November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 1

THE FURNITURE HISTORY SOCIETY Newsletter No. 172 November 2008

CABINET RETURNS TO BECKFORD’S TOWER

The ability to illustrate to today’s visitor what the interiors of William Beckford’s study retreat at Lansdown Tower in Bath would have been like when they were created in 1828 has long been an essential aim of the Beckford Tower Trust. It is an aim made difficult by the fact that much of the original interiors and fittings of the building were stripped and sold following Beckford’s death in 1844. What was not sold was then destroyed by fire in 1931, leaving the Belvidere at the very top of the Tower as the only historic interior remaining in the building. With the help of contemporary illustrations it is possible to show what the rooms at Lans- down Tower were like in the year of Beckford’s death. However, being able to display original pieces of furniture designed specifically for the building is essential in order to fully convey to the visitor what was so significant about Beckford as a collector and the spaces he created. It was with this in mind that the Beckford Tower Trust embarked on a successful campaign to purchase an oak wall-mounted cabinet believed to have been made for Beckford and return it to the Tower. The cabinet reflects the development of Beckford’s taste in the later period of his life while living in Bath, and was most probably designed by Henry Edmund Goodridge (1797- 1864), the architect of Lansdown Tower. Believed to be one of a pair sold in 1848 on the seventh day of Messrs English & Sons sale of items from 20 Lansdown Crescent, listed as Lot 84 Pair of very neat oak hanging cabinets for bijouterie, with plate glass doors and gilt enrichments. The cabinet is very similar in design to pieces seen in the Goodridge drawings of 1828 for the initial interior schemes at Lansdown Tower. The heavy cornice with rich gilt mouldings and the plain geometrical forms of the cabinet are typical of the furniture designed by Beckford and Goodridge, and the strong architectonic style reflects the Greek Revival taste of Lansdown Tower. The applied quoins or roundels seen on the frieze of the cabinet are a decorative motif used continually November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 2

Fig. 1 Oak wall-mounted cabinet made for William Beckford c.1828, Beckford Tower Trust

throughout both the Tower interiors and the interior alterations made by Goodridge to Beckford’s house at Lansdown Crescent. In the four corners of the cabinet door can be seen Beckford’s heraldic motifs of gilt cinquefoils, which he frequently included in designs or had applied to furniture and objects he commissioned. It is highly likely that this cabinet was initially designed for the Lansdown Tower interiors and then removed to Lansdown Crescent in 1841 when Beckford began commis- sioning new pieces of furniture for the Tower that were less influenced by the severe geometry of the building. Cabinets for Lansdown Tower were designed to function as display cases for items in Beckford’s collection, in this instance books and small objects. They were also vital parts of the interior architecture of the rooms. Cabinets with plate glass doors were mounted above highly polished surfaces of marble and sat opposite windows or large mirrors. The rich use of colour and a clever manipulation of natural light in the rooms would therefore create 2 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 3

Fig. 2 Willes Maddox, The Crimson Drawing Room at Lansdown Tower, from ‘Views of Landsdown Tower’, Edmund English, 1844 (Beckford Tower Trust)

dramatic settings for Beckford’s famous collection. This cabinet is a perfect example of how oak furniture commissioned for the Tower would have been enhanced by wall hangings and upholstery of crimson and scarlet and surfaces of golden Siena marble. It is an item designed to be both a unique object and an integral part of a larger design scheme, and is therefore a fine example of the dual nature of Beckford’s furniture. The Beckford Tower Trust has a collection of books from Beckford’s library, including some Christian Kalthoeber bindings that incorporate Beckford’s heraldic motifs. The ability to display these books in the cabinet at Lansdown Tower now makes it possible to show objects from Beckford’s collection in the manner he originally intended them to be seen. With so few surviving Beckford interiors, this makes it possible to illustrate how the dis- play of objects was equally as important to Beckford as the objects themselves, and further enhances our understanding of the aesthetic ideas he expressed through the art, archi- tecture and furniture he commissioned. The purchase of the cabinet was made possible with support of the Art Fund, the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund and many personal dona- tions. The cabinet can be seen at Beckford’s Tower & Museum in Bath from Easter 2009.

Amy Frost Curator, The Beckford Tower Trust 3 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 4

A COLLECTOR’S CABINET BY ERNEST GIMSON, c. 1902

Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum recently acquired a collector’s cabinet on its own stand, designed by Ernest Gimson (1864–1919). The cabinet belonged to a cousin of Gimson and remained in the family until it was offered to Cheltenham. It was acquired with a generous grant from the Art Fund, and the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, as well as assistance from our very supportive Friends organisation. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner called Ernest Gimson ‘the greatest of the English artist-craftsmen’ in his Pioneers of Modern Design. Gimson, and his colleagues Ernest and Sidney Barnsley, sought little public acclaim, but their respect for the quality of materials used and work- manship ensured that they, and particularly Ernest Gimson, were well-known and admired by their contemporaries in Britain, continental Europe and the USA. More importantly perhaps, Gimson’s work continues to have a resonance and relevance for designer/makers today that transcends the historical movement. Ernest Gimson was born in Leicester where he began his architectural training. He moved to the London office of the influential Arts and Crafts architect John D Sedding in 1886. Inspired by Morris, Sedding and Philip Webb, he took up chair making and decora- tive plasterwork and began designing embroideries and furniture. Between 1890 and 1892 he was involved in Kenton and Co., the firm set up by five young architects to produce well-designed and well-made furniture. However, Gimson and his friend and colleague Sidney Barnsley felt ‘a desire to make closer contact with Nature than they felt was possible over the drawing board in a City office’. In 1893 they moved to the Cotswolds with Sidney’s brother Ernest Barnsley. They shared a workshop until 1900 when Gimson and Ernest set up a second workshop and began employing cabinet makers to execute their designs. This workshop was run from Daneway House near Sapperton. Gimson took sole control of the workshop from the end of 1902 until his death in 1919. Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum has a large collection of material relating to Ernest Gimson. As well as sixteen items of furniture and a substantial collection of smaller decorative art objects, in 1941 the gallery acquired two thousand of his drawings and designs, which form the heart of the museum’s designated Arts & Crafts collection. However, while there are many designs of Gimson’s cabinets, most of the furniture designed by Gimson in the collection reflects the rural Arts and Crafts style, with an emphasis on vernacular craftwork featuring chamfering, chip-carving and open- construction work. The collector’s cabinet is very different. It is a smart and sophisticated design. Jonathan Marsden, one of the Art Fund’s trustees said of the piece during the purchase, ‘the first thing that strikes one is that it’s a very beautiful object, and extraordinarily unusual . . . it’s a metropolitan, urban piece which makes it all the more rare and interesting.’ Although we think of Gimson as a rural, vernacular designer, these cabinets were very much a part of his oeuvre right from the very beginning of his career. Contemporary photographs show several modish cabinets with inlaid, veneered and marquetry decoration, particularly before 1910, although there are very few in public collections (a Kenton & Company marquetry cabinet of 1891 in the Musée d’Orsay). The cabinet is very similar to a design in Cheltenham’s collection (CAGM1941.222.320), with black ebony roundels set in a plain brown ebony cabinet. The roundels appear to be decorated in a pattern of roses to be gilded, and as this design is dated 11 December 1901, it allows us to date the cabinet to around 1902. The cabinet is made of rosewood, and has a veneered exterior with a cut inlaid moulding. The interior doors are veneered in macassar ebony with circles of satinwood. The drawer fronts are also veneered in satinwood with 4 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 5

Fig. 3 Collector’s cabinet by Ernest Gimson, c. 1902, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum

silver handles made by the leading Arts & Crafts jeweller and silversmith, John Paul Cooper. Inspiration from the seventeenth century for this cabinet and others was taken by figures associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, as diverse as C R Ashbee and Gordon Russell. The V&A held examples of Spanish vargueno cabinets that were studied by many designers in the Arts & Crafts Movement: elaborately decorated cabinets on open-work stands designed primarily as writing desks. The form gave the designer and makers an opportunity to show off their skills and craftsmanship. Gimson’s photograph collection reveals that he was also inspired by seventeenth-century vernacular cabinets, spice cabinets and Indian inlaid boxes, and early pieces by him include boxes decorated with mother of 5 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 6

pearl. The newly-acquired cabinet, however, is startling in the simplicity of its design and the reliance on the quality of the materials and workmanship speaks for itself. It shows the impact that Japanese design had on Gimson, and of Aesthetic designers like E W Godwin. This sophistication and simplicity looks forward to twentieth-century developments in design, such as Art Deco. Cheltenham has been fortunate in acquiring a DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund grant to redisplay the Arts & Crafts collection and this cabinet forms a highlight of this newly redisplayed gallery. The collection has had a purpose-built gallery since 1989 and the display focuses on a series of designers and makers: Morris, Voysey, Ashbee and the Guild of Handicraft, Ernest Gimson and Sidney Barnsley, Gordon Russell and Peter Waals. The next step for our collection will be to develop an Open Archive for access to our extensive archive collection, including the Emery Walker Library, which includes many works by the foremost Arts & Crafts bookbinders, as well as our archive relating to Gimson and the Barnsleys. This will be part of an exciting new development for Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum to expand for temporary exhibitions and to increase access to the permanent collection. Kirsty Hartsiotis Curator of Decorative Arts & Designated Collections Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum

SUBSCRIPTIONS 2008–09

The 2008–09 subscription year commenced on 1 July 2008. Those members who pay by cheque or credit card annually should complete the enclosed form and send it to the Membership Secretary. Members who pay annually by banker’s order should ignore this notice. Payment may be made by credit/debit card but this is subject to a 2% surcharge to help recover part of the additional cost to the Society. The scheme for early notification of events is an option which allows for the sending of the activities pages of the Newsletter by fax or first class airmail at proof stage, about three weeks before publication. Members who have not to date provided a gift-aid declaration, and are able to do so because of the payment of income or capital gains tax in the UK, should tick the box provided. This brings valuable additional income to the Society at no cost to the member providing the declaration. The Membership Secretary can be contacted at 1, Mercedes Cottages, St. John’s Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 4EH (tel/fax 01444 413845 or email: [email protected])

Email Communication The officers of the Society find it increasingly convenient to use electronic communication. For members who have joined over the last few years we already have email addresses but for many members we do not. Those sending in subscriptions will find a space for this information on the form provided. Others who pay by banker’s order are requested to provide this information to the Membership Secretary at [email protected]

6 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 7

FUTURE SOCIETY EVENTS

Bookings For places on all visits, please apply to the Activities Secretary, Clarissa Ward, 25 Wardo Avenue, London, SW6 6RA, tel. /fax 020 7384 4458, enclosing a separate cheque and separate stamped addressed envelope for each event using the enclosed booking form. Appli- cations should only be made by members or joint members, and by those who intend to take part in the whole programme. No one can apply for more than one place unless they hold a joint membership, 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 be reached. Please note that a closing date for applications for all visits is printed in the Newsletter. Applications made after the closing date will be accepted only if space is still available. Cancellations Please note that no refunds will be given for cancellations for occasional visits costing £10.00 or less. In all other cases, cancellations will be accepted up to seven days before the date of a visit, and fees returned subject to a £5.00 deduction for administrative costs. Separate arrangements are made for study weekends and foreign tours and terms are clearly stated on the printed details in each case. N.B. PLEASE REMEMBER TO SEND SUFFICIENT STAMPED, SELF-ADDRESSED ENVELOPES FOR ALL APPLICATIONS, INCLUDING REQUESTS FOR DETAILS OF FOREIGN TOURS AND STUDY WEEKENDS.

Annual General Meeting, Works in Progress Talks and Special Talk by Philip Claris the National Trust Collections Management Project, followed by an afternoon visit to The Reform Club The East India Club, 16 St James’s Square, London SW1 Saturday 29 November 2008, 10.30 am–3.30 pm The Annual General Meeting for the year ending 30 June 2008 will be held at the East India Club. The AGM will start at 10.30 am (coffee from 10.00 am) followed by Works in Progress talks by Christopher Rowell, the National Trust, Treve Rosoman, English Heritage, Sarah Medlam, Department of Furniture Textiles & Fashion, V&A Museum and James Lomax, Temple Newsam House, Leeds. These will be followed by a special paper delivered by Philip Claris, Collections Informa- tion Manager, The National Trust. The National Trust is completing a six year programme of converting its collections inventories to a new computer database. The database itself has been specially commissioned as a joint project with the Royal Collection. Details of the Trust’s collections can now be searched as a whole, both for research and management pur- poses. Future plans include the enhancement of electronic catalogue records in specialist areas of the fine and decorative arts, and publication of the results for general public access. After a light lunch, there will be a tour of the Reform Club at 104 Pall Mall. This Italian renaissance-style masterpiece by Sir Charles Barry was inspired by Palazzo Farnese and completed in 1841. The original interiors are richly flamboyant in decoration with most of the furniture made by Holland and Son to the designs of Barry. Admission to the AGM is free but all members wishing to attend should notify the Activities Secretary at least 7 days in advance for security reasons. Tickets for lunch and the 7 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 8

afternoon visit are available at a cost of £25 per head and likewise must be booked with the Activities Secretary at least 7 days in advance.

OCCASIONAL VISITS

Taking Shape: Finding Sculpture in the Decorative Arts. Visit and Private Talk at this special exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Tuesday 18 November 2008, 12.00–4.00 pm This exhibition, co-organised by the Henry Moore Institute and the J Paul Getty Museum in California will focus on the inventive imagination of baroque and rococo in the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries. Displayed in a contemporary gallery space, it will high- light relationships between these styles and consider furniture and decorative art as sculptural modes of expression. The exhibition will include loans from the Getty including one of the Carlin torcheres made for William III, Cressent firedogs, a Meissonier wall clock, the Schor side table and Madame de Pompadour’s vernis martin sugar casters, as well as a group of objects from Temple Newsam. There will be a talk by Martina Droth, curator of the Henry Moore Institute, with James Lomax, curator Temple Newsam House also in attendance during this study session. Fee: £18 (to include basic lunch) Limit: 30 members There are still a few places available on this visit.

Private Evening Reception and Talk at Mallett Antiques, 141 New Bond Street, London W1 Wednesday 28 January 2009, 6.30–8.00 pm FHS members have been kindly invited by the Directors of Mallett Antiques to view their collection of very fine furniture and works of art and there will be a short talk on Changing Trends and Static Qualities in the English Furniture Market. Established in 1865, Mallett commands a pre-eminent position in the antiques world with galleries in London and New York and have recently launched a new initiative, Meta, which combines their extensive knowledge of the craftsmanship of renowned cabinet makers from previous centuries with a contemporary vision of workmanship and design. This evening reception will offer members the opportunity to closely examine the highlights of the current collection, including notable English eighteenth-century objects as well as examples of the new Meta design. Fee: £5

The Cabinet Collection, V&A Furniture Store, Blythe House, London W14 Thursday 26 February 2009, 2.00–4.00 pm Sarah Medlam, Deputy Keeper in the Furniture, Textiles & Fashion Department, will lead this afternoon visit to the stores to look at cabinets not currently on display in the Museum 8 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 9

galleries. This will offer FHS members the unique opportunity of close inspection of the objects. Fee: £10 Limit: 20 members Closing date for applications 15 December 2008

Sources & Methodologies for Researching London Furniture Makers, Beyond the Dictionary, Seminar at the Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road, London E2 Saturday 7 March 2009, 11.00 am–3.30 pm This seminar will discuss new sources for research beyond those covered in the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660–1840, with examples of individual case studies reflecting methodology. The day will be chaired by David Dewing, Director of the Geffrye Museum, and speakers will include: Elizabeth Jamieson (Independent Furniture Researcher): Online resources available from public archives — an overview Laurie Lindey (Furniture Historian, Centre for Metropolitan History, University of London): London livery company archives, inventories and tax records as sources for analysing subcontracting networks Dr Adam Bowett (V&A Research Fellow): Interpreting 17th & 18th century London furniture workshop inventories Adriana Turpin (Director IESA): Legal records & disputes, tax & insurance records Lucy Wood (Senior Curator, Department of Furniture, Textiles & Fashion, V&A): Bank records of patrons and craftsmen Dr Tessa Murdoch (Deputy Keeper, Department of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics & Glass, V&A): Business & church records with particular reference to carvers and gilders and the Hugenots Dr Mark Westgarth (University of Salford): 19th century trade directories & newspapers beyond the DEFM Alexandra Corney (Assistant Keeper, Interpretation & Exhibitions, Geffrye Museum): Interpreting Utility Furniture CC41 marks using the Cabinet Maker Furniture Guides Fee: £25 (to include a light lunch) Limit: 80 members Places are available on a first come basis to FHS members

Advance Notice FHS Annual Symposium, Baroque Furniture and Interiors Saturday 25 April, 2009, V&A Museum, London SW7 The 2009 FHS symposium will take place in the spring to coincide with the exhibition, Baroque 1620-1800: Style in the Age of Magnificence, which will be taking place at the Museum 4 April–19 July 2009. Lectures for the day are being organised by Sarah Medlam and Lucy Wood in the Furniture, Textiles & Fashion Department, V&A, and will cover aspects of furniture and interior architecture in different centuries of production. 9 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 10

Further details and booking instructions for the symposium will appear in the February 2009 Newsletter.

OVERSEAS VISITS

Study Tour of Denmark, Friday 3 to Tuesday 7 April 2009 Details of this FHS study tour appeared in the August Newsletter. Booking forms are available from the FHS Activities Secretary and the closing date for applications will be 15 December 2008.

Advance Notice FHS Visit to Naples, September 2009 Adriana Turpin, with Fausto Calderai, is kindly organising a long weekend study visit to Naples and surrounding area. Details and booking form will be available from 1 March 2009. Closing date for applications will be 1 May 2009.

OTHER EVENTS

Please note that the events listed under this section are not organised by the FHS. Booking information appears at the end of each listing.

Short Courses at the V&A This year the V&A museum has organised a number of short courses which may be of interest to members: * From Arts and Crafts to Post-Modernism: Interior Design of the 20th Century Wednesdays, 10.30–13.00, 1 October to 3 December * Art Deco Design Wednesdays, 14.00–16.30, 4 March to 20 May 2009 * Baroque Interiors and Decoration Tuesdays, 10.30–13.00, 21 April to 9 June 2009 * Table and Chair: 300 Years of English Furniture Tuesdays, 14.00–16.30, 12 May to 30 June 2009 * Pre-Raphaelite Art and Interiors Wednesdays, 10.30–13.00, 6 May-24 June 2009 Book online at www.vam.ac.uk or email: bookings.offi[email protected]

Special Interest Days at Waddesdon Royal Secrets: French, 18th-century court furniture Thursday 20 November, 10.30–4.00 Waddesdon has one of the world’s finest collections of furniture and objects made for the French royal family. Associate Curator Ulrich Leben will look at the creation and use of these objects and the fascination they held for collectors. The day will include an oppor- tunity to examine some unique pieces at close quarters. 10 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 11

Putting the House to Bed Thursday 27 November, 10.30–4.00 In this ever popular day Waddesdon’s curatorial and housekeeping teams explain and demonstrate how they care for the Manor and its collection. Join the Steward, Jane Finch, to discover what goes on behind closed doors during the annual winter clean. Bookings 01296 653226, £60.50, NT members £55.00

Exhibition at The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Taking Shape: Finding Sculpture in the Decorative Arts Until 4 January 2009 This exhibition looks at what sculpture has in common with the decorative arts: makers, techniques and sheer formal invention. It pairs two extraordinary collections — Temple Newsam House and the J. Paul Getty Museum — each focusing on the period c. 1700–1800. Information line 0113 234 3158, enquiries [email protected], www.henry- moore.ac.uk See FHS visit on Tuesday 18 November under Occasional Visits, p. 8.

NINTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON WOOD AND FURNITURE CONSERVATION: VERNACULAR FURNITURE 14 and 15 November 2008 at Felix Meritis — European Centre for Arts, Culture and Science, Amsterdam Speakers include: Dr Bernard Cotton, furniture researcher, UK Herman den Otter, Professor of furniture conservation, University of Amsterdam Prof. Dr Gerdi Maierbacher-Legl, Head of Department for Furniture Conservation, HAWK-FH Hildesheim, Germany Christopher M. Swan, furniture conservator, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, USA Dr Clive Edwards, furniture researcher, Loughborough University Birgitte Larsen, furniture conservator, National Museum, Brede, Denmark John Cross, lecturer in Conservation and Design History, London For details of the full programme, or if you wish to register for the symposium, please go to the website www.ebenist.org. The price for the two-day symposium is € 230, students € 195.

OTHER ITEMS

Major Accessions to Repositories in 2007 Relating to Furniture and Interior Design Local Bath and North East Somerset Record Office, Guildhall, High Street, Bath, BA1 5AW AE Turner, cabinet maker, Bath: correspondence and photographs 1920–1939 (Acc 695) Doncaster Archives Department, King Edward Road , Balby, Doncaster, DN4 0NA 11 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 12

Brewitt & Son, shop and office fitters, Doncaster: drawings and sketches of proposed building work 1930s–1980s (DZ MD 780) Essex Record Office, Wharf Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 6YT Bryan Saunders, ecclesiastical woodcarver, Coggeshall: records 1919-1973 (D/DU 2348) Gloucestershire Archives, Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, GL1 3DW Friendly Society of Operative Cabinet Makers, Gloucester branch: minutes 1874–1920 (D10953) Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, Bancroft Library, 277 Bancroft Road, London, E1 4DQ T & W Ide, glass merchants and manufacturers, builders’ merchants, London: records 19th–20th century (TH/9189, 9219) Warwickshire County Record Office, Priory Park, Cape Road, Warwick, CV34 4JS Idlicote House: draft inventory of contents including outbuilding and gardens, with separate lists of china, glass, books, etc c. 1806 (CR 4099) National National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2 R Strahan & Co, cabinetmakers, upholsters, removers, auctioneers and undertakers, Dublin: letters and ephemera with notes on the family and business (Acc 6387) V&A Museum, Archive of Art and Design, 23 Blythe Road, London, W14 0QX Oskar Ehrensweig, textile designer: designs and workbook c. 1920–1939 (AAD/2007/11) Enid Crystal Dorothy Marx, painter and designer: papers c. 1900–998 (AAD/2007/3) Hans Unger, graphic designer and mosaic artist: additional papers 1939–1982 (AAD/2007/12) Heal & Son Ltd, department store, bedding, quilt and mattress manufacturers, cabinet makers and upholsterers, London: additional records 1997-2005 (AAD/2007/1) Special Royal Institute of British Architects, British Architectural Library, Drawings and Archives Collections, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL Sir James Thornhill MP, painter: design for a chimneypiece at Briggens, Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire 1720 (2007.5) University London University: Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL David Leslie and Mary Medd, architects: papers, articles and notebooks relating to furniture, colour and the Building Bulletin c. 1940–2007 (DC/ME)

EXHIBITION REVIEW

‘Thomas Hope: Regency Designer’, The Bard Graduate Center, New York, 17 July–16 November 2008 Exhibitions have two lives: they exist in a physical form for their duration, and survive in perpetuity through their catalogues. Each of these interconnecting elements should ideally work in isolation. In the case of ‘Thomas Hope: Regency Designer’ the impacts of the two 12 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:27 pm Page 13

versions of the exhibition, the first of which ran to great acclaim at the V&A Museum in London ( 21 March-22 June 2008), are also quite different. In its theatrical installation at the V&A, the larger version of the exhibition was visually arresting. The visitor entered to be dramatically confronted by William Beechey’s full length portrait of Thomas Hope (cat. no. 1) paired with Martin Archer Shee’s portrait of Hope’s wife Louise (cat. no 3). Soon one was winding towards brilliantly rendered, partial reconstructions of rooms at Duchess Street, and then swiftly on past platforms of furniture, and show cases of objects and books, before exiting, seemingly too soon, via the Deepdene. The exhibition at Bard, although numerically smaller, has the advantage of being installed over three floors of a town house, thus lending an appropriate sense of scale to the furniture, sculpture and other objects. While not attempting to replicate the interiors created at the V&A, the designers at Bard have nonetheless successfully evoked the spirit of Duchess Street, notably on the entrance floor. Here, the use of colour and textiles immediately expresses the richness of Regency period interiors. Bard’s installation begins not with Thomas Hope’s early travels, but with Duchess Street and Household Furniture (1807), his greatest achievements. The visitor is presented almost at once with the three strands that most readily identify Hope: the collector of ancient art, the patron of contemporary artists, and the creator of the furnishings and interiors at Duchess Street. Informative juxtapositions, rather than strictly chronological sequencing, are a feature of the display at Bard. For example, the Hope-commissioned painting by Richard Westall, The Sword of Damacles, 1812, with an elaborate classically-inspired throne surmounted by a pine cone finial (cat. no. 64), is hung behind Hope’s similarly embellished settee (cat. no. 81). Next to this is a reconstructed Roman cinerarium from Hope’s own collection (cat. no. 40), incorporating carved decoration like that on the sofa. These three linked exhibits demon- strate succinctly aspects of Hope’s response to neo-classicism and its sources. The richness of the giltwood furniture that dominates the beginning of the exhibition is separated from, and contrasted with, a group of mahogany furniture, most of which it is suggested was probably from Hope’s private appartements; an interpretation that was not apparent in the V&A’s less didactic installation. A further benefit from layout at Bard is that one is able to get near enough to examine the furniture closely. One can observe, for example, consistencies in the execution of the carving. Thus, the exhibition offers the significant opportunity to better understand the common characteristics of furniture that the catalogue entries attribute to Bogaert. Aptly for a teaching organisation, Bard has produced exemplary introductory panels and labels. In each case, these provide information composed to appeal as much to cognoscenti as to the visitor approaching the exhibition with less knowledge. Plates from Household Furniture are invariably incorporated on labels, suggesting instantly how a table, bust or vase looked at Duchess Street. On the second floor, which includes watercolours by Hope from his extensive Grand Tour, the highlight is the compact installation representing the Egyptian Room, with a yellow background (following an element of the colour scheme for the room described in Household Furniture). In this section, as elsewhere, the detailed labels help interpret the context of each object, without interfering with any instinctive reaction to the ravishing and self-evident aesthetic qualities of some of Hope’s best-known furniture (cat. nos 76–77). Another effective use of colour is the rich, deep red terracotta-coloured background to a display of Greek vases. On this floor too, a notable addition to the Bard show is the V&A’s pair of tables, with a reputed Newcastle provenance (cat. no. 75). Lack of space led to their exclusion in London, but here their bravura carving, presumably by Bogaert, can be 13 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 14

Fig. 4 Settee, after a design published by Thomas Hope. c. 1802. Bronzed and gilded beech, with restoration, and bronze mounts. Trustees of the Faringdon Collection, Buscot Park, Oxfordshire. Photo: Bruce White

instructively compared with that on the fully documented mahogany table, also from the V&A (cat. no. 84), shown on the floor above. The top floor of the exhibition tells the story of Hope’s family and, as well as some of the furniture from the private rooms at Duchess Street, includes books and a final section on the creation and furnishing of the Deepdene. Modern technology is used to great effect in two ‘virtual tours’ that take the visitor through Duchess Street and the Deepdene, neither of which survive. The visit to Duchess Street is mainly via Tatham’s recently discovered architectural drawings and the pages of Household Furniture, while the Deepdene is seen principally through a series of contempo- rary interior and exterior watercolours. Both tours are accompanied by a well-scripted narrator. While it is of course a shame that not all the objects shown in London could travel, here in New York there is the additional benefit of a walk across Central Park to see the chandelier (cat. no. 94) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The organisers and design team at Bard have conspicuously succeeded in placing an influential patron and collector in context, while at the same time allowing great works of art to reflect in their own glory. Martin P. Levy The reviewer was a contributor to Philip Hewat-Jaboor and David Watkin (eds), Thomas Hope: Regency Designer, New Haven and London, 2008, but was not involved with the installations of either of the exhibitions.

14 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 15

BOOK REVIEWS Suggestions for future reviews and publishers’ review copies should be sent to Dr Reinier Baarsen, Reviews Editor, Rijksmuseum, PO Box 74888, 1070 DN Amsterdam, The Nether- lands. Tel. 00-31-20-6747220. e-mail: [email protected] Richard Bebb, Welsh Furniture 1250–1950: a cultural history of craftsmanship and design (Kidwelly: Saer Books with the assistance of National Museums Wales and the National Library of Wales, 2007), 2 vols, 825 pp., 1500 mainly col. illus. ISBN 13-97809553773-1-0, £150.00 This highly ambitious and wide-ranging work reviews the many sorts of furniture made and used in Wales, at all social levels, over several hundred years. Although in principle beginning in the thirteenth century, the earliest date proposed for any extant furniture is in the fourteenth century, and the density of material naturally increases from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth. After 1800 the emphasis is on pieces that can either be linked to Welsh patrons (mainly of the land-owning classes) or that represent a continuing tradition of small-scale rural manufacture. Large commercial firms in Carmarthen and other towns are discussed in relation to an interesting output of labelled pieces, but for the twentieth century discussion is almost confined to the ‘reinvented’ Bardic Chair, made to carry the winner of an Eisteddfod. The organization of the book is only loosely chronological, and navigation is not helped by some rather misleading chapter headings (such as ‘Chairs of Silver and Gold’ for a chapter dealing largely with oak furniture). However, the persistent reader will be rewarded by much thought-provoking discussion, even if not always agreeing with the author’s conclusions. Near the beginning is a very helpful review of the historiography of Welsh furniture since the 1890s, and here some of the author’s chief concerns — frequently reiterated throughout the book — first emerge: in particular, the conviction that the inspira- tion for new forms of furniture did not always move from ‘top’ to ‘bottom’ of society, and that not all Welsh forms and usage owe their inspiration to London. The latter proposition, at least, is so self-evident that the repeated insistence on the point risks having the opposite of its intended effect on the reader. But the reluctance to acknowledge any debt to London- made furniture leads the author to propose a ‘Continental’ source for certain models that indubitably originated in London (such as the late Baroque caned chair, a type known as ‘English’ all over Europe). The former point is stressed no less often (and could well be argued in relation to certain vernacular forms — whether Welsh or not — such as the lad- der-back chair), but discussion of actual instances is long deferred. One such is the characteristic Welsh (and Scottish) hooded ‘lipwork’ chair, made with bundles of wheat straw tied to a frame, which in the early nineteenth century ‘appeared among . . . fashion- able furniture’ (as noted in 1835). The attacks on ‘conventional furniture history’, which is here condemned for an exclusively London-centred, ‘top-to-bottom’ view of formal and stylistic influence, suggest that the author is unfamiliar with much that has become entirely conventional in the writing of the last thirty years. However, the book’s prime importance lies not in these attacks on such straw men, but in the assessment of the changing social context for the production of different kinds of furniture, and the review of forms and usages that are dis- tinctive — if not always unique — to various parts of Wales. Important aspects of the social context include the evidence (much of it drawn from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century inventories) that merchants, innkeepers and even some yeomen often lived with better furniture than the declining gentry; the major impact of non-conformism on rural Welsh life (but it might have been more useful to compare this with rural life in other parts of 15 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 16

Britain rather than with the lives of the aristocracy); and in Anglesey the use of barter, especially in payment for rent, rather than a money economy. Among the furniture forms most interestingly reviewed are church screens (with full acknowledgement to the work of Fred Crossley), ‘Black Mountains type’ chests, two-tier and three-tier cupboards, built-in cupboard beds, and of course dressers. The author states that ‘it is not [his] primary aim to provide comprehensive regional typologies’, but in fact the sections that attempt just that are among the most useful in the book. Combined with these are some fascinating remarks on techniques of carving and construction — such as the formation of a ‘Black Mountains type’ chest as a box supported on the ledges of thick, deeply rebated legs; periodical references to evidence for green-wood (‘short-seasoned’) manufacture; and the use of dove- tails in medieval roof construction. The longest discussion of construction (Vol. I, p. 134, ‘Carving techniques’) is one section that leaves the reader with an appetite for much more. The value of these surveys is unfortunately lessened because we are rarely told the evidence for crediting an object to a specific region; which is particularly problematic in the case of several types that, overtly, could as easily be English as Welsh. Moreover, the location of illustrated objects is not usually given in the captions (and can only sometimes be worked out by trawling the incomplete (?) photographic credits); indeed it is stated in the preface, confusingly, that ‘when a house name is included [in a caption] it can be assumed that the piece is no longer there’. This greatly reduces the illustrations’ value as points of reference. A case in point is a very interesting group of rope-seated chairs, discus- sed as a Cardiganshire product of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the illustrated examples (plates 1209–10, 1212) appear to have new rope, but none of these (which have all come through the market) could be traced by an interested reader to assess the evidence that rope was their original treatment — evidence that is not presented in the text. The lack of firm documentation — which in many cases is unavoidable — compounds various problems with the dating of objects. To this reader’s eye there is a tendency to date pieces several decades too early (some are even dated before the introduction in London of a borrowed metropolitan feature, such as the vase splat or the cabriole leg). The dating of some of the turned chairs discussed in chapter 2 (some of which could surely be English) may be even further adrift: all are placed in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries, but their seemingly excellent condition suggests that most were probably made well after 1600 — perhaps nearer the time of Randle Holme’s account of the manufacture of this type (1649), quoted on page 139. Others may indeed date from after 1830, or be made up in the nine- teenth century from partly old components (as seems likely in the case of a turned chair in the V&A Museum). Similarly, the Dining Room at Gwydir Castle, which is presented as a creation of ‘1640’ (when the family did not live in the house), using some old material and with some later additions, seems much more likely to be an antiquarian concoction of the early-nineteenth century, contemporary with the made-up communion table in Gwydir Uchaf chapel (pl. 978). With other objects, too, the author evinces a rather uncritical acceptance of objects as largely of one period. ‘Prince Arthur’s Cupboard’ (pl. 253, in the V&A) is certainly a more complex and puzzling thing than its presentation here suggests, and many other pieces prompt a certain scepticism — such as the cradle of ‘c. 1388’ that seems never to have encountered a damp floor (pl. 243a), or the bed in pl. 276, which strains credulity. The date of extant painted finishes is not discussed (for instance, the bright red ground on the New- town Church screen, which was described in the early nineteenth century as ‘dark brown’ (Vol. I, p. 124)). Some of the documentary evidence is also invested with more significance than it necessarily bears: for example the depiction of highly elaborate thrones in a late- fourteenth-century illuminated book of hours (pls 44, 149, 151) is taken to indicate that such

16 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 17

thrones were in use in Wales at the time, without reviewing the international tradition of manuscript illumination on which this might be drawing. These quibbles must, however, be set against the much larger achievement of this book, in placing the production of Welsh furniture in the context of the requirements of widely different levels of society, varying in different regions, and changing dramatically over several centuries. Among the most useful evidence presented is the contemporary com- mentary on Welsh life by outsiders and, even more valuably, insiders — including such gems as Giraldus Cambrensis’s account of communal sleeping in the late twelfth century. No less illuminating is the discussion of the use of carpentry as a metaphor for poetry in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, or Roger Mostyn’s remarkable letter of 1664 to Sir Richard Wynn, arranging for ‘ffoulke the joyner’ to make some new tables for Gwydir; had he been younger ffoulke might have moved to Gwydir to make them, but now he preferred to make them at home because ‘hee is grown so old and Crazie’ that he could no longer travel. For the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially, the reader comes away with a highly nuanced sense of the overlaps between the lives of the aristocracy, the higher and lower gentry, merchants, innkeepers, yeomen and peasants - and consequently much better equipped to imagine the likely original context of surviving Welsh furniture, and the scope and nature of what has not survived. Lucy Wood

Nöel Riley, Penwork: A Decorative Phenomenon (Wetherby: Oblong, 2008) 208pp., 138 col., 139 b. & w. illus. ISBN 978-0-9556576-0-3, £35. Although the decorative surface finish known as penwork is something that furniture historians will readily recognise, it is surprising how little on the subject has appeared in print. One will search in vain for an article in The Dictionary of English Furniture, while John Gloag’s Dictionary of Furniture (rev. edn. 1990) dismisses the subject in one sentence, defining it as ‘Ornamental scrolls, arabesques, flowers and other subjects drawn on a sur- face with a pen, and protected by transparent varnish’. Penwork was mainly practised in the Regency period, but standard histories of the furniture of that time cover the subject in a few lines; only the recent books on boxes by Cummins and Clarke & O’Kelly provide a wider range of illustrations. Clearly there was a need for a more extensive work based on research in depth, and this Nöel Riley has provided. In a wide-ranging section, she investigates the sources of the technique. As might be expected, lacquer techniques and designs feature here, but the more immediate inspiration is found in the Anglo-Indian ivory-veneered work produced at Vizagapatam, with its engraved detail enhanced by the application of black ink. Another source is identified in the wide range of wares produced at Spa, where penwork was being used from the mid- eighteenth century ‘en imitation de lacque’. It inspired English Tunbridge ware makers, who later used penwork techniques on some of their manufactures. Riley fully explains these techniques, making good use of contemporary descriptions. The question of how much penwork decoration was amateur or professional is looked at in depth, and it is perhaps surprising that documentary evidence has been found of large and elaborate pieces of furniture having been entirely decorated by amateurs who were clearly highly skilled. The range of objects extends from large freestanding cabinets, chiffoniers, tables etc. to boxes used for the storage of tea, needlework, writing, games, visiting cards, spectacles and table cabinets for collectables. Face screens, watch stands and bellows also feature, but, strangely, cribbage boards are omitted. A separate section deals with the design sources for the main decorative features and borders. Individual chapters are devoted to neo-classical, Chinese and Indian motifs, and 17 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 18

to the proliferation of floral and foliate designs for borders or even entire pieces. Often the design used is traced back to a contemporary book or periodical illustration, but it is interesting to note that even Stalker and Parker’s publication was dusted off and its illustra- tions employed. Egyptian sources were largely ignored by the decorators: only one example is illustrated. The bibliography provides evidence of the wide-ranging research which has gone into the writing of this work. The author may be congratulated for her endeavours which have resulted in such a comprehensive study. The publisher has used his skills to produce an attractive volume which is offered at a modest price. Brian Austen

SHORTER NOTICE

Heidrun Zinnkann (ed.), exh. cat. Der feine Unterschied, Biedermeiermöbel Europas 1815-1835 (Frankfurt: Museum für angewandte Kunst, and Munich, Berlin, London and New York: Prestel, 2007), 288 pp., 190 col., 25 b/w illus. ISBN 978-3-7913-3873-6, €49,95. The origins and significance of Biedermeier, the strikingly sparse, late-classical style that held sway in the German-speaking parts of Europe from about 1815 to 1835, have for several decades been the subject of heated debate that came to the fore again on the occasion of the major exhibition Biedermeier, the invention of simplicity held in Milwaukee, Vienna, Berlin and Paris in 2006 to 2008. Without entirely ignoring these issues, the present exhibition and catalogue firmly concentrate on Biedermeier furniture, in an attempt to analyse more thoroughly than has been done before the local characteristics of the production in the various localities. The main centres, Vienna and Berlin, are dealt with, as well as less prominent cities and regions in Germany, Hungary and Denmark. A number of introductions highlight the features that distinguish these centres, linking them to specific conditions pertaining there, and the catalogue proper presents eighty-eight individual pieces as significant examples of the main furniture types, as well as the small useful items that are so typical of the period. Surprisingly few pieces are securely docu- mented as to place of origin, date or maker, so the commentaries deal largely with assump- tions rather than facts. As Biedermeier furniture tends to be quite plain and as printed designs from England, France, Vienna and several German cities were widely circulated and used, the argument typically concentrates on the woods employed and on technical idiosyncracies, but also on subtle differences in proportion or surface treatment — the feiner Unterschied from the title of the exhibition — that can be difficult to grasp. The general divisions proposed by Georg Himmelheber in his pioneering Biedermeier furniture of 1974 apparently still hold good, but this new publication presents an attractive survey, including many pieces not previously published, together with a number of up-to-date assessments of local conditions.

REPORTS ON THE SOCIETIES ACTIVITIES

The Loire & Cher, 1–5 May 2008 Our arrival in the Loire and at our first visit, the Pagoda de Chanteloup, sparked the skies to open with torrential rains. However, the sunny disposition of M Thierry André prevailed and we soon emerged from the marquee, having watched a video of the history and 18 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 19

restoration before visiting the site itself. The Pagoda and basin have been under the careful stewardship of the André family since 1910 when M André’s grandfather restored it for the first time since its construction. This extraordinary classical Chinese structure tinged with influences of French neoclassical architecture was built in 1775 by Etienne-Francois, duc de Choiseuil (1719–85) as a symbol to the bonds of friendship following his expulsion from the court of Louis XV. The Pagoda is now empty, although the fine ornamental details of the structure are clearly visible and the quality of the original furnishings appreciated with a few remaining examples in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Tours, seen on our final day. We continued to Château du Fresne where we were greeted by the elegant and charming Marquise de Brantes, who allowed the group to explore throughout. Purchased in 1804 by her late husband’s ancestor, Pierre-Francois Cuillier, General Perron (1755–1834), numerous treats were discovered, including two very unusual Louis XV double-wide commodes and a set of six Empire giltwood fauteuils and six matching chairs, before we were seated on a set of twenty-four Consular mahogany dining chairs for an appetising dinner hosted by the Marquise, her daughter and friends. The next day our morning started at the Château de Brissac, the tallest château in France, which has belonged to the Ducs de Brissac since 1502. We were warmly welcomed by Bruno van den Broek d’Obrenan, a Parisian auctioneer and brother-in-law of the current Duc. Although the contents of the Château were dispersed in 1793, the family began the process of returning their property and possessions from 1796 onwards and this continued throughout the nineteenth century. Of particular note were the château’s original seventeenth-century painted ceilings and of special interest to the group were a white chair with the estampille of L. Cresson in the Grand Salon and in the Chambre de Judith several interesting pieces of Italian seventeenth-century furniture acquired in the 1880s. The group enjoyed a delightful lunch washed down with wine from the estate and a charming toast from the Duc. Much revived we proceeded to Château de Serrant, the home of the de Brie family from the fourteenth century, bought in 1749 by a ship owner from Nantes, Antoine Walsh, who redecorated the interior, created an English style park, and added two pavilions to the Renaissance château. In 1830 Valentine Walsh de Serrant married the Duke de La Tremoille, from whom the current owner, Princess de Merode-Westerloo, is descended. In November 2000 the exceptional collection of furniture was added to the list of Historic Monuments and we were thrilled to inspect the ebony cabinet by Pierre Gole in the Grand Salon. Our next stop was Château de Drouilly, bought in the mid-twentieth century by an American lady, Mrs Wetherill, whose son had kindly organised the most sumptuous spread of canapés and champagne. After this the coach delivered us across the valley to Le Prieurie de Notre Dame des Marchais, Trôo, the home of the organisers and leaders of this study tour, Charles Garnett and Sylvain Lévy-Alban. As befits these two great arbiters of taste the house is furnished extremely stylishly, illustrating Charles’ love of Gillows furniture and Sylvain’s passion for medieval stone and religious sculpture. We were treated to a superb buffet and Adriana Turpin delivered a fitting tribute to our hosts for their hospitality and for organising such a varied and enthralling programme of visits. The dawn of Saturday morning led us to Château de Cheverny, the home of the Marquis de Vibraye. As one of the first châteaux to be opened to the public in 1914, it still attracts huge crowds and although close inspection was limited, the wealth of splendid seventeenth- and eighteenth-century furniture was sublime, culminating with the State Bed covered with sixteenth-century Persian embroidery. A picnic lunch in the sunshine of the grounds of Château de Beauregard preceded our visit to the home of the Comtesse de Pavillon. The main inspiration behind the architecture and interiors was Paul Ardier, Comptroller of Wars and Treasurer, who bought the estate in 1617. The spectacular portrait 19 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 20

gallery houses over 327 historical portraits and splendid Delft tiling, but our attention was primarily drawn in the South Gallery to a pair of Indian gothic armchairs with leather seats and a mother of pearl inlaid cabinet, both possibly imported c. 1700, and a good late- sixteenth-century French walnut credence. There was also a fine architectural buffet de corps in walnut dated 1625, beautifully carved with high relief foliate and scroll work, the ornamentation of both parts (including the cornice) seemed in the opinion of Christopher Payne and Jonathan Harris to be original. Our next visit, Château Montpoupon, began with probably a ‘first’ for the Society as it commenced with a tour of a dovecot and hunting museum. We were then ushered into the magic of this ‘lived in’ home by our host Comte Amaury de Louvencourt. Once again we were treated to boldly coloured Beauvais tapestries and a pleasant mixture of furniture ranging from the country style to Louis XVI chairs by Jacob. Château de Valençay was our first stop on Sunday morning. Despite its location in the Indre, the residence bears more resemblance to the Renaissance châteaux of the Loire. In 1803 Napoleon ordered his foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, to acquire the property and the Spanish royal family were interned there from 1809 to 1814. Catherine Benoit, aided by local restorer, Mr Baubiet, led an indepth inspection of the sumptuous Empire furniture including the famous Congress of Vienna table, a bureau à gradin attributed to Charles Guillaume Winckelsen, Erard pianoforte and harp, and Talleyrand’s grand secretaire in the style of Roentgen. The afternoon was spent at Bouges-le-Château, a fine square château built in the 1760s very much in the style of the King’s Pavilion at Marly. The interior dated mainly to the late-nineteenth century work of architect Alfred Dauvergne and the work undertaken after the purchase in 1917 by M & Mme Viguier. Now managed by the municipality who have retained much of the intriguing early 20th century soft furnishing, the house contains many treats for furniture historians. Examples included the work of the Caillois family, Delion, Etienne Levasseur, Cannabas, Claude Chevigny, Jean Jacques Pafrat, Sené, Joseph Stockel, a table de famille reputedly a gift from Napoleon, a ‘Polish’ bed from a château in the Sologne with the stamp of Jean Avisse and Jean-Baptiste Lelarge which looked splendid in the ‘Louis XVI’ bedroom. An hour’s stop at the main tourist attraction of the area, Château de Chenonceaux, completed another day of diverse collections. Turning our thoughts back to the start of this study tour and to complete our studies, Monday morning was spent at the Musée des Arts, Tours, where curator Sophie Join- Lambert led an intense study of pieces from the collection of the duc de Choiseul at Chanteloup. We began with the lacquer commode which had the CP inventory mark, thus identifiable as the item listed in the inventory of 1785 in the apartments of the Duchess. The importance of the piece lies not only in the large panels of eighteenth-century Chinese lacquer but also the very fine mounts. Jean Demoulin, who stamped it, made two other similar pieces; yet another using the same lacquer and mounts is stamped Criard, which has led to the suggestion that both ébènistes were working for the marchand ébèniste Pierre Migeon. The style of the commode has suggested a date of 1750–55, however Adriana Turpin felt that the mounts could equally date from the 1760s. In either case, the fact that it was still on display in 1785 shows that the naturalistic and feminine form of this commode were considered appropriate for the bedchamber, as was its exotic nature. We then proceeded to examine the most famous piece of the collection, the desk attributed to Simon Oeben, documented as coming from the duc de Choiseul’s cabinet in Chanteloup in 1785. The piece is not signed and there is no firm documentation as to its authorship, but Simon Oeben was paid for several pieces of furniture in 1769. His brother, Jean-François had supplied a secretaire to Choiseul in 1763 and Simon certainly worked for another member of the family. The desk appears to date from the late 1760s in the 20 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 21

fashionable gout grec style: the box pattern marquetry is very close to that found on Jean- François pieces from the late 1750s and comparisons were made between the Tours bureau plat and the 1763 secretaire. As this has the double signature of J-F Oeben and Riesener, the attribution to Simon is obviously not certain. The mounts certainly differ from typical Riesener pieces, and in the end, the group felt that neither the mounts nor the construction of the drawers seemed conclusive. The final piece for close examination was a mahogany bidet, again attributed to Simon Oeben, whose elegant form was identical to the marquetry ones made for Madame de Pompadour. That and the newly-fashionable taste for mahogany, reminded us how close the artistic as well as political ties could be among courtiers in the court of Louis XV. We then only had a brief moment to look at some beautifully carved chairs and console tables, also from Chanteloup, and admire the Boucher painting of Apollo revealing his divinity to the shepherdess Issé, painted in 1750. Long thought to represent the duchess of Choiseul, recent research suggests it was indeed Madame de Pompadour herself, who had played the role in the opera in 1749 and had commissioned the painting from Boucher. The châteaux of the Loire are often reputed to be void of furniture; however the meticulous planning and organisation of this study tour by Charles Garnett and Sylvain Lévy-Alban illustrated the great wealth and diversity of objects existing in these magnifi- cent residences. The exceptionally warm hospitality of our private hosts and local curators demonstrated the generous commitment to their collections and homes. We are also very grateful to John Whitehead for his interpreting skills on many occasions during the tour. Reports by Edgar Harden, Dr James Yorke, Andrew Jenkins, Christopher Overton, Christopher Payne, Adriana Turpin (compiled by Clarissa Ward) Copies of the full reports on each visit, apart from Valencay, are available from the FHS Activities Secretary (please send large s.a.e.).

Scotland: Sir Robert Lorimer and the Edinburgh Cabinet Makers, 20–22 June 2008 Sir Robert Stoddart Lorimer became one of the leading Scottish architect/designers of the early-twentieth century. Whilst Edwin Lutyens dominated the South, Lorimer ruled the North with commissions reading like a Who’s Who of early-twentieth century society. Lorimer grew up and trained in an age where the eclectic tastes of the Victorians began to subdue under the Arts and Crafts style, whereby architecture and the interiors harmonized and the quality of the materials reflected in the designs. The study weekend focused on looking at Sir Robert’s work in greater detail whilst also visiting many houses with which he had been involved or had an influence upon, whether it was through the context of architect/designer or through the work of cabinetmakers Whytock and Reid. On arrival in St Andrews the group spent the evening at Hill of Tarvit, a Lorimer house built for a Jute industrialist, Frederick Sharp. The Sharps commissioned Lorimer in 1904 to re-design an existing house Wemyss Hall, to house their extensive collection of furniture and fine art. The house exemplifies Lorimer’s approach to co-ordinating the rooms to the furniture and Frederick Sharp, a contemporary of Burrell, commissioned Lorimer to build a new house to showcase the collection amassed by the family. Each room on the ground floor was a different architectural style, ensuring the contents compliment their sur- roundings and vice versa. The Drawing Room is in the French style with ornate plaster- work housing the French antique furniture such as a Weissweiler commode and also more recent pieces by Mellier and Co. The Hall is panelled in Scottish oak and baronial in style, 21 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 22

housing the solid pieces of oak and walnut furniture which sit with ease in their surroundings. Completed in 1906 the house is now managed by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and Ian Gow, with the assistance of Kate Mitchell, gave a tour on ‘putting the collection back’ and the challenges facing the NTS in taking the house back to a Lorimer scheme after having spent thirty years as a Marie Curie convalescent home. David Jones also undertook a tour focusing on the furniture and how Frederick Sharp amassed a collec- tion of a connoisseur. Although Lorimer remodelled Hill of Tarvit and employed his usual team of craftsmen to work on the house (Scott Morton, Thomas Haddon & the Bromesgrove Guild of Applied Arts) only one piece of furniture can be attributed solely to Lorimer’s designs, that of a green tortoiseshell mirror made by Whytock and Reid. The following morning we were off to Kellie Castle (NTS), the family summer home of the Lorimers. The young Sir Robert spent his youth at Kellie and later remodelled various aspects of the property. We were very fortunate to have William Lorimer, grandson of Sir Robert Lorimer, and Ian Gow lead the group through the house. We were able to compare Lorimer’s stylistic approach to furniture design with pieces in the collection he grew up with, which he copied almost directly later in his career, and learnt that continental and Dutch furniture particularly appealed to Lorimer and his patrons. He favoured native woods for his designs, displaying their natural beauty whilst promoting home grown tim- ber, in particular Scots oak and reintroducing more unusual timbers found in older Scottish furniture. Lorimer’s furniture designs were usually crafted by the Edinburgh firm of Whytock and Reid, eminent cabinet makers who closed recently (2004) and are still missed by those who remember the quality and craftsmanship that came out of the showroom. Though rarely heard of south of the border, Whytock and Reid epitomised quality and style in their field of Scottish furniture making. Founded in 1807 by Edinburgh businessman Richard Whytock, he later partnered cabinetmaker John Reid in 1876 to form the company that we know today and was awarded the Royal Warrant by Queen Victoria. We passed through the Fife countryside to visit Earlshall, a privately owned ‘Scots Baronial’ house sympathetically ‘restored’ by Lorimer in 1891. We were warmly received by the current owners Paul and Josine Veenhuizen who gave us free reign to rummage and kept us entertained with quirky anecdotes of previous occupants and the history of the house. The house and collection parted company during the 1980s (the more interesting Lorimer furniture saved and housed by the National Museums of Scotland) but the house and grounds still display Lorimer’s influence (Lorimer incidentally also played a hand in garden design, in particular the furniture and summer houses to be enjoyed in them). After a superb lunch and a very hospitable stay we crossed the boarder into Perthshire to spend an afternoon in one of the greatest examples of a truly untouched early-twentieth-century Scottish arts and crafts house, Monzie Castle. Monzie was quite an unusual commission for Sir Robert Lorimer in that he found himself in a particularly lucky situation by being given practically a free reign to rebuild and refurbish the castle for the Makgill Crichton family after it burnt down in 1908. Helped by the fact his patrons were living in the USA during the rebuilding programme, Monzie stands as a tribute to Lorimer and his craftsmen’s skill and attention to detail, and even more spectacular is that the house remains virtually untouched to this day. The wealth of knowledge which can be obtained from studying the collection here, whether in terms of furniture, textiles or the Edwardian country house in general, is second to none. William Lorimer pointed out pieces of interest that displayed French, English and Italian influences, whilst in the family kitchen sat a Lorimer dresser purchased from the Earlshall sale. Not to be phased by having visited three properties in one day, we spent a lovely Fife summer evening in the company of David and Jane Lorimer at Gibliston, who fed and 22 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 23

watered us extremely well and even had their son play the pipes for their guests. Gibliston was the home of Sir Robert, as his brother retained the lease of Kellie Castle. The following morning we visited Lauriston Castle, an Edwardian villa in Edinburgh gifted to the nation by Mr and Mrs W. R Reid in 1926. The Reids had owned the furniture company Morison & Co. in Edinburgh and lavished the property with spectacular Dutch and Italian furniture as well as a vast collection of Blue John. David Scarratt, Curator, kindly showed us around and we were able to compare the interiors through a series of archival photographs taken during the Reid’s occupancy and pay particular attention to the pieces which had come from the Morison & Co. showrooms. Our next stop was Georgian Antiques in Leith, a warehouse over four floors packed to the gunnels with interesting, unusual and rather desirable furniture. The owner, antiques dealer John Dickson took us around and tempted us with his stock of Whytock and Reid furniture for sale. Our final visit of the weekend was to Reid Memorial Church, accompanied by Elizabeth Cumming, recent Curator of ‘Mind, Body and Soul, The arts and crafts movement in Scotland’. It was an arts and crafts church, designed by the offices of Graeme Thompson, using Thomas Haddon and Scott Morton for the interiors and wonder- ful James Ballantaine stained glass windows and it was an interesting comparison to the houses we had visited as it offered the quality and skill as expected of these craftsmen, but, without the various collections and decorative interiors distracting the eye. The carving appeared purer and simpler in form and the skills of turning and carving fully appreciated. The weekend was immensely interesting and entertaining and offered a broader depth of knowledge on the work of Sir Robert Lorimer as well as that of the arts and craft move- ment in Scotland. Through visiting a handful of properties, the study tour offered the opportunity to examine houses and collections in greater detail, for this we are very grate- ful to David Jones, Ian Gow, Elizabeth Cummings, Paul and Josine Veenhuizen, Mrs Crichton and David Scarratt for enlightening us and showing such hospitality throughout the weekend. However the Society is particularly indebted to Christina Anderson for organising the itinerary and to William Lorimer for his scholarly and enthusiastic contribu- tions to our studies of his grandfather’s important legacy. Ruth Burgess Curator, National Trust for Scotland

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 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 applications should be addressed to Adriana Turpin, Secretary to the Fund at 39 Talbot Road, London W2 5JH, [email protected], who will also supply 23 November 2008 22/10/2008 3:28 pm Page 24

application forms for the Oliver Ford Trust grants on request. Please remember to send a s.a.e. with any request. The committee requests that applications for study trips be made well in advance of the final deadline for acceptance — preferably at least one month before.

Copy Deadline The deadline for receiving material to be published in the next Newsletter is 15 December. Copy should be sent, preferably by email, to [email protected] or posted to Matthew Winterbottom, The Holbourne Museum of Art, Bath BA2 4DB, tel. 01225 820813

Officers and Council Members

President: Sir Nicholas Goodison Council Members: Adam Bowett, James Yorke, James Rothwell, Matthew Winterbottom, Claire Chairman of the Council: Simon Swynfen Jervis Jones, Jeremy Garfield-Davies Honorary Secretary: Lisa White Honorary Newsletter Co-editors: Laura Houliston, Honorary Treasurer: Martin Levy Matthew Winterbottom Honorary Editorial Secretary: Jonathan Marsden Activities Committee Chairman: Caroline Rimell

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. E-mail: [email protected] Activities Secretary (Events Bookings): Mrs Clarissa Ward, 25 Wardo Avenue, London SW6 6RA. Tel. and fax 020 7384 4458

FHS e-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.furniturehistorysociety.com

This issue edited by Laura Houliston

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 7BJ The reviews in this Newsletter are published as the views of those persons who wrote them. They are accepted as accurate and honest expressions of opinion; those who wish to do so should write to communicate with the reviewer direct. 24