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Lot Essay
The bergeres are of the same design as one sold by the Rt. Hon. Earl of Harewood, K.B.E., from Harewood House, Yorkshire, Christie’s, London, 3 October 1988, lot 152 (£9,350 including premium). This, and the pair offered here, were possibly acquired by Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood (d.1820) who, strongly influenced by Regency fashion, refurnished rooms at Harewood House, Yorkshire in the early 19th century. The hall at Harewood, for instance, was refurbished in the `Egyptian’ taste with a set of five klismos chairs 'upholstered with curving scimitar legs back and front, inlaid probably with brass' (M. Mauchline, Harewood House, London, 1974, p. 121).
In the post-Chippendale period at Harewood there is little information regarding furniture supplied by other cabinet-makers to Lascelles, but in 1801 he recorded in his account book a payment to the Mayfair firm of Marsh & Tatham amounting to £172 10s, and again in 1811 he paid them £65 7s 6d, in both cases mainly for work at Harewood (G. Beard & C.Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p.279). A further link to Marsh & Tatham comes in the form of a pair rosewood, parcel-gilt and simulated porphyry pier tables sold from Harewood, Christie’s, London, May 21, 2015, lot 46. These are almost identical in form to a pair at Castle Howard; bills in the Castle Howard archive show that Marsh & Tatham were employed there on at least two separate occasions, from September 1801 to July 1802, and again 1811 to 1812 (T. Buckrell Pos, ‘Tatham and Italy: Influences on English Neo-classical design’, Furniture History, 2002, vol. 38, p. 67) suggesting that the firm was employed by both the Earl of Harewood and the Earl of Carlisle simultaneously.
The chair displays Greek key panels at the base of its arms, a feature that was also prominent on the celebrated Anglesey desk, supplied around 1812 to the then 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, and which likewise is attributed to Marsh & Tatham.
In the post-Chippendale period at Harewood there is little information regarding furniture supplied by other cabinet-makers to Lascelles, but in 1801 he recorded in his account book a payment to the Mayfair firm of Marsh & Tatham amounting to £172 10s, and again in 1811 he paid them £65 7s 6d, in both cases mainly for work at Harewood (G. Beard & C.Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p.279). A further link to Marsh & Tatham comes in the form of a pair rosewood, parcel-gilt and simulated porphyry pier tables sold from Harewood, Christie’s, London, May 21, 2015, lot 46. These are almost identical in form to a pair at Castle Howard; bills in the Castle Howard archive show that Marsh & Tatham were employed there on at least two separate occasions, from September 1801 to July 1802, and again 1811 to 1812 (T. Buckrell Pos, ‘Tatham and Italy: Influences on English Neo-classical design’, Furniture History, 2002, vol. 38, p. 67) suggesting that the firm was employed by both the Earl of Harewood and the Earl of Carlisle simultaneously.
The chair displays Greek key panels at the base of its arms, a feature that was also prominent on the celebrated Anglesey desk, supplied around 1812 to the then 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, and which likewise is attributed to Marsh & Tatham.