carver, has the inscription ‘John Gumley, were Sarah, Duchess of Sefferin Aiken, working for both 1703’ scratched on it - one of two Marlborough, who employed him Goodison and Vile on a sub­ for which he was paid £200 for the at many of her houses, including contract basis. (Plate 6). pair in that year. More her London residence in Dover significantly a mirror at Hampton Street, and her son-in-law, Charles It has been apparent for several Court has ‘Gumley’ carved on a 3rd Earl of Sunderland, at Althorp, years that many cabinet-makers gilt slip intersecting the glass panels Northamptonshire. When Sarah’s included undertaking among their of one pilaster. The ‘carved and granddaughter, Isabel, Duchess of services. A noted case of Thomas gill work’ of the royal account Manchester, was left a childless Chippendale’s involvement in this entries related to incised or raised widow in 1739 (she later remarried morbid duty has been recorded, work in gilt gesso, for which James to Edward, Earl Beaulieu), Sarah but Goodison was involved in one Moore became renowned. There is purchased for her, with Goodison’s of the most important occasions in a small group of tables and stands assistance, the Dover Street house 1751. He was required to help with in tin* royal collections (on one and gave it to her completely the funeral arrangements after the si;. ’, the name ‘Moore’ is incised) furnished. Goodison provided death of Frederick, Prince of Wales or • seat collections at houses walnut elbow chairs at 18s.6d. in the late evening of Wednesday, suii i :s Houghton or Clandon. each, chimney-pieces, pier-glasses, March 20, 1751. The death marble top tables with walnut chamber and the Henry* VII The I. Moore had learned frames and, through the Chapel in Westminster Abbey were uni unlcy may have upholsterer Shcrard Paxton, 275 set out with black hangings cncov I conservatism but in the yards of green damask and enough provided by the upholsterer case . candle-stands there are while damask for a bed. William Reason and with eighty simiL > to those, also in the black sconces by Goodison, who royal « ■Inn, by Jean Pelletier Cabinet-makers were always very also helped to embalm the body who h applied furniture and nervous of fire in premises stacked and lay the Prince in the lavish mirror.', Ailliam III, and to with timber, glue, upholstery coffin provided by the joiner Henry those ;»i t’f elaborate furniture materials and so on and protected Williams. As with all Royal made m ' ■. ;sl)urg by Abcrcll and themselves by fire insurance. The craftsmen they had served Kings Eichlci. >( course inlaid in various policies Goodison took out and Princes, faithfully, in life - silver a miseshcll. When with the Hand in Hand Company, Goodison had been employed by

27 By 1753 the young man had prospered enough to take premises in St. Martin’s Lane, and a year later, in 1754, to publish his important pattern-book The Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers1 Director. By this time he and his wife had two sons and two daughters, and five more children were born within the next seven years. The eldest son, Thomas the Younger, lived until 1822, forty- three years after his father’s death, and also became an accomplished cabinet-maker.

The success of the Director encouraged Chippendale to move in August 1754 into larger premises in St. Martin’s Lane which he titled ‘The Cabinet and Upholstery Warehouse’, adopting a chair for his sign. We have commented that all cabinet-makers feared fire at their premises, laden as these were 6 The 'Ashburnham’ Library table, attributed to Benjamin Goodison circa 1740-50, mahogany. with timber and upholstery (Victoria & Albert Museum, London W12-1960) materials. Such a disaster befell Chippendale and his partners when the Prince of Wales at Kcw and There is a small number of pieces fire ravaged two of his workshops elsewhere from 1735 - and they of 18th Century English furniture on a windy Saturday night, April were not found wanting at the time associated with Kent which have 5, 1755. It also destroyed ‘22 of death. remained confusing through the Chests of the journeymens Tools’ absence of exact facts about their - an indication of the strength of manufacture. Some have heavy his workforce. However, the William Kent and the Cabinet-Makers scrolled legs and shell motifs, and damage was less than feared, and may have been made by the carver with insurance money forth-coming The undoubted liaisons that Matthias Lock, who certainly made from the Sun Office, the William Kent, the influential drawings for furniture in the opportunity to rebuild and enlarge architect, painter and decorator, ‘Kcntian style*. There is more the premises was taken. had with the royal cabinet-maker furniture attributed to John Vardy Benjamin Goodison extended to a and Henry Flitcroft, who were Chippendale’s ability as a designer number of other cabinet-makers primarily architects and decorators, and maker, coupled with a who also worked in a heavy and we must also reckon with competent workforce md his able Palladian style. Whilst it may never Kent’s involvement with the partners, enabled the mess to be possible to establish precisely furniture-makers William and John what the links were, the influence Linnell. expand further. From '■<- which Kent and his noble patrons mid-1760s he was pr* ’’icing his finest Nco-Classica! ! iure, with exerted on English decoration was Thomas Chippendale considerable. All of them were superb marquetry pi*: made for eager to promote the ideas of form Thomas Chippendale was born in Harewood House aiv ,-cwherc in and decoration which they had seen 1718 at Otley, Yorkshire, and after the early 1770s. Fiv * after his on their Italian travels. In training under his father and the first wife’s death, lx . ■.cried, in particular there was a revival of York joiner, Richard Wood, left 1777, and had three • children, interest in the buildings of the 16th the north in the early 1740s for the a total of twelve in ; his two Century Italian architect, Andrea wider opportunities of London. We wives. On Novcmbe. 1779, he Palladio - whose importance Inigo know little of Chippendale’s early died of consumption, . haul Jones had recognised in the early years, apart from a small making a will, but •d by his 17 Century - and Kent also commission - the first recorded - second wife and at !.■ our of his studied the baroque forms of from Lord Burlington (1747), and children. furniture made in Italy by Foggini his marriage, a year later on May and others. 19, 1748, to Catherine Redshaw. The praise which ca-

28 Chippendale in his lifetime documentation and furniture, a continued well into the 19th valuable indication of working Century. The cabinet-makers Ince practices. Recent researchers have and Mayhew, who published their established a considerable amount own patterns in 1762, called him ‘a about Chippendale’s upholstery very ingenious Artificer’. Thomas trade and noted a number of small Sheraton alluded in 1793 to constructional details which, whilst ‘Chippendale’s extensive and no guarantee of Chippendale’s masterly work’, and George Smith involvement, do seem to occur on in 1828 pronounced him ‘the most many pieces of authenticated famous Upholsterer and Cabinet­ furniture by him. These are the maker of his day’. What elements presence of S-pattern key holes, V- in Chippendale’s work led to these shaped cuts and slots under the points of high esteem? His pattern- seat rails to assist in holding the book, The Director, was undoubtedly cramps used when glueing, and one important factor in his screw holes, found beneath the seat development. rails of high-quality chairs. When packing such chairs they were The Successful Years suspended by screws - hence the Both Chambers and Adam had holes - from cross battens to keep studied in Italy, and had returned the chair frames clear of the crate. to England in the late 1750s, intent 7 Library chair, one of six made in mahogany on introducing a new repertory in 1768 for Sir Rowland Winn by Thomas Despite Chippendale’s eminence in based on Classical precedent, and Chippendale. (The National Trust, Nostell the trade he only seems to have on outdoing each other in its Priory, Yorkshire) worked for the Royal Family on realisation. Chippendale, as with all one occasion. He had explained the English cabinet-makers, lacked the 1773, might indicate his delay in supplying furniture to Sir early artistic education which came employment of a specialist Rowland Winn in 1768 was due to from seeing and learning of foreign marquetry-worker. London could work ‘mostly for the Royal lands and collections at first-hand, provide the most accomplished Family’, and the revised Director and had to make do with a later craftsmen, who sub-contracted their had been dedicated to Prince visit to France, and with looking at time and skills to established William Henry, 1st Duke of engravings. The introduction of makers. The evidence for Gloucester. Two sofas and eight Neo-Classical designs into the 3rd Chippendale’s use of specialists is armchairs (as well as five single edition of the Director (1762) is too sparse to permit firm chairs of a different pattern), and therefore the more remarkable. He conclusions, but what is undeniable indisputably from Chippendale’s was able over the next few years, is that, with or without them, he workshop, form a suite in the royal and into the 1770s, to submerge produced some of the finest collections. They have the usual the sprite-like curves and flourishes examples of English marquetry system of cramp slots, and show of Rococo, within a fluent furniture. Let us note one earlier stylistic resemblances to the seat anthology of classical details. well-known item, made by furniture made by Chippendale in Chippendale worked for Adam’s Chippendale, as a guide to varied the early 1770s for the 1st Viscount pairons in many houses designed aspects of his patronage and Melbourne for Brocket Hall, by d. • irchitect and those, for business. This is the splendid lyre- Hertfordshire. exr r ; ie. in his native Yorkshire back Library chair (Plate 7), one of (N<:> . Nostell and Harcwood) six, made in 1768 for Nostell If royal preferment on any scale coir urniture by him. It is of Priory, Yorkshire (1767-8), as part eluded Chippendale it came, but uni. excellence with large- of the extensive commission given late, to his successful rivals, the to the Yorkshire maker by Sir partners, William Vile (died 1767) SCc>*'’ nent, some inlaid into and John Cobb (died 1778). They riel. hvs, and flanked by Rowland Winn, who had succeeded had avoided buying the Director and elan. .ililed ormolu mounts. at his father’s death in 1765. He had immediately engaged Robert the risk of any charge that they had Chip. Jo’s output of furniture Adam to work at his Yorkshire and copied (as many of lesser status in tin included some London houses. Chippendale was did) its attractive designs. They splenrii; os of marquetry probably introduced to Sir had enough ability in any case to furnitiu pier-tables, Rowland by Adam and formed survive by their own merits, but it commi.vi. i for various rooms at part of the team of decorators from is necessary, for reasons which are Harcwoi •use, Yorkshire, 1766. The commission spanned a explained below, to consider their together the sumptuous ‘Diana further twenty years and gives, early work alongside that of their and Min commode there, circa through the survival of both senior ‘partner’, the London

29 cabinet-maker, William Hallett, made to draw out of the Rails, the senior (1707-81). whole on good Casters and a neat Link Plate Lock made to the The preference by Hallett, senior, Queen’s Key £9.15s. to back William Vile says much The compartments referred to in about his lack of interest in the the accounts have been business of his own nephew, subsequently removed. Samuel Norman (fl. 1732-82). Norman was a very successful The King and Queen had been carver and gilder, until he suddenly crowned on September 22, 1761 failed and went bankrupt in April and the carved crown on the 1768. There is, however, firm bureau-secretaire (Plate 8) may have evidence for Hallett’s continuing been a last-minute addition which financial support to Vile and Cobb did not form part of the original in the London bank accounts of all design, although the accounts three, at Drummonds Bank. There record its provision. For the jewel is an inter-dependence, with cabinet, however, Vile strayed regular payments to Hallett from away from his use of mahogany to his two partners from about 1757. combine, as the accounts declared, As these payments were at the rate ‘many different kinds of fine wood of £150 to £300 monthly in on a mahogany frame richly 1757-8, and regular payments carved’. The cabinet has veneers of totalling £500 in 1760, £2,350 in padouk, amboyna, tulip and 1761 and £1,000 in 1763, the rosewood. The fact that it cost payments to Hallett were probably £138.10s.0d, together with £71 for a ‘share percentage’ of the takings the bureau-secretaire, and for his backing. As the 1761 and £107.14s. for the large break-front 1763 payments are higher they bookcase, goes a little way towards possibly reflect Vile’s success with explaining the £3,738 in Vile’s making a number of important bank account in 1762, and his pieces of furniture in these years ability to pay £1,000 to Hallct on for Queen Charlotte. 8 Bureau-secretaire, provided by William Vile March 7, 1763. to Queen Charlotte in 1762 - Royal Collection. Vile and Cobb’s royal service (Reproduced by gracious permission of Worthy Contenders began late in their careers in 1761, Her Majesty the Queen) when they were probably both aged Two competitors to Chippendale in their late fifties or early sixties. with the large break-front bookcase and Vile and Cobb, who had set Their Warrant of Appointment to of architectual form with four up a considerable business by the the Great Wardrobe was dated on Corinthian pilasters, a broken late 1760s, were William Incc and January 5, 1761 as the Master, pediment, with, on the stepped John Mayhew. In 1759, after Earl Gower, sent it to the Lord base, the distinctive ovals coming out of their apprenticeships, Chamberlain, the Duke of simulating laurel wreaths. The and with the main input of money Devonshire. Significantly it King also ordered a pair of writing coming from Mayhew, they set up described them only as ‘Upholsters tables. The following year, 1763, business together as ‘Mayhew and Lie] in Ordinary to His Majesty’s Vile re-fashioned an organ case of Ince’ at the upper end of Br id Great Wardrobe’, but the about 1735, probably by Benjamin Street, Soho, near Carnaby payments to Vile record fine pieces Goodison, to form a cabinet. Again Market. We know somethin. >f the of mahogany furniture, and some thick oval wreaths were applied to firm’s structure from the pap s of survives. It has often been the base cupboard doors. The a later disagreement. Ince vv; the described and illustrated, and Queen was further provided in designer, who had learned hi. irade consists, briefly, in 1761, of the 1763 with a mahogany work-table as a cabinet-maker with John Vest, King’s coin cabinet, a bureau- described in the accounts as whilst Mayhew acted as man: :r, secretaire with pierced fret top and having: and dealt with the upholstery *de - bombe base for Queen Charlotte, of their activities: he had bn » m “. . . shape Legs neatly Carved and {Plate 8), together with her fine apprenticed to William Brae! w a Scrolc on the foot and a Leaf on of Soho Square, an importan jewel cabinet, and a pair of the knee, a Carved finishing to the mahogany cabinets for the King’s rail, one half of the top divided into maker and upholder. Library. 12 compartments, the other half open and the top made to fold over In a similar manner to In 1762 the Queen was supplied behind, supported with two Sides Chippendale, once Ince and

30 ■ Mayhew had established the outline of a business, they decided in 1759 to issue designs ‘in weekly Numbers*. They copied Chippendale both in the intended number of plates (160), and in the use of Matthias Darly as engraver. Underestimating the amount of work required and suffering from the build-up by Chippendale towards a 3rd edition of the Director, the venture foundered in ■ the autumn of 1760, after the late appearance of part 21. The astute Robert Sayer, one of the most successful of 18th century print sellers, and not averse to plagiarism when it suited him, then issued a little over ninety of the avilablc engravings in a large folio titled Universal System of Household Furniture. It was dedicated to George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, for whom the firm were later to work at Blenheim 9 Cabinet made by Mayhew and I nee in 1775 Jor the Duchess of Manchester to provide a setting Palace, under the supervision of Sir for eleven panels of marble intarsia. (Victoria & Albert Museum, London W43-1949) William Chambers, Joint Architect to King George III. (later Lansdownc) House, recorded necessary disinfecting and stuffing in her unpublished diary that she of mattresses. The mixture of Rococo, with had visited Mayhew and Ince’s The bills document the supply of Gothic and Chinese overtones, ‘where there is some beautiful some outstanding pieces of formed the main style of the cabinet work*. She ordered: furniture - a pair of satinwood designs. Some were unashamedly two pretty glass cases for one of the and holly commodes, two settees copied from the 1754 edition of the rooms in my apartments, and and six armchairs en suite for which Director, and explanatory notes were which, though they are only deal, two sets of dust covers (and printed in both English and and to be painted white, he charges ‘stockings’ to protect legs in transit) French. The firm’s label on a £50 for. were provided. This suite is now in mahogany china cabinet in the New York (Metropolitan Museum of Museum of Decorative Arts, The high charges were a Art), set out in the re-erected Copenhagen later announced that characteristic of the firm. Whilst Tapestry Room from Croome they had ‘an Assortment of French Mayhew had a small private Court for which it was made. The furniture consigned from Paris’ - income which placed him a little superb cabinet they supplied in the demand for which was typified apart from the penurious position 1775 to the Duchess of Manchester by a remark of Lady Mary Coke in normal to most craftsmen, he and is illustrated here. (Plate 9). 1769: his partner charged high prices. The rate for being apprenticed to Gillows of Lancaster I hav' •.)( my chairs from Paris them was also the highest of any with' ., luting beholden to anybody, comparable London business, In the late 18th Century a northern bui ! t intend to have them attaining £157.10s. in 1766 by firm who made up their own coven itii damask or have the contrast to £50 with William designs to such degrees of frame- • till after I return from France. Notwithstanding their excellence that they soon had a abro.i charges they enjoyed the very wide and successful practice The par output was by this considerable patronage of the 6th was that of Gillows of Lancaster. date cons 'ole and of very high Earl of Coventry in the late 1760s. Founded by Robert Gillow in quality. In. u* in the years Some twenty bills survive, about 1728 the firm was active in 1768-70 ; d £52,000, but their recording their comprehensive the West Indies trade and brought outgoings a heavy burden and services at Croome Court and the supplies of mahogany to Lancaster led eventun. .) discord and Earl’s town house, 29 Piccadilly. in their own ships, sending out all dispute. Laii- dielburne, engaged These included papering walls, manner of goods in return; they in 1768 in It; hing Shelburne laying carpets and the ever- were ‘Licensed Dealers in Ruin’,

31 Road*. Their charges were moderate (although the redoubtable Mrs Piozzi did get reduced their charges to her in 1794) and they became a firm of good standing. A judgement of them in 1807 by a German visitor to London, P. A. Ncmmich, typifies much which can be observed, in more precise detail, in their estimate and rough sketch­ books. He wrote that the firm were: the first grade salesmen and manufacturers in London; they deal widely in land and foreign trade and maintain employees in different parts of England; their work is good and solid, though not of the first class in inventiveness and style. Gillow furniture is often stamped with an incised mark in small capital letters ‘GILLOWS - LANCASTER’, on a drawer-edge, or back of a seat-frame. They were 11 Gentleman’s social table (and dressing or almost the only English maker to writing table) from Thomas Sheraton’s The 10 Cabinet on stand, circa 1760, attributed to be consistent in giving this useful Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Draw­ Gillows of Lancaster (Temple Newsam aid to the factors needing to be ing Book, 1794 House, Leeds) assessed in arriving at a conclusion chairs had been much copied - on origin and date. were wary of following too closely for example. Their work of the one who had a shop in an 1760s, scantily available and George Hepplewhitc unfashionable part of town, and to lacking the benefit of exact whom no reputation of furniture documentation, is perhaps best George Hepplcwhite is said to have could be credited. demonstrated in a fine mahogany been apprenticed to the Gillows of cabinet on stand (Temple Newsam Lancaster, but no record of this Thomas Sheraton House, Leeds) (Plate 10) carved in a appears amongst the surviving florid, flamboyant style, with registrations. Nevertheless his name When Hepplewhite died in 1786 massive cabriole legs, apron with has endured, although the furniture Thomas Sheraton was but thirty- shells, and broken pediment. It regarded as ‘Hcpplewhitc’ was five years old; he had been born in represents the use by provincial made by a host of other makers in Stockon-on-Tecs in 1751, and his cabinet-makers of a variety of a similar style to that set out in early years were undergone (as pattern and instruction manuals, Hepplewhite’s pattern-book, Thomas Sheraton, junior later and in another context part of its published by his widow in 1788, recorded) without ‘the advantages form might act as an architectural two years after his death. Titled of a collegial or academical frame to a picture, or, as in this The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterers’ educational’. He came to mdon case, incorporate a pictorial panel Guide it was in a third edition by about 1790, and is said i< . avc of needlework. 1794, and declared on its title-page then ‘supported himself, ife and that it was a ‘Repository of Designs two children by his exerti is an Much better known is the firm’s for Every Article of Household author’. output in the late 18th and early Furniture - near Three Hundred 19th centuries, made in dark different Designs . . .’ The principal results of Sh>. ion’s Cuban mahogany, or by using litcrary endeavours were V. exotic woods, veneers and inlays. Hepplcwhite’s ‘Book pieces’ Cabinet-Maker and Upholstcru Finally, there is an extensive however - that is, furniture Drawing-Book (1791-4) and t: archive which documents this later related directly to the book patterns Cabinet Dictionary (1803). Th activity preserved in the - are rare. Leading makers, Drawing-Book was issued in ■ Westminster Reference Library. always nervous of reproducing separate numbers, with Par. . and published designs - although, for II devoted to geometry and Gillows opened up a London example, in earlier years plate 13 perspective whilst Part III so od branch in 1771 at ‘176 Oxford of Chippendale’s Director (1754) for to be of more practical use h

32 exhibiting 'the present state of Drawing-Book has been partially set the frieze. At Brighton this mood furniture’ and giving 'the workman out. The Drawing-Book was was continued lavishly by the some assistance. {Plate 11). In subscribed to by some 700 Crace family of decorators. Black whatever way he had acquired his tradesmen, with about two-thirds of and gold lacquered furniture was knowledge Sheraton had a complete the subscribers resident in London, supplied, as well as the wildest mastery in the technical aspects of with most of the remaining third excesses of Oriental styling. In the cabinet-making, and his Dictionary living in the north, and north-east, way even royal families have of re­ has therefore had a lasting value. It of England. using what was useful, Queen set out to explain: Victoria took many of the Royal Patron ... all the Terms used in the furnishings of the new east wing of Cabinet, Chair & Upholstery At the turn of the nineteenth Buckingham Palace, built by Blore Branches, with Directions for century the Prince of Wales - he in 1847, from the Brighton Varnish-making, Polishing and became Prince Regent in 1811 and Pavilion. She may have had in Gilding . . . King George IV in 1820 - started mind the uproar which had resulted and was illustrated with 88 the extensive transforming of from the heavy expenditure John handsome copper-plate engravings. Brighton Pavilion. He had already Nash had incurred when had experience of the vagaries of transforming the palace for George Sheraton’s advertised readiness to the Chinese style in the Drawing IV in the late 1820s. Later in her provide designs to cabinet-makers Room created for him by Henry reign, when she had withdrawn to probably means that he did find Holland at Carlton House. The Osborne House on the Isle of much business in this way. But the appearance of the room is recorded Wight (after the death of her range and volume of his business in Sheraton’s Drawing Book (1793), beloved Prince Albert) she used are only surmised, and his activities and whilst the room is lost, some of Holland & Sons. A principal merit detailed research. A the furniture survives at Victorian firm, they worked with correlation of differences between Buckingham Palace. In particular great care and attention to detail, Hepplewhite’s Guide, Thomas two pier tables of ebony were given as all their predecessors who Shearer’s Cabinet-Makers London Book supports of bronze Chinamen and enjoyed royal and noble patronage of Prices (1788), and Sheraton’s there were ornamental dragons on had loyally done.

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