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Lot Essay
THE HISTORY WITH THE DUKE OF HAMILTON
This magnificent bed is well-documented in the archives of Hamilton Palace, once Scotland's largest and most majestic country house that was demolished in the 1920s and 1930s. The bed was acquired in 1826, second-hand, in Paris by Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton (d. 1852), the legendary connoisseur who succeeded to the title in 1819. Over the years the 10th Duke amassed an outstanding collection of paintings, sculpture, furniture and silver for the Palace. The 10th Duke's taste was exceptionally grand and eclectic; together with the London decorator and designer Robert Hume, he set about refurbishing the Palace in a princely manner. European treasures displaced by the French Revolution and Napoleonic conquests were uncovered by the Duke's agents, and many of these boasted royal provenance. Further, a rich array of pietre dure, mosaics, hardstones and marbles, both ancient and modern - a passion of the Duke - was acquired on his Grand Tour (he was in Rome as early as 1802). While his continental purchases may have been grand, the Duke was also an active buyer in the greatest house sales of the day including Wanstead House (1822) and Stowe (1848). In 1810, he married his cousin, Susan Beckford, the younger daughter of the equally celebrated connoisseur William Beckford (d. 1844), thereby inheriting remaining treasures from the latter's remarkable collection.
A prominent figure in politics and society, the 10th Duke was appointed ambassador to the Court of St. Petersburg in 1806. Lord Lamington in his In the Days of the Dandies (1890) wrote of the Duke 'Never was such a magnifico as the 10th Duke...The list of visitors to Hamilton Palace was a long and distinguished one. The Duke and Duchess delighted to show their princely residence with its art treasures to foreigners, and those of any consideration who visited England were invited to Hamilton' (p. 66). The Duke was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1836 and was Lord High Steward at the coronations of William IV and Queen Victoria.
The records show that the bed was restored in 1826-27 by the bronzier Jean-François Dénière, who charged 230 francs for an ébéniste to work on the canopy, repair and clean the edge of the bed, adjust the plinth and undertake some restoration on the figures and 280 francs for his own men to supply three friezes for the canopy, renovate all the bronze parts and re-gild the worn mounts. The bed was part of a shipment recorded on a bill from the Parisian shipper and packer Chenue, under 26 April 1827, which lists 'un Bois de lit en acajou orné de bronzes doré' in crate 10 and '2 figures en bois doré qui dépendent du lit' in crate 11. It is recorded as 'a mahogany bed stand with two guilt figures in wood & the roof mahogany with bronze likewise' on a note of items sent from Paris and at Hamilton Palace in 1827 (Hamilton Archive, M4/70, p.185).
It was sold in Christie's celebrated sale of 1919 after the 12th Duke's death, described as 'An Empire mahogany bedstead, with gilt winged figures at the corners, and bedding'. Apparently, the canopy was no longer with the bed by this time and cannot be traced.
A POSSIBLE MURAT COMMISSION
An intriguing hand-written notation in the 1852/53 Hamilton Palace entry reads 'belonged to Murat'. Joachim Murat (d. 1815), was one of Napoleon's most distinguished generals who married Napoleon's youngest sister Caroline. Murat and his wife, after having resided from 1802 in the hôtel de Thélusson (a splendid neoclassical house built in the 1780s by Ledoux), purchased the Elysée Palace in August 1805 which they furnished and renovated at enormous expense - 2,732 francs in total - and completed in November 1806. The modifications were executed by architects Vignon and Thibault, while Jacob Desmalter supplied the furnishings (menuiserie and ébenisterie), Ravrio the gilt-bronzes and Boulard the textiles and upholstery (J. Coural, Le Palais de l'Elysée: Histoire et Décor, Paris, 1994, p.49). When Murat became King of Naples in 1808, the Elysée, and the chateau de Neuilly (which was purchased in 1804), were reverted to the French state together with their furnishings. The Elysée became the residence of Murat's brother-in-law, Napoleon, and renamed 'Elysée-Napoleon' while Neuilly, passed on to Murat's sister-in-law Pauline, Princesse Borghese (while paintings, statues and Etruscan vases were sent to the Mueée Napoleon, now the Louvre). An inventory of Neuilly was made at the time (Archives Nationales de France, Paris, 02 767) whose entries are so brief as to defy identification. The bedroom of Caroline Murat was furnished in mahogany, with the chairs upholstered in tapestry and a mahogany bed with gilding 'lit acajou dossier à revers garni de dorure'). The bedroom of Murat was hung with blue taffetas, the chairs were all mahogany with orange woolen upholstery and the bed, placed in an alcove of blue and orange silks, was described as 'mahogany, tomb shaped' ('un lit en acajou forme de tombeau, estrade en bois'). It was on a wooden platform covered with grey wool and a tiger skin. Giltwood figures do not figure in either description.
Murat's other castle next to Neuilly, the château de Villiers, was given by Napoleon in March 1809 to the Russian ambassador, prince Kurakin. It was furnished and decorated in modern style but its contents were simpler than Neuilly. Both houses and their contents still remain in the National collection (Mobilier National).
THE DESIGN AND POSSIBLE MAKER OF THE BED
This imperial bed suited for the maréchal d'Empire reflects the grand style à l'antique of Napoleon's court as promoted by leading architects Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine in their Recueil des Décorations Intérieures, the first installment of which was published in 1801. Many of the motifs feature in these designs - the U-form front with its impressive ribbon-tied foliate border appears on a bed for 'Monsieur Oz' (pl. 50) while the winged figures compare to the female torch-bearing terms on a fireplace made for 'Monsieur D' (pl. 27).
This impressive bed is likely to have been the work of François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770-1841), Napoleon's pre-eminent court cabinet-maker and who executed many pieces after Percier and Fontaine's designs. A comparable ormolu-mounted bed supplied by the maker for Caroline Murat's bedroom at the Elysée remains in the National Collection along with the rest of the furnishings (see J. Coural, op. cit., p. 58). The highly unusual use of sculptural large scale giltwood figures also feature prominently on a bed supplied by the maker in circa 1809 for Empress Marie-Louise's bedroom at Chateau de Compiegne; these figures hold upright the fabric canopy.
A design of 1798 by the architect Louis Berthault, a student of Charles Percier, features a closely related bed realized by Jacob-Desmalter for the celebrated beauty Madame Recamier. Here, upright figures bearing torches are conceived as mounts rather than the far more dramatic giltwood figures on the present example (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siècle, Paris, 1984, p. 277).
Christie's would like to extend our gratitude to Dr. Godfrey Evans, Principal Curator of European Applied Art, National Museums Scotland for his invaluable assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.
This magnificent bed is well-documented in the archives of Hamilton Palace, once Scotland's largest and most majestic country house that was demolished in the 1920s and 1930s. The bed was acquired in 1826, second-hand, in Paris by Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton (d. 1852), the legendary connoisseur who succeeded to the title in 1819. Over the years the 10th Duke amassed an outstanding collection of paintings, sculpture, furniture and silver for the Palace. The 10th Duke's taste was exceptionally grand and eclectic; together with the London decorator and designer Robert Hume, he set about refurbishing the Palace in a princely manner. European treasures displaced by the French Revolution and Napoleonic conquests were uncovered by the Duke's agents, and many of these boasted royal provenance. Further, a rich array of pietre dure, mosaics, hardstones and marbles, both ancient and modern - a passion of the Duke - was acquired on his Grand Tour (he was in Rome as early as 1802). While his continental purchases may have been grand, the Duke was also an active buyer in the greatest house sales of the day including Wanstead House (1822) and Stowe (1848). In 1810, he married his cousin, Susan Beckford, the younger daughter of the equally celebrated connoisseur William Beckford (d. 1844), thereby inheriting remaining treasures from the latter's remarkable collection.
A prominent figure in politics and society, the 10th Duke was appointed ambassador to the Court of St. Petersburg in 1806. Lord Lamington in his In the Days of the Dandies (1890) wrote of the Duke 'Never was such a magnifico as the 10th Duke...The list of visitors to Hamilton Palace was a long and distinguished one. The Duke and Duchess delighted to show their princely residence with its art treasures to foreigners, and those of any consideration who visited England were invited to Hamilton' (p. 66). The Duke was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1836 and was Lord High Steward at the coronations of William IV and Queen Victoria.
The records show that the bed was restored in 1826-27 by the bronzier Jean-François Dénière, who charged 230 francs for an ébéniste to work on the canopy, repair and clean the edge of the bed, adjust the plinth and undertake some restoration on the figures and 280 francs for his own men to supply three friezes for the canopy, renovate all the bronze parts and re-gild the worn mounts. The bed was part of a shipment recorded on a bill from the Parisian shipper and packer Chenue, under 26 April 1827, which lists 'un Bois de lit en acajou orné de bronzes doré' in crate 10 and '2 figures en bois doré qui dépendent du lit' in crate 11. It is recorded as 'a mahogany bed stand with two guilt figures in wood & the roof mahogany with bronze likewise' on a note of items sent from Paris and at Hamilton Palace in 1827 (Hamilton Archive, M4/70, p.185).
It was sold in Christie's celebrated sale of 1919 after the 12th Duke's death, described as 'An Empire mahogany bedstead, with gilt winged figures at the corners, and bedding'. Apparently, the canopy was no longer with the bed by this time and cannot be traced.
A POSSIBLE MURAT COMMISSION
An intriguing hand-written notation in the 1852/53 Hamilton Palace entry reads 'belonged to Murat'. Joachim Murat (d. 1815), was one of Napoleon's most distinguished generals who married Napoleon's youngest sister Caroline. Murat and his wife, after having resided from 1802 in the hôtel de Thélusson (a splendid neoclassical house built in the 1780s by Ledoux), purchased the Elysée Palace in August 1805 which they furnished and renovated at enormous expense - 2,732 francs in total - and completed in November 1806. The modifications were executed by architects Vignon and Thibault, while Jacob Desmalter supplied the furnishings (menuiserie and ébenisterie), Ravrio the gilt-bronzes and Boulard the textiles and upholstery (J. Coural, Le Palais de l'Elysée: Histoire et Décor, Paris, 1994, p.49). When Murat became King of Naples in 1808, the Elysée, and the chateau de Neuilly (which was purchased in 1804), were reverted to the French state together with their furnishings. The Elysée became the residence of Murat's brother-in-law, Napoleon, and renamed 'Elysée-Napoleon' while Neuilly, passed on to Murat's sister-in-law Pauline, Princesse Borghese (while paintings, statues and Etruscan vases were sent to the Mueée Napoleon, now the Louvre). An inventory of Neuilly was made at the time (Archives Nationales de France, Paris, 02 767) whose entries are so brief as to defy identification. The bedroom of Caroline Murat was furnished in mahogany, with the chairs upholstered in tapestry and a mahogany bed with gilding 'lit acajou dossier à revers garni de dorure'). The bedroom of Murat was hung with blue taffetas, the chairs were all mahogany with orange woolen upholstery and the bed, placed in an alcove of blue and orange silks, was described as 'mahogany, tomb shaped' ('un lit en acajou forme de tombeau, estrade en bois'). It was on a wooden platform covered with grey wool and a tiger skin. Giltwood figures do not figure in either description.
Murat's other castle next to Neuilly, the château de Villiers, was given by Napoleon in March 1809 to the Russian ambassador, prince Kurakin. It was furnished and decorated in modern style but its contents were simpler than Neuilly. Both houses and their contents still remain in the National collection (Mobilier National).
THE DESIGN AND POSSIBLE MAKER OF THE BED
This imperial bed suited for the maréchal d'Empire reflects the grand style à l'antique of Napoleon's court as promoted by leading architects Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine in their Recueil des Décorations Intérieures, the first installment of which was published in 1801. Many of the motifs feature in these designs - the U-form front with its impressive ribbon-tied foliate border appears on a bed for 'Monsieur Oz' (pl. 50) while the winged figures compare to the female torch-bearing terms on a fireplace made for 'Monsieur D' (pl. 27).
This impressive bed is likely to have been the work of François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770-1841), Napoleon's pre-eminent court cabinet-maker and who executed many pieces after Percier and Fontaine's designs. A comparable ormolu-mounted bed supplied by the maker for Caroline Murat's bedroom at the Elysée remains in the National Collection along with the rest of the furnishings (see J. Coural, op. cit., p. 58). The highly unusual use of sculptural large scale giltwood figures also feature prominently on a bed supplied by the maker in circa 1809 for Empress Marie-Louise's bedroom at Chateau de Compiegne; these figures hold upright the fabric canopy.
A design of 1798 by the architect Louis Berthault, a student of Charles Percier, features a closely related bed realized by Jacob-Desmalter for the celebrated beauty Madame Recamier. Here, upright figures bearing torches are conceived as mounts rather than the far more dramatic giltwood figures on the present example (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siècle, Paris, 1984, p. 277).
Christie's would like to extend our gratitude to Dr. Godfrey Evans, Principal Curator of European Applied Art, National Museums Scotland for his invaluable assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.