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Lot Essay
This important set of seven Chinese painted-paper panels in their original frames was supplied in 1764 by the upholsterer and ‘Paper-stainers’, Thomas Bromwich and Leonard Leigh, as part of the extensive redecoration at Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, mainly on the bedroom floor, carried out for Edward, 5th Lord Leigh, following his coming of age in 1763. In 1764, the firm supplied, 78 Yards of fine pea Green paper, 252 feet of Papier Mache Borders in party gold and 193 feet of Papier Mache Vine Cornice Ornament for Miss Leigh’s Bedchamber, sister to Lord Leigh (C. Aslet, ‘Stoneleigh Abbey – Warwickshire II’, Country Life, 20 December 1984, p. 1935).
The Stoneleigh bill (7 pages) of 28 May 1763 - 16 June 1764 totals £356 7s. 0½ d., and lists ‘Indian’ (Chinese) pictures in Miss Leigh’s Bedchamber, receipted by Bromwich on 10 December 1765 [Shakespeare Centre Library, DR 18/5/4402]. The relevant entry, 16 June 1764, is as follows:
2 Large Indian Pictures in Party gold frames £4 12s
6 Smaller Do. £6 6s
9 Do. @ 13/- £5 17s
the amounts listed are probably the labor charges for hanging the pictures.
The present group of seven Chinese painted panels is part of the set from Miss Leigh’s Bedchamber, with nine of the remaining ten panels having been sold from Stoneleigh in 1981 and twice subsequently, most recently Christie’s, London, 19 May 2016, lot 85 (£43,750 including premium). Part of this room decoration, dismantled after the fire of 1961, is shown in situ in W.A. Thorpe, 'Stoneleigh Abbey and Its Furniture - II', The Connoisseur, March 1947, p. 19.
Thomas Bromwich (fl. 1740-87) is first recorded as linen-draper and upholsterer, 'At the Golden Lyon', Ludgate Hill, from 1740-48; then circa 1758-76 as 'Thomas Bromwich & Leonard Leigh, Paper-Stainers'; and finally (1777-84) as 'Bromwich, Isherwod & Bradley, Paper-hangers, 35 Ludgate Hill'. As early as 1748 Bromwich's trade card stated he 'Makes and Sells all manner of Screens, Window Blinds, and covers for Tables, Cabins, Stair-Cases., Hung with Guilt Leather, or India Pictures, Chints's, Callicoes, Cottons, Needlework, Matched in Paper; to the utmost exactness, at Reasonable Rates'. Bromwich was appointed ‘Master of the Painter-Stainers Co.’ in 1761, and ‘Paper-hanging Maker in Ordinary to the Great Wardrobe’ in 1764. The firm’s recorded commissions include supplying ‘the new furniture wallpaper’ to Horace Walpole for Strawberry Hill in 1754, and Chinese paper for Lord Darnley at Cobham Hall in 1773 (still in situ), in addition to work at Alscot Park, Corsham Court and Croome Court (G. Beard, Craftsmen and Interior Decoration in England, 1660-1820, London, 1981, p. 248). A papier-mâché ceiling by Bromwich survives at Dunster Castle, Somerset.
The Stoneleigh bill (7 pages) of 28 May 1763 - 16 June 1764 totals £356 7s. 0½ d., and lists ‘Indian’ (Chinese) pictures in Miss Leigh’s Bedchamber, receipted by Bromwich on 10 December 1765 [Shakespeare Centre Library, DR 18/5/4402]. The relevant entry, 16 June 1764, is as follows:
2 Large Indian Pictures in Party gold frames £4 12s
6 Smaller Do. £6 6s
9 Do. @ 13/- £5 17s
the amounts listed are probably the labor charges for hanging the pictures.
The present group of seven Chinese painted panels is part of the set from Miss Leigh’s Bedchamber, with nine of the remaining ten panels having been sold from Stoneleigh in 1981 and twice subsequently, most recently Christie’s, London, 19 May 2016, lot 85 (£43,750 including premium). Part of this room decoration, dismantled after the fire of 1961, is shown in situ in W.A. Thorpe, 'Stoneleigh Abbey and Its Furniture - II', The Connoisseur, March 1947, p. 19.
Thomas Bromwich (fl. 1740-87) is first recorded as linen-draper and upholsterer, 'At the Golden Lyon', Ludgate Hill, from 1740-48; then circa 1758-76 as 'Thomas Bromwich & Leonard Leigh, Paper-Stainers'; and finally (1777-84) as 'Bromwich, Isherwod & Bradley, Paper-hangers, 35 Ludgate Hill'. As early as 1748 Bromwich's trade card stated he 'Makes and Sells all manner of Screens, Window Blinds, and covers for Tables, Cabins, Stair-Cases., Hung with Guilt Leather, or India Pictures, Chints's, Callicoes, Cottons, Needlework, Matched in Paper; to the utmost exactness, at Reasonable Rates'. Bromwich was appointed ‘Master of the Painter-Stainers Co.’ in 1761, and ‘Paper-hanging Maker in Ordinary to the Great Wardrobe’ in 1764. The firm’s recorded commissions include supplying ‘the new furniture wallpaper’ to Horace Walpole for Strawberry Hill in 1754, and Chinese paper for Lord Darnley at Cobham Hall in 1773 (still in situ), in addition to work at Alscot Park, Corsham Court and Croome Court (G. Beard, Craftsmen and Interior Decoration in England, 1660-1820, London, 1981, p. 248). A papier-mâché ceiling by Bromwich survives at Dunster Castle, Somerset.