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Lot Essay
This outstanding bookcase is a masterpiece of early neoclassical design, a fashion which Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) helped to establish at the start of George III's reign with the third edition of his highly influential pattern-book The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director of 1762. This bookcase shares many stylistic traits with other examples from Thomas Chippendale’s oeuvre. The most notable comparison is the celebrated ‘Messer’ bookcase, formerly belonging to Samuel Messer, one of the most important English furniture collectors of the 20th century (it most recently sold from a Private Collection, Christie’s, New York, 21 October 2010, lot 60, for $1,706,500). Also of a shallow breakfronted and stepped form, the many shared traits include: the imbricated underside of the scroll pediment, the dentil-molded frieze, the carved scrolling trusses, the pierced geometric galleries (the fretwork pattern on this bookcase is from a Director drawing for a bookcase, see: pl. LXXXVII, 3rd ed., 1762), the use of rectangular recessed panels with re-entrant corners (seen on the central bracket of this bookcase, and on the corner pilasters of the Messer bookcase), the similar glazing patterns including a nearly identical foliate clasp heading a chain of husks suspending a central oval roundel (a favored Chippendale device), and the use of oval panels on the cupboard doors, which are elegantly recessed and enclosed by a molded border in the current bookcase, echoing the ebony-inlaid design in the Messer example.
The stepped form also corresponds to the sensational gilt-ornamented Dumfries House bookcase supplied by Chippendale in 1759 (Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, vol. 2, fig. 63). As a further parallel, the 'noble' pair of library bookcases commissioned in 1764 by Sir Lawrence Dundas for 19 Arlington Street and Aske Hall exhibit the same carved dentil molding as well as the imbricated scroll (Ibid., fig. 73). The Dundas bookcases were invoiced separately - at £80 and £73, they were by far the most expensive pieces commissioned from Chippendale. One of the pair sold at Christie's, London, Exceptional Furniture, 18 June 2008, lot 6 (achieving £2,057,250, it remains one of the most expensive pieces of English furniture ever sold at auction). Chippendale's distinctive arched and tablet glazing bars characterize a similar cabinet supplied to Sir Robert Burdett, 4th baronet for Foremark Hall, Derbyshire between 1766-1769 (see: A. Coleridge, 'Thomas Chippendale and Foremark Hall', Furniture History, 1997, pp. 136-152, figs. 2-5).
In addition to the strong parallels with other documented Chippendale-commissioned bookcases, this case also displays the refinements of execution and construction for which Thomas Chippendale is justly renowned. Such elements were famously identified in a varied group of furniture from Dumfries House, Ayrshire, which was a known Chippendale commission, but with only a select few pieces that were discernable from the surviving invoices and thus firmly attributable to the maker—leaving the origin of the remaining furniture a mystery until recently. The thorough analysis of all the Dumfries furniture is brilliantly presented in Rufus Bird’s essay, ‘Who Was The Dumfries House Cabinet-Maker?’, (see: the Dumfries House Christie's sale catalogue, 12-13 July 2007), in which the distinctive constructional elements shared by both the documented and undocumented pieces are revealed, ultimately linking the latter group to the workshop of Thomas Chippendale as well, to whom they are now firmly attributed.
Likewise, such defining elements inextricably relate this bookcase to the Dumfries House cabinetmaker. For example, there is a thin red wash on the interior sides of the base, evidently applied before the bookcase was assembled; the same thin red wash was noted on many of the pieces from Dumfries House, and is also present on many Chippendale works from other known commissions like Nostell Priory. The added refinement of the chamfered edge below the drawers and use of short-grained kickers are a favored practice of Chippendale’s workshop. Perhaps the most interesting shared feature, however, is the presence of redundant nails affixed around the feet to the underside of the base. Remnants of hessian, or twine (now blackened from age and oxidation) remain attached to one of the nailheads. It is thought that these nails were used to bind a protective cover for the furniture, using hessian rope, string, or twine, to hold it in place during transportation. At Dumfries, this nailing and the fragments of ‘pack thread’ are only seen on the pieces by Chippendale. Furthermore, they are mentioned in Chippendale’s bills, which described a padouk bookcase being transported in ‘a Glued Packing Case’ with ‘Paper, Deal, Nails, Cloath & Pack thread’. Thus, they are one of the most significant indicators of Chippendale’s cabinet-work.
The stepped form also corresponds to the sensational gilt-ornamented Dumfries House bookcase supplied by Chippendale in 1759 (Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, vol. 2, fig. 63). As a further parallel, the 'noble' pair of library bookcases commissioned in 1764 by Sir Lawrence Dundas for 19 Arlington Street and Aske Hall exhibit the same carved dentil molding as well as the imbricated scroll (Ibid., fig. 73). The Dundas bookcases were invoiced separately - at £80 and £73, they were by far the most expensive pieces commissioned from Chippendale. One of the pair sold at Christie's, London, Exceptional Furniture, 18 June 2008, lot 6 (achieving £2,057,250, it remains one of the most expensive pieces of English furniture ever sold at auction). Chippendale's distinctive arched and tablet glazing bars characterize a similar cabinet supplied to Sir Robert Burdett, 4th baronet for Foremark Hall, Derbyshire between 1766-1769 (see: A. Coleridge, 'Thomas Chippendale and Foremark Hall', Furniture History, 1997, pp. 136-152, figs. 2-5).
In addition to the strong parallels with other documented Chippendale-commissioned bookcases, this case also displays the refinements of execution and construction for which Thomas Chippendale is justly renowned. Such elements were famously identified in a varied group of furniture from Dumfries House, Ayrshire, which was a known Chippendale commission, but with only a select few pieces that were discernable from the surviving invoices and thus firmly attributable to the maker—leaving the origin of the remaining furniture a mystery until recently. The thorough analysis of all the Dumfries furniture is brilliantly presented in Rufus Bird’s essay, ‘Who Was The Dumfries House Cabinet-Maker?’, (see: the Dumfries House Christie's sale catalogue, 12-13 July 2007), in which the distinctive constructional elements shared by both the documented and undocumented pieces are revealed, ultimately linking the latter group to the workshop of Thomas Chippendale as well, to whom they are now firmly attributed.
Likewise, such defining elements inextricably relate this bookcase to the Dumfries House cabinetmaker. For example, there is a thin red wash on the interior sides of the base, evidently applied before the bookcase was assembled; the same thin red wash was noted on many of the pieces from Dumfries House, and is also present on many Chippendale works from other known commissions like Nostell Priory. The added refinement of the chamfered edge below the drawers and use of short-grained kickers are a favored practice of Chippendale’s workshop. Perhaps the most interesting shared feature, however, is the presence of redundant nails affixed around the feet to the underside of the base. Remnants of hessian, or twine (now blackened from age and oxidation) remain attached to one of the nailheads. It is thought that these nails were used to bind a protective cover for the furniture, using hessian rope, string, or twine, to hold it in place during transportation. At Dumfries, this nailing and the fragments of ‘pack thread’ are only seen on the pieces by Chippendale. Furthermore, they are mentioned in Chippendale’s bills, which described a padouk bookcase being transported in ‘a Glued Packing Case’ with ‘Paper, Deal, Nails, Cloath & Pack thread’. Thus, they are one of the most significant indicators of Chippendale’s cabinet-work.