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Lot Essay
Although this sophisticated desk, with its 'Etruscan' decoration and interlaced key frieze, has the outward appearance of a French bureau à la grec, a number of constructional idiosyncrasies help to identify it as an unusual example of English craftsmanship. Until recently the bureau plat formed part of the resplendent Hill-Trevor collections at Brynkinalt Hall in Denbighshire and is most likely the output of an émigré ébéniste working in London in the last quarter of the 18th century.
London had long tradition of attracting émigré craftsman with the perpetual cycle of European political and religious turbulence of the 17th and 18th centuries spurring their arrival. The lure of the capital reached new heights following the favourable conclusion of The Seven Years' War (1756–1763), a pan-European conflict which did little to dampen the appetite for French fashions in Britain. As Lucy Wood notes in her examination of the output Georg Haupt and his circle of Swedish craftsmen, London was uniquely placed to attract the peripatetic journeymen of Europe1. The Protestant friendly environment provided a safe haven for highly skilled artisans often hailing from Northern Europe. These journeymen could garner experience travelling through the main European centres, including Paris, ultimately drawn to London’s far less rigid trade guilds which allowed for anyone to succeed with the right attributes and capital. Perhaps more importantly, the stability of the Georgian dynasty and corresponding economic growth created a boom of wealthy clients far beyond the Royal court and noble houses of Britian. These patrons were often highly sophisticated in their tastes, having completed grand tours across Europe, and up-to-date with the latest fashions emanating from Paris and beyond2. Further, architect designers such as Robert Adam and Swedish-born court-architect William Chambers played a pivotal role in promoting the new brand of neoclassicism which permeated every aspect of furniture design in the latter part of the 18th century.
The maker of the present bureau plat would certainly have had excellent knowledge of French workshop practices and prototypes, namely the output of the celebrated Parisian cabinet-makers Phillippe-Claude Montigny (1734-1800) and René Dubois (1737-1799). The goût grec style swept to popularity in France from the mid-1750s with the celebrated suite of furniture supplied for the collector and financier Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully. Veneered in kingwood, amaranth and tulipwood and decorated with rosette and laurel swag mounts, the Brynkinalt bureau plat closely follows a well-documented group of bureau à la grec by Montigny and Dubois.
Executed in either amaranth and tulipwood or in ebony, often displaying the same distinctive ormolu mounts and of very similar proportions and design, this group demonstrates the close collaboration that existed between these two ébénistes. Montigny was well-known for restoring and producing Boulle furniture and the rosette mounts on these bureaux derive from Boulle’s repertoire.
A very closely related bureau plat stamped Dubois was sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 4-5 March 1984, lot 482, and a bureau plat stamped Montigny from the Collection of Lord and Lady Weinstock was sold Christie’s, London, 22 November 2022, lot 40. Further related bureaux include one stamped by Montigny with abbreviated Greek-key decoration across the three frieze-drawers in a private collection3 and a bureau plat supplied to the 6th Earl of Coventry on 12 March 1765 by the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier and invoiced as 'un Bureau à la Grec, de 4 pieds et demi de long par 32 pouces de large, orné de bronzes dorés d'or moulu, du bois rose et amaranthe, le filet ..[?] avec deux tablettes qui se tirent[?] sur les côtes couvre de Mariquine...[?]...que les tablettes...420'. The Coventry bureau plat is currently preserved at Croome Court, Worcestershire and demonstrates the lasting appeal of French furniture among the English gentry4.
Given that the posthumous inventory of Jacques Dubois in 1763 recorded ‘une table de bois d'amaranthe à la Grecque’ and that Montigny himself was not elected maître until 1766, it seems likely that Dubois devised this model which was continued by his son and successor René (who continued to use his father’s stamp). Montigny and Dubois, who were first cousins and closely acquainted, collaborated together as evidenced by a number of pieces stamped by both ébénistes at Waddesdon Manor and in the Wallace Collection. It is possible that in his capacity of a marchand-ébéniste, Dubois initially subcontracted Montigny to supply bureaux of this form, who then further developed the model according to his own designs.
Considering how closely the Brynkinalt bureau plat follows Dubois and Montigny’s oeuvre, it is safe to conclude the maker would have spent time in their workshops or at least had access to their models. In addition to the overall design, the present bureau plat broadly follows French practices of construction. For example the carcass is made with a panelled underside as was typical of French pieces. However, the Brynkinalt bureau plat diverges in several distinct ways which preclude the possibility of a French origin.
Whereas French-made bureau plat use oak, the present desk employs pine in the construction. Further, the oak-lined drawers have front-to-back oak drawer bottoms, where French antecedents would have the grain running side-to-side. The dovetails, with the pronounced fan-shaped tails, are distinctly un-French and quite idiosyncratic being covered by a very thin veneer. The original locks are English, and the lacquered-gilt-brass banding to top, mounts, capping and castors (French models typically employ sabots without castors) all present as English derivatives or casts taken the originals. The presence of a distinctly English ‘rococo’ influenced ring-pulls to the writing slides further anglicises the French character of the present lot. Interestingly, an almost identical version of this model, sharing the same constructional traits but lacking the brass reeding to legs, is preserved in the collections of the Marquesses of Bute at Mount Stuart, Scotland. The Bute bureau plat is almost certainly from the same émigré workshop and points to a definitive group made for the most prominent families of the day.
A further breakfront commode from circa 1772-73 by an unidentified maker, and which closely follows a French model typical of father-and-son ebenistes Antoine and Pierre-Antoine Foullett, is at Ham House and discussed in detail by Lars Ljungstrom5. This, together with the output of the Swedish cabinet-makers mentioned above, reveal a distinct faction of émigré craftsman with a common understanding of European tastes and workshop practices, adapted to English methods for an English audience.
The present desk formed part of the collections of the Hill-Trevors at Brynkinalt Hall, Denbighshire, on the English-Welsh borders. The family fortune was built at first by Sir John Trevor (1637-1717), an unscrupulous lawyer-turned-politician, who twice held the position of Speaker of House of Commons before being unseated because of a bribery scandal involving the East India Company. He also served as Master of the Rolls 1685 to 1689 and from 1693 until his death in 1717. The financial gains Sir Trevor accrued in these prominent positions allowed him to acquire two London houses on St Clements Lane and Trevor Square, Knightsbridge. All four of his sons predeceased him and his estates, including Brynkinalt, passed to his daughter Anne who married Michael Hill of Hillsborough in Ireland.
Arthur Hill, 1st Viscount Trevor (1694-1771), later Arthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon, was the second son and also pursued a political career, this time in Ireland as Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer and Commissioner of Irish Revenues. Arthur built Belvoir house in Ireland to designs of Christopher Myers in circa 1750. His son, the Hon. Arthur Hill Trevor (1738-1770), predeceased him also, making him an unlikely candidate for the acquisition of the present bureau plat. Instead, the Dungannon estates, including Belvoir and Brynkinalt, passed to Arthur Hill-Trevor, 2nd Viscount Dungannon (1763-1837) who inherited the title at the age of eight. In 1795, at the age of thirty-two, he married the Hon Charlotte Fitzroy, daughter of General Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton (1737 –1797) and grand-daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (1683–1757), and consequently sold Belvoir Park choosing to live between No. 3 Grafton Street, London (built by the Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735–1811) to designs of Robert Taylor in 1767) and Brynkinalt Hall. It is conceivable to bureau-plat was acquired before or during this phase of ownership as the Viscountess was a woman of highly cultivated taste and oversaw the significant re-modelling of Brynkinalt which had not been altered since the early 18th century. An alternative candidate for the acquisition of the present lot is Arthur Hill-Trevor, 3rd Viscount Dungannon (1798-1862) who inherits the title and estates in 1837. He undertook his grand tour in the 1810s and married Sophia Irvine in 1819, also inheriting his maternal estates around Whittlebury, in South Northamptonshire. Elected to society of Antiquaries, the 3rd Viscount Dungannon was a Francophile and could have bought this and pieces in 2nd quarter of the 19th century as French fashions enjoyed a new wave of popularity.
[1] L. Wood, ‘Georg Haupt and his Compatriots in London’, Furniture History, 2014, pp. 239-275
[2] It is estimated that over 40,000 Englishmen passed through Calais between 1763 and 1765 (see L. Colley, Rococo, Art and Design in Hogarth’s England, London, 1984, p. 15)
[3] A. Pradère, Les Ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 306, fig. 344.
[4] The National Trust Collections, Croome Park, NT 170981 https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/170981 (accessed June 2024)
[5] L. Ljungstrom, C. Rowell [ed.], ‘After a Fashion French: An English Commode (c. 1772-3) at Ham House and its stylistic implications’, Ham House 400 Years of Collecting and Patronage, 2013, pp. 348-359.
London had long tradition of attracting émigré craftsman with the perpetual cycle of European political and religious turbulence of the 17th and 18th centuries spurring their arrival. The lure of the capital reached new heights following the favourable conclusion of The Seven Years' War (1756–1763), a pan-European conflict which did little to dampen the appetite for French fashions in Britain. As Lucy Wood notes in her examination of the output Georg Haupt and his circle of Swedish craftsmen, London was uniquely placed to attract the peripatetic journeymen of Europe1. The Protestant friendly environment provided a safe haven for highly skilled artisans often hailing from Northern Europe. These journeymen could garner experience travelling through the main European centres, including Paris, ultimately drawn to London’s far less rigid trade guilds which allowed for anyone to succeed with the right attributes and capital. Perhaps more importantly, the stability of the Georgian dynasty and corresponding economic growth created a boom of wealthy clients far beyond the Royal court and noble houses of Britian. These patrons were often highly sophisticated in their tastes, having completed grand tours across Europe, and up-to-date with the latest fashions emanating from Paris and beyond2. Further, architect designers such as Robert Adam and Swedish-born court-architect William Chambers played a pivotal role in promoting the new brand of neoclassicism which permeated every aspect of furniture design in the latter part of the 18th century.
The maker of the present bureau plat would certainly have had excellent knowledge of French workshop practices and prototypes, namely the output of the celebrated Parisian cabinet-makers Phillippe-Claude Montigny (1734-1800) and René Dubois (1737-1799). The goût grec style swept to popularity in France from the mid-1750s with the celebrated suite of furniture supplied for the collector and financier Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully. Veneered in kingwood, amaranth and tulipwood and decorated with rosette and laurel swag mounts, the Brynkinalt bureau plat closely follows a well-documented group of bureau à la grec by Montigny and Dubois.
Executed in either amaranth and tulipwood or in ebony, often displaying the same distinctive ormolu mounts and of very similar proportions and design, this group demonstrates the close collaboration that existed between these two ébénistes. Montigny was well-known for restoring and producing Boulle furniture and the rosette mounts on these bureaux derive from Boulle’s repertoire.
A very closely related bureau plat stamped Dubois was sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 4-5 March 1984, lot 482, and a bureau plat stamped Montigny from the Collection of Lord and Lady Weinstock was sold Christie’s, London, 22 November 2022, lot 40. Further related bureaux include one stamped by Montigny with abbreviated Greek-key decoration across the three frieze-drawers in a private collection3 and a bureau plat supplied to the 6th Earl of Coventry on 12 March 1765 by the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier and invoiced as 'un Bureau à la Grec, de 4 pieds et demi de long par 32 pouces de large, orné de bronzes dorés d'or moulu, du bois rose et amaranthe, le filet ..[?] avec deux tablettes qui se tirent[?] sur les côtes couvre de Mariquine...[?]...que les tablettes...420'. The Coventry bureau plat is currently preserved at Croome Court, Worcestershire and demonstrates the lasting appeal of French furniture among the English gentry4.
Given that the posthumous inventory of Jacques Dubois in 1763 recorded ‘une table de bois d'amaranthe à la Grecque’ and that Montigny himself was not elected maître until 1766, it seems likely that Dubois devised this model which was continued by his son and successor René (who continued to use his father’s stamp). Montigny and Dubois, who were first cousins and closely acquainted, collaborated together as evidenced by a number of pieces stamped by both ébénistes at Waddesdon Manor and in the Wallace Collection. It is possible that in his capacity of a marchand-ébéniste, Dubois initially subcontracted Montigny to supply bureaux of this form, who then further developed the model according to his own designs.
Considering how closely the Brynkinalt bureau plat follows Dubois and Montigny’s oeuvre, it is safe to conclude the maker would have spent time in their workshops or at least had access to their models. In addition to the overall design, the present bureau plat broadly follows French practices of construction. For example the carcass is made with a panelled underside as was typical of French pieces. However, the Brynkinalt bureau plat diverges in several distinct ways which preclude the possibility of a French origin.
Whereas French-made bureau plat use oak, the present desk employs pine in the construction. Further, the oak-lined drawers have front-to-back oak drawer bottoms, where French antecedents would have the grain running side-to-side. The dovetails, with the pronounced fan-shaped tails, are distinctly un-French and quite idiosyncratic being covered by a very thin veneer. The original locks are English, and the lacquered-gilt-brass banding to top, mounts, capping and castors (French models typically employ sabots without castors) all present as English derivatives or casts taken the originals. The presence of a distinctly English ‘rococo’ influenced ring-pulls to the writing slides further anglicises the French character of the present lot. Interestingly, an almost identical version of this model, sharing the same constructional traits but lacking the brass reeding to legs, is preserved in the collections of the Marquesses of Bute at Mount Stuart, Scotland. The Bute bureau plat is almost certainly from the same émigré workshop and points to a definitive group made for the most prominent families of the day.
A further breakfront commode from circa 1772-73 by an unidentified maker, and which closely follows a French model typical of father-and-son ebenistes Antoine and Pierre-Antoine Foullett, is at Ham House and discussed in detail by Lars Ljungstrom5. This, together with the output of the Swedish cabinet-makers mentioned above, reveal a distinct faction of émigré craftsman with a common understanding of European tastes and workshop practices, adapted to English methods for an English audience.
The present desk formed part of the collections of the Hill-Trevors at Brynkinalt Hall, Denbighshire, on the English-Welsh borders. The family fortune was built at first by Sir John Trevor (1637-1717), an unscrupulous lawyer-turned-politician, who twice held the position of Speaker of House of Commons before being unseated because of a bribery scandal involving the East India Company. He also served as Master of the Rolls 1685 to 1689 and from 1693 until his death in 1717. The financial gains Sir Trevor accrued in these prominent positions allowed him to acquire two London houses on St Clements Lane and Trevor Square, Knightsbridge. All four of his sons predeceased him and his estates, including Brynkinalt, passed to his daughter Anne who married Michael Hill of Hillsborough in Ireland.
Arthur Hill, 1st Viscount Trevor (1694-1771), later Arthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon, was the second son and also pursued a political career, this time in Ireland as Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer and Commissioner of Irish Revenues. Arthur built Belvoir house in Ireland to designs of Christopher Myers in circa 1750. His son, the Hon. Arthur Hill Trevor (1738-1770), predeceased him also, making him an unlikely candidate for the acquisition of the present bureau plat. Instead, the Dungannon estates, including Belvoir and Brynkinalt, passed to Arthur Hill-Trevor, 2nd Viscount Dungannon (1763-1837) who inherited the title at the age of eight. In 1795, at the age of thirty-two, he married the Hon Charlotte Fitzroy, daughter of General Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton (1737 –1797) and grand-daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (1683–1757), and consequently sold Belvoir Park choosing to live between No. 3 Grafton Street, London (built by the Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735–1811) to designs of Robert Taylor in 1767) and Brynkinalt Hall. It is conceivable to bureau-plat was acquired before or during this phase of ownership as the Viscountess was a woman of highly cultivated taste and oversaw the significant re-modelling of Brynkinalt which had not been altered since the early 18th century. An alternative candidate for the acquisition of the present lot is Arthur Hill-Trevor, 3rd Viscount Dungannon (1798-1862) who inherits the title and estates in 1837. He undertook his grand tour in the 1810s and married Sophia Irvine in 1819, also inheriting his maternal estates around Whittlebury, in South Northamptonshire. Elected to society of Antiquaries, the 3rd Viscount Dungannon was a Francophile and could have bought this and pieces in 2nd quarter of the 19th century as French fashions enjoyed a new wave of popularity.
[1] L. Wood, ‘Georg Haupt and his Compatriots in London’, Furniture History, 2014, pp. 239-275
[2] It is estimated that over 40,000 Englishmen passed through Calais between 1763 and 1765 (see L. Colley, Rococo, Art and Design in Hogarth’s England, London, 1984, p. 15)
[3] A. Pradère, Les Ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 306, fig. 344.
[4] The National Trust Collections, Croome Park, NT 170981 https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/170981 (accessed June 2024)
[5] L. Ljungstrom, C. Rowell [ed.], ‘After a Fashion French: An English Commode (c. 1772-3) at Ham House and its stylistic implications’, Ham House 400 Years of Collecting and Patronage, 2013, pp. 348-359.