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Lot Essay
This remarkable pair of armchairs display all the trappings of mid-eighteenth century fashions. Almost certainly commissioned for Nuneham Park and originally from a suite of at least twenty, three of the group were photographed in the main Drawing Room, after which the present chairs were seemingly sold following the Harcourt family’s move to Stanton Harcourt Manor.1 Built in 1756 under the architectural direction of Stiff Leadbetter, the construction of Nuneham symbolised more than a residential upgrade for the family. In 1549 the Viscount was newly minted as Earl Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt; a title that would affirm advanced political and cultural aspirations; the construction of Nuneham supporting his new position in society.
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Letters preserved and published in the Harcourt Papers detail the development of the project, including that from Lady Harcourt, writing to her son George in 1756: ‘Stewart, who I’ve mentioned to you in former letters, paid us a visit last week at Newnham, and expressed the highest satisfaction, both with the house and place, which he thinks is the finest situation he ever saw’.2 The Stewart in question is undoubtedly James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, the prominent architect who has been credited with the popularisation of the neoclassical style in the mid-eighteenth century; he and Harcourt likely acquainted through the Dilettanti society, of which Stuart was proposed in 1751, and Harcourt was a member.3 The Earl soon became admirer of the architect’s designs and in 1756 he writes of his plans at Nuneham: ‘I have boldly adventured to follow a design of an old building which I have seen among Mr Stuart’s drawings of Athens’.4 Their partnership is referred again in 1761 by the disgruntled Rev. James Newton who wrote in his diary ‘breakfasted at my Lord Harcourt’s and he was much displeased for my talking to Stewart about the churchyard and for saying he has done everything to me except cutting my throat’.5 The aforementioned yard was ultimately removed to make way for a Grecian temple designed by Stuart which stands today as Old All Saints Church. Working at Nuneham until at least 1768, the collaboration between ‘Athenian’ Stuart and Harcourt helped elevate the new site to one of marked elegance.6 Nuneham stood as the hallmark for superior design throughout the 18th and into the 19th century, with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, J.W.M Turner and Paul Sandby R.A. finding inspiration in the Villa’s stature and vistas; King George III even describing the residence ‘the most enjoyable place I know’.7
Beyond his work of the physical construction of Nuneham and its surrounding neo-classical follies, Stuart’s influence and involvement continued into the contents of the house itself. There are surviving drawings signed by Stuart for chimneypieces for the dining room and preserved at the Bodleian Library are account receipts from carver and gilder John Aider which list: ‘To 2 Bracket Tables under D.: by Mr Stuart – 16 –’.8 Aider and Stuart’s partnership is well-documented: the former carrying out work by ‘order of Mr. Stuart’ on at least two further building projects.9 It is highly likely the pair worked in partnership alongside various craftsmen in the execution of the interiors of Nuneham; the project spanning from 1760-1763. During this period Adair is referenced multiple time in the accounts, with payments made to ‘Mr. Adair’s men on account of guiding of the Great House’.10 Furthermore, expenditure shifts from masonry work to a focus on decoration, with several carvers and carpenters employed for the embellishment of doors, windows and balusters alongside the service of James Saunders for painting work, James Louvell for sculpture, and John Miller for upholstery.11 Although there is no specific receipt for the present armchairs, it is likely their creation came during this period of furnishing: a London workshop carrying out the designs by ‘Athenian’ Stuart; the gilding and upholstery later completed onsite by Miller and Aider.12
Stuart and Harcourt’s collaboration reveals a clear visual program that ran from the building work through to the design of the interiors. In the Nuneham armchairs, the palmette centrepieces and dental moulding bare marked similarities to the Grecian designs outlined in Stuart’s celebrated Antiquities of Athens, which the architect equally uses in the decoration of the Palladian columns of Old All Saints Church.13 Presently, the adaptation of these classical designs to the Louis XVI style marquise in the cupid bow shaping of the seat and the scrolling legs display a markedly French influence; aligning with Harcourt’s own interest in France - the aristocrat later assuming the position of ambassador to Paris from 1768 to 1771. The dental moulding, which mimics the traditional ‘close-nail’ upholstery, cleverly complements the shaped a chassis padded back, arms and seat; which allowed for the constant and easy update of the upholstery and speaks to a design that sought to place the Earl and his home at the forefront of fashion.
These chairs share a near identical twin in a group commissioned for Spencer House. Both seat furniture display identical carving of the rails, alongside mirroring palmettes and trailing husk design. The clear visual ties has led to the established assertion that they were crafted by the same furniture maker: John Gordon (d. 1777). Although little is known about this figure, it is clear that the Gordon’s workshop was one of high esteem and excellence, with notable documented commissions includimg work for Hopetoun House, Edinburgh; Blair Castle, Perthshire and the Duke of Gordon’s London residence, Santson House. Furthermore, in her 1776 list of preferred ebenistes and cabinet makers, the 1st Duchess of Northumberland lists ‘Gordon, London’ alongside hallmark names Ince & Mayhew and Chippendale, thus further confirming the craftsman’s status as one of the most fashionable of the day.14
His attribution to the Spencer suite, and as such the Nuneham chairs, has long been affirmed within scholarship both through documentation and stylistic analysis.15 Surviving records show that the firm of Gordon and Taitt, with whom John Gordon formed a partnership in 1767, was supplying furniture and carrying out repairs for the Spencer’s by 1772, including the 'repairing and gilding' of the hall lantern at Spencer House and the making of 'loose covers' for Stuart's Painted Room suite. Although no documentary evidence survives for this suite, the theory of a longstanding relationship between Gordon and Earl Spencer's steward, Thomas Townsend, suggested by such comprehensive repairs, is confirmed by the appointment of the latter as Gordon's executor. Furthermore, the aforementioned Gordon Furniture supplied to the 2nd Duke of Atholl for Blair Castle in 1748 provides close stylistic affinities with the Spencer House and Nuneham suites, the side rails, alongside the exact proportions, reaffirming the Gordon attribution. An example from the near identical Spencer Suite, circa 1765, was sold: The Spencer House Sale; Christie’s, London, 8 July 2010, lot 1006. For armchairs sold from the Nuneham suite see Christie’s, New York, 23 October 1982, lot 180; Christie’s, London, 29 March 1984, lot 45; Sotheby’s, London, 10 June 1993, lot 839; Sotheby’s, New York, 11 October 1996, lot 214; Sotheby's, London, 2005, lot 34; Sotheby's, London, 2007, lot 38 and Tom Devenish: The Collection -: Sotheby’s, New York, 24 April 2008, lot 97. A further known pair is in a private east coast American collection.
1. Following the outbreak of World War II, Nuneham was occupied by the RAF up until 1957, during which time the site was sold to Oxford University. An inventory of 1940 reveals the armchairs were no longer situated at Nuneham. See Nuneham park, inventory of furniture, 1940 MS. D.D. Harcourt d. 97.
2. The letters and memoirs of Simon Harcourt and his family are published in six volumes: Harcourt Papers, 1880, London, vol. 3, p. 89.
3. The Dilettanti society is also likely where Stuart and John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer (1734 – 1783), for whom the second near identical suite was produced, were acquainted; thus linking two sets of furniture to one another.
4. Hovingham Mss. Zon 13/3/22.
5. Glebe exchange: Oxf. Dioc. Pp. d.562.
6. For Stuart at Nuneham in 1768 see MS. D.D. Harcourt b. 12
7. Turner, Sandby and Rosseau visited Nuneham, Sandby painting the illustrated watercolour of the site from the banks of the Thames. At just aged twelve this painting is a rare glimpse into the young artist’s development and his work in plein air; for a recount of Rosseau’s visit to Nuneham see Country Life, 12 September, 1968 and Love Peacock’s poem: The Pomes of Thomas Love Peacock, London, 1906, pp. 90-92 ‘The Genius of the Thames’. For George III’s praise of Nuneham see Royal letters, 1751-1819, n.d. MS. Eng. d. 3880.
8. The chimneypiece design was sold; Christie’s, London, 18 November 2004, lot 33, ‘Steward-Lord Harcourt’. For accounts relating to John Aider see MS. D.D., Harcourt, c.174. This account is then re-issued in 1768 with the tables described as ‘after Mr Stuart’s design’; MS. D.D. Harcourt, c.176.
9. Bowood Manuscript, Ms. D.O.3; also see letter from Mrs Montagu to Leonard Smelt, 2 April 1788: ‘to ye said Mr Adair (whose abode may be learnt at Mr Stuart), and order him to make out his bill’ Montagu, MO 23.
10. MS. D.D. Harcourt, c.142
11. Ibid.
12. It is of notable timing that in 1763 work was completed on the ‘Red Velvet Room’, the accounts confirming 642 yards of ‘Rich Crimson Damask’ ordered to finish the decoration: conformingly three armchairs from the Nuneham suite sold directly from Stanton Harcourt in 1993 retained a late rich red upholstery. MS. D.D. Harcourt, c.142; Sotheby’s, London, 10 June 1993, lot 839.
13. J. Stuart, The Antiquities of Athens, vol. 2, ch. 2, pl. IV-VII.
14. C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, pp.153-4.
15. A. Coleridge ‘Chippendale, The Director, and some Cabinet-Makers at Blaire Castles’, Connoisseur, December 1960, pp. 252-256; A. Coleridge Chippendale Furniture, 1968, in pp.50-1, pls.84-7 and Peter Thornton and John Hardy, `The Spencer Furniture at Althorp - II,' Apollo, June 1968, pp.440-451.
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Letters preserved and published in the Harcourt Papers detail the development of the project, including that from Lady Harcourt, writing to her son George in 1756: ‘Stewart, who I’ve mentioned to you in former letters, paid us a visit last week at Newnham, and expressed the highest satisfaction, both with the house and place, which he thinks is the finest situation he ever saw’.2 The Stewart in question is undoubtedly James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, the prominent architect who has been credited with the popularisation of the neoclassical style in the mid-eighteenth century; he and Harcourt likely acquainted through the Dilettanti society, of which Stuart was proposed in 1751, and Harcourt was a member.3 The Earl soon became admirer of the architect’s designs and in 1756 he writes of his plans at Nuneham: ‘I have boldly adventured to follow a design of an old building which I have seen among Mr Stuart’s drawings of Athens’.4 Their partnership is referred again in 1761 by the disgruntled Rev. James Newton who wrote in his diary ‘breakfasted at my Lord Harcourt’s and he was much displeased for my talking to Stewart about the churchyard and for saying he has done everything to me except cutting my throat’.5 The aforementioned yard was ultimately removed to make way for a Grecian temple designed by Stuart which stands today as Old All Saints Church. Working at Nuneham until at least 1768, the collaboration between ‘Athenian’ Stuart and Harcourt helped elevate the new site to one of marked elegance.6 Nuneham stood as the hallmark for superior design throughout the 18th and into the 19th century, with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, J.W.M Turner and Paul Sandby R.A. finding inspiration in the Villa’s stature and vistas; King George III even describing the residence ‘the most enjoyable place I know’.7
Beyond his work of the physical construction of Nuneham and its surrounding neo-classical follies, Stuart’s influence and involvement continued into the contents of the house itself. There are surviving drawings signed by Stuart for chimneypieces for the dining room and preserved at the Bodleian Library are account receipts from carver and gilder John Aider which list: ‘To 2 Bracket Tables under D.: by Mr Stuart – 16 –’.8 Aider and Stuart’s partnership is well-documented: the former carrying out work by ‘order of Mr. Stuart’ on at least two further building projects.9 It is highly likely the pair worked in partnership alongside various craftsmen in the execution of the interiors of Nuneham; the project spanning from 1760-1763. During this period Adair is referenced multiple time in the accounts, with payments made to ‘Mr. Adair’s men on account of guiding of the Great House’.10 Furthermore, expenditure shifts from masonry work to a focus on decoration, with several carvers and carpenters employed for the embellishment of doors, windows and balusters alongside the service of James Saunders for painting work, James Louvell for sculpture, and John Miller for upholstery.11 Although there is no specific receipt for the present armchairs, it is likely their creation came during this period of furnishing: a London workshop carrying out the designs by ‘Athenian’ Stuart; the gilding and upholstery later completed onsite by Miller and Aider.12
Stuart and Harcourt’s collaboration reveals a clear visual program that ran from the building work through to the design of the interiors. In the Nuneham armchairs, the palmette centrepieces and dental moulding bare marked similarities to the Grecian designs outlined in Stuart’s celebrated Antiquities of Athens, which the architect equally uses in the decoration of the Palladian columns of Old All Saints Church.13 Presently, the adaptation of these classical designs to the Louis XVI style marquise in the cupid bow shaping of the seat and the scrolling legs display a markedly French influence; aligning with Harcourt’s own interest in France - the aristocrat later assuming the position of ambassador to Paris from 1768 to 1771. The dental moulding, which mimics the traditional ‘close-nail’ upholstery, cleverly complements the shaped a chassis padded back, arms and seat; which allowed for the constant and easy update of the upholstery and speaks to a design that sought to place the Earl and his home at the forefront of fashion.
These chairs share a near identical twin in a group commissioned for Spencer House. Both seat furniture display identical carving of the rails, alongside mirroring palmettes and trailing husk design. The clear visual ties has led to the established assertion that they were crafted by the same furniture maker: John Gordon (d. 1777). Although little is known about this figure, it is clear that the Gordon’s workshop was one of high esteem and excellence, with notable documented commissions includimg work for Hopetoun House, Edinburgh; Blair Castle, Perthshire and the Duke of Gordon’s London residence, Santson House. Furthermore, in her 1776 list of preferred ebenistes and cabinet makers, the 1st Duchess of Northumberland lists ‘Gordon, London’ alongside hallmark names Ince & Mayhew and Chippendale, thus further confirming the craftsman’s status as one of the most fashionable of the day.14
His attribution to the Spencer suite, and as such the Nuneham chairs, has long been affirmed within scholarship both through documentation and stylistic analysis.15 Surviving records show that the firm of Gordon and Taitt, with whom John Gordon formed a partnership in 1767, was supplying furniture and carrying out repairs for the Spencer’s by 1772, including the 'repairing and gilding' of the hall lantern at Spencer House and the making of 'loose covers' for Stuart's Painted Room suite. Although no documentary evidence survives for this suite, the theory of a longstanding relationship between Gordon and Earl Spencer's steward, Thomas Townsend, suggested by such comprehensive repairs, is confirmed by the appointment of the latter as Gordon's executor. Furthermore, the aforementioned Gordon Furniture supplied to the 2nd Duke of Atholl for Blair Castle in 1748 provides close stylistic affinities with the Spencer House and Nuneham suites, the side rails, alongside the exact proportions, reaffirming the Gordon attribution. An example from the near identical Spencer Suite, circa 1765, was sold: The Spencer House Sale; Christie’s, London, 8 July 2010, lot 1006. For armchairs sold from the Nuneham suite see Christie’s, New York, 23 October 1982, lot 180; Christie’s, London, 29 March 1984, lot 45; Sotheby’s, London, 10 June 1993, lot 839; Sotheby’s, New York, 11 October 1996, lot 214; Sotheby's, London, 2005, lot 34; Sotheby's, London, 2007, lot 38 and Tom Devenish: The Collection -: Sotheby’s, New York, 24 April 2008, lot 97. A further known pair is in a private east coast American collection.
1. Following the outbreak of World War II, Nuneham was occupied by the RAF up until 1957, during which time the site was sold to Oxford University. An inventory of 1940 reveals the armchairs were no longer situated at Nuneham. See Nuneham park, inventory of furniture, 1940 MS. D.D. Harcourt d. 97.
2. The letters and memoirs of Simon Harcourt and his family are published in six volumes: Harcourt Papers, 1880, London, vol. 3, p. 89.
3. The Dilettanti society is also likely where Stuart and John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer (1734 – 1783), for whom the second near identical suite was produced, were acquainted; thus linking two sets of furniture to one another.
4. Hovingham Mss. Zon 13/3/22.
5. Glebe exchange: Oxf. Dioc. Pp. d.562.
6. For Stuart at Nuneham in 1768 see MS. D.D. Harcourt b. 12
7. Turner, Sandby and Rosseau visited Nuneham, Sandby painting the illustrated watercolour of the site from the banks of the Thames. At just aged twelve this painting is a rare glimpse into the young artist’s development and his work in plein air; for a recount of Rosseau’s visit to Nuneham see Country Life, 12 September, 1968 and Love Peacock’s poem: The Pomes of Thomas Love Peacock, London, 1906, pp. 90-92 ‘The Genius of the Thames’. For George III’s praise of Nuneham see Royal letters, 1751-1819, n.d. MS. Eng. d. 3880.
8. The chimneypiece design was sold; Christie’s, London, 18 November 2004, lot 33, ‘Steward-Lord Harcourt’. For accounts relating to John Aider see MS. D.D., Harcourt, c.174. This account is then re-issued in 1768 with the tables described as ‘after Mr Stuart’s design’; MS. D.D. Harcourt, c.176.
9. Bowood Manuscript, Ms. D.O.3; also see letter from Mrs Montagu to Leonard Smelt, 2 April 1788: ‘to ye said Mr Adair (whose abode may be learnt at Mr Stuart), and order him to make out his bill’ Montagu, MO 23.
10. MS. D.D. Harcourt, c.142
11. Ibid.
12. It is of notable timing that in 1763 work was completed on the ‘Red Velvet Room’, the accounts confirming 642 yards of ‘Rich Crimson Damask’ ordered to finish the decoration: conformingly three armchairs from the Nuneham suite sold directly from Stanton Harcourt in 1993 retained a late rich red upholstery. MS. D.D. Harcourt, c.142; Sotheby’s, London, 10 June 1993, lot 839.
13. J. Stuart, The Antiquities of Athens, vol. 2, ch. 2, pl. IV-VII.
14. C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, pp.153-4.
15. A. Coleridge ‘Chippendale, The Director, and some Cabinet-Makers at Blaire Castles’, Connoisseur, December 1960, pp. 252-256; A. Coleridge Chippendale Furniture, 1968, in pp.50-1, pls.84-7 and Peter Thornton and John Hardy, `The Spencer Furniture at Althorp - II,' Apollo, June 1968, pp.440-451.