Lot 38
  • 38

A pair of George III giltwood and Japanese lacquer console tables Attributed to John Linnell, circa 1765, the Japanese lacquer tops early 18th century

Estimate
200,000 - 400,000 GBP
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Description

  • giltwood, lacquer
  • 87cm. high, 83cm. wide, 56.5cm. deep; 2ft. 10¼in., 2ft 8¾in.,1ft. 10¼in.
the rectangular tops above fluted and beaded friezes on two ogee supports headed with ram's masks, festooned with bay leaves and issuing from acanthus carved finials on ribbon and thread moulded and fluted trumpet socles and octagonal plinth bases

Provenance

Most probably acquired by Arthur Hill Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon (c.1694-1771) for either Belvoir Park, Co. Down or for his London residence;
Thence by descent to Arthur Hill Trevor, 3rd Viscount Dungannon (1798-1862) upon whose death the estates passed to Lord Edwin Hill (1819-1894), third son of the Marquess of Downshire, created Baron Trevor of Brynkinalt in 1890;
Thence by descent.

Condition

These beautifully carved console tables would benefit from restoration and cleaning according to taste. Tops Each of thelacquer tops with shrinkage cracks along construction joints which has made the surface uneven. Wear and losses to the lacquer surface, particularly to the rock work and tree branches, commensurate with age and use. One of the tops (as illustrated page 145 of the catalogue) with loss to corner of moulded edge. Supports The supports re-gilt and with ingrained dirt, and could benefit from a clean according to taste. Overall with marks, chips to gilding and scratches commensurate with age and use. One of the supports has been partially dry stripped to reveal the original gilding (as illustrated on page 144 of the catalogue), and it seems much of the original gilding remains intact. There are losses to the carved elements and restorations to both supports including, inter alia: Table illustrated on page 144 - Right ram mask: one horn with loss to tip, the other horn with approximately 2/3rds lacking. - Left ram mask: losses to tips of the horns - Losses to carved Greek Key elements at top of both ogee supports - Losses and repairs to carved leaf elements of the swags and carved leaves issuing from the pedestal. The swags at the front appear to have been reattached. Table illustrated on page 145 - Chips and losses to carved leaf festoons - Repaired breaks to Greek Key and the corner edge of the Greek Key at top of right hand ogee support is lacking - Tips of right ram's horns missing - The carved swags to the front and right return have been crudely reattached and the repairs are visible.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

This remarkable pair of pier-tables is derived from antique classical altar tables, the forms of which were most avidly promoted by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-78), the celebrated designer and architect and engraver of Roman views. He was to publish a folio in 1769, Diverse maniere d'adornare i cammini ed ogni altra parte degli edifici, which included designs for tables, chairs, vases and chimney-pieces etc. The designs were overtly neo-classical and overloaded with antique motifs. The shape of the present tables and the inward curving legs are reminiscent of a table after a Piranesi design, in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Piranesi also published a design for a table with rams' mask monopodiae, reproduced by John Wilton Ely, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Complete Etchings, Vol. II, p. 902, fig. 829.

Piranesi's designs, disseminated throughout Europe in the age of the 'Grand Tour' assisted in the development of the goût-Grec taste popularised in France from the mid-1750s. This was the earliest expression of the neo-classic taste that was to sweep across the continent in the wake of exuberant mid-century rococo decor. To find such a bold design in English cabinet-making of this date is a rarity and they must surely have been produced by a craftsman of considerable confidence and ability. The likeliest maker is John Linnell (1729–1796), cabinet-maker, upholsterer and carver. He was the son of the distinguished cabinet-maker William Linnell (b.c.1703–1763), joining his father's firm in the late 1740s. He studied at St. Martin's Lane Academy, which had been founded by William Hogarth in 1735, becoming closely acquainted with the emerging rococo design through his contacts with an international group of fellow students. His talent for design is apparent through the large number of surviving drawings, many of which are in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and was a large factor in the rapid expansion of the family firm in the early 1750s. In 1754 the Linnells established new and larger workshops, together with a dwelling house at 28 Berkeley Square, and at his father's death in 1763, John Linnell inherited a firm employing some forty or fifty people. At the forefront of fashion with numerous important patrons Linnell’s designs were frequently avant garde  and stand apart from many of his contemporaries.

His transition to the neo-classic forms of mid-1760s was undoubtedly influenced by the leading architects of the day, namely Sir William Chambers and Robert Adam, with whom Linnell initially worked at Robert Child’s Osterley Park in Middlesex. The current pair of tables however demonstrate Linnell’s broad awareness of continental draughtsmen and particularly the work of Jean Charles Delafosse, an established teacher of drawing in Paris. Indeed, a bracket or console design published by Delafosse in Nouvelle Iconologie Historique of 1768 (see fig.2) displays similarly conceived curved and leaf-adorned supports headed by bold Greek-key scrolls and swagged with garlands. Linnell’s interpretation of this highly stylised form is reflected in his design for a console and pier-glass, inscribed ‘Eating or back Parlour’ of circa 1765 in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (E.250 1929) and reproduced here as fig. 3, where again the bold Greek-key design curved supports and garland adorned frieze are evident. Linnell would not have been fully reliant on drawings from France, for the 6th Earl of Coventry, one of the firm’s clients, had acquired in 1765 from the French agent Poirier a bureau-plat described as ‘ un bureau à la grec…orné de bronze d’oré d’or moulu en bois rose d’amaranthe et filets sur les cotes couverts de maroquin ainsi que les tablettes’. This model was almost certainly an influence on the subsequent furniture in this taste supplied by Linnell to Hugh, 1st Duke of Northumberland for either Syon House or Alnwick Castle and Viscount Scarsdale at Kedleston Hall. These mirror the output of the advocates of this taste in France, ébenistes Jacques Dubois, maître 1742, and Philippe-Claude Montigny, maître 1766, see H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. II, pp. 140-147.

These tables were most probably commissioned by Arthur Hill Trevor, youngest son of Michael Hill of Hillsborough, for Belvoir Park, Co. Down or for his London residence. The Hill family established themselves as one of the pre-eminent dynasties in north Ireland during the 17th and 18th centuries. Sir Moyses Hill had originally accompanies the Earl of Essex to Ireland in the late 16th century. His descendent Arthur Hill was appointed Constable of Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast by Charles ll and this became the family's principal seat. His son and grandson, both called Michael, were Privy Councillors. The latter married the heiress Anne Trevor only daughter and sole heir to Sir John Trevor, Speaker of the House of Commons. They had two sons: the eldest Trevor Hill would inherit Hillsborough Castle; the younger   Arthur would inherit the Trevor family inheritance which included estates in Wales, and property in London including Powis House in Knightsbridge which stood on the site of Trevor Square but not till the 1750s.

Arthur Hill had pursued a successful political career becoming an Irish MP then Keeper of the Records, Registrar of Deeds, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, and finally Commissioner for Revenue (1744-71). He took the additional surname of Trevor when coming into his inheritance and was ennobled in 1766 as Viscount Dungannon. He also acquired the Hill's other estate in the north, Belvoir Park, alongside the Langan River. There was no residence here as it had been initially laid out as pleasure grounds. Writing in 1744 Walter Harris noted in his Survey of County Down that Belvoir was laid out lately in Taste; the Avenue is large and handsome, the Fruitery, from an irregular Glyn, is now disposed in regular Canals, with Cascades, Slopes and Terraces, and the Kitchin Ground inclosed with Espaliers, the best of the Gardens lying over the Lagan River, which is navigable to this Place. The Offices are finished, but the House not yet build.’ On coming into his inheritance Arthur Hills-Trevor decided to build a suitable mansion there. Quite an undertaking for a man now in his sixties but as Mrs Delaney who visited him at Belvoir in 1758 makes clear he was ' an original'. Writing to her friend Mrs Dewes on 1st October she remarks:  '...we came to this place about three o’clock, as this is indeed a charming place; a very good house, though not quite finished, and everything very elegant. Mr Hill is a sort of an old beau; who has lived much in the world, his fortune a very good one. he is an original...A fine gentleman is the character he aims at.' There is no doubt that Arthur Hill-Trevor was spending considerable time, energy and money on developing his estate. He commissioned the Dublin based artist, Jonathan Fisher to paint views of the house and grounds at Belvoir in 1763, presumably to celebrate its completion. One of these showing the house is reproduced here, (see fig.1), and the set of four views was sold by his descendants and owners of the current tables, at Sotheby's, London, 22 November 2007, lot 36. It therefore seems highly plausible that these tables formed part of the original furnishings of Belvoir Park. Upon the death of the 1st Viscount Dungannon in 1771, the estate and title passed to his grandson, also Arthur, but by the mid 1790s, he moved to his Welsh estate, Brynkinalt and Belvoir was left largely uninhabited and was eventually sold in 1808.

The address of Lord Dungannon's primary  London residence remains a mystery, they seemed to have occupied a number of houses, owning Powis House in Knightsbridge and in the early 19th century developing Trevor Square. The 3rd Viscount is recorded as having been born in Berkeley Square in 1798 perhaps indicating that this was the location of a family house which would dovetail with Linnell's workshops and residence being in the same square. These tables are not the only piece in the Hill Trevor collection to be attributed to Linnell. Also surving are a set of chairs commonly associated with Linnell, having leaf-wrapped ball terminals to the arms further suggesting Lord Dungannon's patronage of this London firm.