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Lot Essay
A typed letter signed by David Bouverie and dated July 1967 is affixed to the underside of one stool. It states: The set of four 'footman stools' was already at Longford Castle when Chippendale came to design porter's hall furniture. The admired and copied them inexpensively and they were later sent to Coleshill'. The stools that Chippendale 'admired and copied' is the celebrated set from Coleshill House, Berkshire painted in simulated oak and with seat emblazoned with the Bouverie coat-of-arms beneath an Earl's coronet. These painted stools were sold by a descendant of the family, the late Miss M. de Pleydell-Bouverie, Christie's London, 25 November 1965, lot 35 ($1,200). The stools appear in situ at Coleshill in H.A.Tipping, English Homes, period IV, vol.I, London, 1920, where one stool appears in the hall (p.8, fig.10) and another is photographed in the Dining Room (pp.14-15, figs.17-18). One stool is illustrated in R. Edwards, ed., The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev.edn., vol. III, p.182, fig.67. The Coleshill stools have been traditionally attributed to Chippendale based on their similarities to documented examples. Mr. Pleydell-Bouverie supports this attribution however there is no existing documentation or supporting evidence that Chippendale ever worked for the the 3rd Earl of Radnor.
In support of the Chippendale attribution is a documented set of twenty-four stools of similar design that was supplied to Christ Church Library at Oxford in 1764 (see C.Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol.II, p.213, fig.386). And others of this form were supplied to the Divinity Schools at the Bodleian Library and the Old Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford. Interestingly, painted stools of the same outline are in the collection of Lord and Lady Egremont at Petworth House, Sussex. These appear in a nineteenth century watercolor executed by Mrs. Percy Wyndham (see R.Edwards, op.cit., p.182, fig.66 and Petworth House, National Trust Guide, 1992, p.11 where one of the stools is shown in the Marble Hall). An inventory of Petworth taken in 1763 at the time of the 2nd Earl's death shows that Petworth had been expensively furnished by fashionable London cabinet-makers but, sadly, Chippendale's name does not appear in this account. However a recently discovered invoice dating to 1777-1779 from Chippendale and Haig does however confirm a later working relationship with the firm. A painted pair of stools of the Coleshill model, the Property of a Lady, was sold in these Rooms, 12-13 October 1995, lot 321. Another pair was offered Christie's London, 19 November 1987, lot 18. A further set is in the collections at Melbury House, Dorset.
A pattern for a 'Ladys Dressing Stool' of a similar design features in Universal System of Household Furniture published by cabinet-makers Mayhew and Ince in 1762, pl.XXXIV. Their hollowed and voluted seats on scrolls and arched supports relates most closely to a pattern published in Robert Manwaring's Cabinet and Chair-Maker's Real Friend and Companion, 1765, pl.18.
If one was to accept the tradition that these stools were commissioned for Longford Castle and later 'admired and copied' by Chippendale, they must have been supplied for William Pleydell-Bouverie prior to his succession as Viscount Folkestone upon the death of his father in 1761 (or his elevation to Earl in 1765) as the Bouverie crest lacks a coronet. Alternatively, the stools may have been commissioned by another member of the Bouverie family.
In support of the Chippendale attribution is a documented set of twenty-four stools of similar design that was supplied to Christ Church Library at Oxford in 1764 (see C.Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol.II, p.213, fig.386). And others of this form were supplied to the Divinity Schools at the Bodleian Library and the Old Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford. Interestingly, painted stools of the same outline are in the collection of Lord and Lady Egremont at Petworth House, Sussex. These appear in a nineteenth century watercolor executed by Mrs. Percy Wyndham (see R.Edwards, op.cit., p.182, fig.66 and Petworth House, National Trust Guide, 1992, p.11 where one of the stools is shown in the Marble Hall). An inventory of Petworth taken in 1763 at the time of the 2nd Earl's death shows that Petworth had been expensively furnished by fashionable London cabinet-makers but, sadly, Chippendale's name does not appear in this account. However a recently discovered invoice dating to 1777-1779 from Chippendale and Haig does however confirm a later working relationship with the firm. A painted pair of stools of the Coleshill model, the Property of a Lady, was sold in these Rooms, 12-13 October 1995, lot 321. Another pair was offered Christie's London, 19 November 1987, lot 18. A further set is in the collections at Melbury House, Dorset.
A pattern for a 'Ladys Dressing Stool' of a similar design features in Universal System of Household Furniture published by cabinet-makers Mayhew and Ince in 1762, pl.XXXIV. Their hollowed and voluted seats on scrolls and arched supports relates most closely to a pattern published in Robert Manwaring's Cabinet and Chair-Maker's Real Friend and Companion, 1765, pl.18.
If one was to accept the tradition that these stools were commissioned for Longford Castle and later 'admired and copied' by Chippendale, they must have been supplied for William Pleydell-Bouverie prior to his succession as Viscount Folkestone upon the death of his father in 1761 (or his elevation to Earl in 1765) as the Bouverie crest lacks a coronet. Alternatively, the stools may have been commissioned by another member of the Bouverie family.