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Lot Essay
The decoration of this unusual and ornately carved window seat relates to designs by Robert Adam for ‘three scrole headed sopha frames for the windows carved & gilt in burnished gold’ (E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, p. 79-80) executed by William France, which formed part of a suite of furniture commissioned for the library at Kenwood House. Between 1764 and 1779 William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield employed Robert Adam and his brother James to transform Kenwood House in the fashionable Neo-classical taste. The library at Kenwood is considered one of the earliest and finest examples of Adam’s mature style. The palmette plaster work on the ceiling, reproduced on the frieze of the three window seats, is illustrative of Adam’s distinctive style that could be applied to all elements of interior decoration and is also seen here in the present lot.
The design is stylistically similar to a further suite of ten ‘scrole’ sofas (window seats) designed by Adam for Sir Lawrence Dundas in late 1764 or 1765. The design was rejected by Dundas and was subsequently offered by Adam to George William, 6th Earl of Coventry for the gallery at Croome Court. The set was supplied by Bradburn and France but Lord Coventry stipulated that the carving be undertaken by the master carver Sefferin Alken, who had worked for him previously.
The Earl took a keen interest in all the work at Croome, and the carver Sefferin Alken, of Golden Square, London, had impressed in his earlier endeavours, working in tandem with Adam and with Vile and Cobb. Alken's star was certainly in the ascendant, and it was logical therefore that he should be entrusted to carve the stools (A. Coleridge, 'English Furniture supplied for Croome Court', Apollo, February 2000, pp. 8-19, figs. 14 and 15).
The present lot was probably supplied to Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol for Ickworth Park in Suffolk and on the basis of the extremely fine quality of the carving, it is likely that this commission was also undertaken by Alken.
The suite comprised at least a pair of window seats and possibly a single larger window seat and was subsequently sold at Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler on 29-30 April 1960, lots 224 and 225. Chrysler was one of the great American collectors in the first half of the 20th Century, whose collections formed the base of the formidable Chrysler Museum of Art, and he also helped steer the Museum of Modern Art's collecting in its early years. The present lot then entered the collection of the eminent collector Arthur Leidesdorf, until sold Sotheby’s, New York, 27 June 1974, lot 81.
A larger window seat of this same design was sold from the collection of Lord Elphinstone at Christie’s, London 14 July 1994, lot 79. A further long seat is in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland, currently on loan to the Georgian House Museum, Dublin.
The design is stylistically similar to a further suite of ten ‘scrole’ sofas (window seats) designed by Adam for Sir Lawrence Dundas in late 1764 or 1765. The design was rejected by Dundas and was subsequently offered by Adam to George William, 6th Earl of Coventry for the gallery at Croome Court. The set was supplied by Bradburn and France but Lord Coventry stipulated that the carving be undertaken by the master carver Sefferin Alken, who had worked for him previously.
The Earl took a keen interest in all the work at Croome, and the carver Sefferin Alken, of Golden Square, London, had impressed in his earlier endeavours, working in tandem with Adam and with Vile and Cobb. Alken's star was certainly in the ascendant, and it was logical therefore that he should be entrusted to carve the stools (A. Coleridge, 'English Furniture supplied for Croome Court', Apollo, February 2000, pp. 8-19, figs. 14 and 15).
The present lot was probably supplied to Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol for Ickworth Park in Suffolk and on the basis of the extremely fine quality of the carving, it is likely that this commission was also undertaken by Alken.
The suite comprised at least a pair of window seats and possibly a single larger window seat and was subsequently sold at Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler on 29-30 April 1960, lots 224 and 225. Chrysler was one of the great American collectors in the first half of the 20th Century, whose collections formed the base of the formidable Chrysler Museum of Art, and he also helped steer the Museum of Modern Art's collecting in its early years. The present lot then entered the collection of the eminent collector Arthur Leidesdorf, until sold Sotheby’s, New York, 27 June 1974, lot 81.
A larger window seat of this same design was sold from the collection of Lord Elphinstone at Christie’s, London 14 July 1994, lot 79. A further long seat is in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland, currently on loan to the Georgian House Museum, Dublin.