This important pair of back-to-back writing tables once formed part of the original furnishings of Tottenham Park, Wiltshire. The house was designed by Richard Boyle, 3^rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753) for his sister Lady Juliana (d. 1739) and her husband Charles Bruce, later 3rd Earl of Ailesbury and 4th Earl of Elgin (1682–1747) (figs. 2 & 3). Dubbed the ‘Architect Earl’, Tottenham was Burlington’s first professional project and among the earliest manifestations of the neo-Palladian aesthetic he championed with his friend and protégé, William Kent (c. 1685–1748). There is compelling evidence to suggest the furniture at Tottenham was designed by Kent - no doubt under the aegis of Burlington - and supplied between circa 1730 and 1731. The re-emergence of the distinguished provenance means the Tottenham Park writing tables can take their rightful place in the canon of early Georgian mahogany furniture and represent an exciting addition to Kent’s known oeuvre.

Tottenham Park & the ‘Architect Earl’

On 2 February 1720, Lord Bruce married his second wife Lady Juliana Boyle. Although he inherited the family estate some six years prior, it was this union which apparently provided the impetus to rebuild the family’s venerable hunting lodge. Set in grounds of the ancient Savernake Forest, Totnam Lodge had fallen into disrepair from fire damage and years of neglect, providing Burlington with the perfect opportunity to apply his nascent interpretation of Palladian architecture. He had recently returned from Italy following visits in the summer and autumn of 1719, when he toured the country with the express purpose of studying Andrea Palladio’s (1508–1580) buildings first-hand.¹ Henry Flitcroft (1697–1769), Burlington’s first draughtsman and Clerk of Works, visited the site in July 1720 and designs for the house in Burlington’s hand survive from 1720 and 1721.² With the exception of Chiswick House, more drawings for the plans of Tottenham exist than for any other residence by Burlington, and as such the history of its evolution can be accurately traced through his drawings and a series of illuminating paintings by Pieter Andreas Rysbrack (Paris c. 1684-1748 London).³

The designs for Tottenham were greatly influenced by Burlington’s ‘Stupendous Purchase’ in 1720 and 1721 of the corpus of Inigo Jones (1573-1652), John Webb (1611–1672) and Palladio’s drawings.⁴ An early view of the house by Rysbrack from circa 1730 depicts the West Entrance Front and Burlington’s debt to Jones, Webb and Palladio is evident (fig. 1). The body of the house is based upon Webb’s Amesbury, although lacking the central cupola tower as depicted in Burlington’s drawing of 1721, while the distinctive towers derive from the famous façade of Wilton House, long associated with Jones and Webb. The use of pierced Venetian windows is perhaps wholly innovative pre-dating Colen Campbell’s (1676-1729) 1723 design for Houghton Hall by at least a couple of years. The precedent for the two blocks flanking the house is Palladio’s Villa Valmarana and is the first expression of Burlington’s astylar style.⁵ In 1737 Lord Bruce decided to enlarge the house with four additional pavilions and a further two towers. A later view by Rysbrack shows the house from the rear with these aggrandisements and the further addition of wings which date from 1738.⁶ This detailed view of the elevation reveals the Jones inspired portico which draws heavily from Queen’s House, Greenwich. Remarkably, Rysbrack painted a third view of the house, this time a sweeping bird’s-eye panorama, which shows the completed project replete with the temple of Deer House and the Banqueting House to the south of the landscaped grounds dating to circa 1743.⁷ The influence of this pioneering house cannot be overstated, a diminutive precursor to Kent’s Holkham Hall, Norfolk (c. 1729-43) the design of which can clearly be traced back to Tottenham.

‘2 Carved mahogany righting tables’

Examination of the extensive Tottenham inventories reveals that the present back-to-back writing tables are in fact one of two pairs supplied to Lord Bruce for his study and the adjoining anteroom. ‘2 Carved mahogany righting tables’ are first recorded in 1744 in ‘His Lordships Studdy’ together with ‘2 mahogany righting tables’ in The Vestables. The inventory was presumably taken shortly after the completion of the building project in circa 1743. Both pairs of tables are then recorded in the same locations on the death of Lord Bruce in 1747. By 1774, only one pair of 'carved mahogany writing tables' appear to be listed in ‘His Lordships Great Studdy’, now distinguished from the ‘His Lordships Outer[?] Studey’.

In 1856, on the death Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury (1773–1856) and following Thomas Cundy the Younger’s (1790-1867) radical remodelling of the house,⁸ ‘2 Mahogany Library Tables fitted up with Drawers te [too each] & Tops lined with green cloth’ are recorded in Sitting Room (No. 39) and Sitting Room (No. 41). It only becomes possible to clearly identify the present writing tables in 1944, when a list of the contents is drawn up before Tottenham is requisitioned by the Military Authorities. Now located in the Outer Hall, a detailed description of a ‘very fine pair of Early English carved mahogany knee hole writing desks, each fitted with 14 drawers & 2 cupboards, with fluted columns & tops covered with crimson baize’ can be confidently ascribed to the present writing tables which, including dummies, also have fourteen drawers each (fig. 4). The other pair listed in the Outer Hall differ slightly in the number of drawers with one recorded as ‘fitted with 16 drawers & 2 cupboards’ and ‘the other with 17 drawers & 2 cupboards’.

William Kent & the design

Kent was a pioneering architect-designer and the first to consider every aspect of interior decoration. His bold, classically informed furniture design perfectly suited the grand stately rooms of the houses of his patrons, often descended from the Whig political elite. Before his involvement at Tottenham, Kent had already designed furniture for some of the most important houses in the country including Wanstead House, Essex (c. 1720-1735), Houghton Hall, Norfolk (1725-35), Raynham Hall, Norfolk (c. 1724-32) and of course Burlington’s own Chiswick House, Middlesex (c. 1727-1738).⁹

Kent left his native Hull in the early 1700s reaching Italy in 1709 with John Talman, the architect, and under the patronage of Sir William Wentworth of Bretton Park, Burrell Massingberd of Ormsby, and Sir John Chester of Chicheley, studied his chosen profession of painting. He became acquainted with many English nobles, who subsequently became major clients. These included the future Earl of Leicester, John Coke and Lord Burlington who brought Kent back to England in 1719. In 1726 this patronage obtained him the post of Master Carpenter, and in 1735 he became Master Mason and Deputy Surveyor. It is interesting to note that his work as an architect did not begin until the early 1730s, by which time the character of English neo-Palladianism had already been established by Burlington with Tottenham playing vital part in its early development. Certainly, much of Kent’s furniture is architectural in conception, following Palladian ideals and ornamented with classical elements, reflecting his earlier travels in Rome and Burlington’s own training and influence.

Kent’s involvement with the furnishing of Tottenham is first established through correspondence from Lady Juliana to her husband on 5 February 1730. Lady Juliana writes:

‘I saw Kent yesterday and scolded him for not dining with us, he said he was ingaged, but had he known yu intended to go ye next day he would have put it off but not the least civil thing was said to me, he told me my Brother had spoke to him about two frames for Tables & that they were about.’¹⁰

Almost a year later, on 22 January 1731, she writes again:

‘I dare say Kent has forgot what he said that night, for he looks as pert as ever, & inquires after you just in ye old way, my b tells me he has been very busy two mornings drawing for you, & that he will make the room at Tottenham one of the finest in England.’¹¹

The letter demonstrates the close working relationship between Lord Burlington and Kent - ‘my b’ presumably referring to her brother – and the room in question is thought to be the Great Drawing Room which surely ranked among the finest in the country. The 1744 inventory records a quintessential Kentian interior, describing ‘the hanging of ye room of green Damask made to take up and down’ and listing ‘2 Large Peer glases 5 foot by 3 feet each in carved gilt & painted frames’, ‘2 Egipeshon marble slabs 28 by 54 each on Carved and gilt frames’ - conceivably those referred to in Lady Juliana’s letter of 5 February 1730 - ‘20 half Lenth Pictures one ditto hole Lenth all in gilt frames’ together with several suites of mahogany seat furniture.

Although the collection has been dispersed at various junctures in Tottenham’s turbulent 20^th century history, to date very few pieces have been identified. Among that small group are a set of four carved mahogany side chairs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and two armchairs from the same suite in a private collection,¹² the design of which is astonishingly documented by a drawing in Sir William Chambers’ Franco-Italian sketchbook from 1746 and inscribed in his hand ‘Tottenham / Kent’.¹³ Further, some twenty-one side chairs and two settees - which share characteristics with designs for two chairs published by Kent’s disciple John Vardy in Some Designs of Mr. Inigo Jones and Mr. William Kent¹⁴ - have been cautiously attributed to Tottenham and are currently divided between the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Lady Lever Collection, Temple Newsam and various private collections.¹⁵ Finally, a pair of parcel-gilt painted brackets in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London came from Tottenham, are possibly from the set of '10 Poetts heads on painted and gilt bracketts one Ditto of Mr. Pope’ listed in Lord Bruce’s study in 1744.¹⁶ All the above share the same lexicon of design as the present writing tables.

Library furniture was an important component of Kent’s interiors, conceived to compliment the overall decorative scheme. The strong architectural form of the Tottenham writing tables, with each kneehole in the form of a Triumphal Arch and roundel motifs the cupboard doors, relate to a number of Kent’s other commissions recalling in particular the tripartite screen for the Dining Room at Raynham Hall (c. 1726-32).¹⁷ The contents of ‘His Lorshipps Studdy’ - or library - reveal a cultivated and scholarly patron, for alongside the aforementioned ’10 Poetts heads’ are ‘8 maps in Carved and gilt frames’, ‘a reading stand’, ‘2 large brass stay to Confine books’ and a ‘pair of mahogany steps’ for use about the library. The ‘Carved mahogany righting tables’ listed in His Lordships Studdy and the adjoining Vestables - or anteroom - belong to a distinct group ‘back-to-back’ desks which gained popularity in the second quarter of the 18^th century.¹⁸ Supplied to Tottenham in circa 1730-1731, they must be among the earliest examples of this form, whose dual functionality allowed them to be brought together as a centre table to accommodate large maps or folios, or used separately as individual writing tables against the perimeter of the room. The design of the present tables is particularly sophisticated and the architectural qualities are accentuated by the crisply carved moldings with their plain, almost severe, drawer fronts in fine, tightly grained mahogany.

Lady Burlington’s ‘Owl’ tables

That Kent designed the Tottenham writing tables is given further weight when compared to the famous back-to-back ‘Owl’ tables supplied to Lady Burlington for the Garden Room at Chiswick House in 1735¹⁹ (fig. 5). Elaborately carved with owl-head terminals – the symbol of Athena the Greek Goddess of Wisdom and emblematic of the Savile family crest – in parcel-gilt heightened mahogany, Kent’s involvement in their design is well documented.

The tables were supplied together with a pair of giltwood mirrors with conforming owl decoration and intended to hang above them as depicted in Kent’s sketch of Lady Burlington in her Garden Room.²⁰ The commission is referred to in a letter from Lady Burlington to her husband in 1735, when she remarks, ‘I hope the Signor has remember’d about my tables and glasses’. The form relates closely to the present tables, employing the same architectural motifs and a similar configuration of drawers, making it reasonable to conclude the Tottenham tables are the progenitor of their design.

The remarkable discovery of Kent’s signature during the conservation of the Owl tables in 2013, together with that of the acclaimed carver John Boson (fl.1720–d. 1743) and the obscure cabinet-maker Cornelius Martin (fl. 1735-1763), provides a fascinating insight into the craftsmen involved in their manufacture.²¹ While the role Boson played was already understood - a receipt for his work on the commission survives in the Chatsworth Archives from 11 September 1735 for ‘carving work done for the Honorable Lady Burlington’²² – the discovery of Martin’s signature is an exciting revelation and presents a plausible candidate for the cabinet-work of the Tottenham desks supplied some five or so years before. Although the Burlington tables employ walnut for the drawer linings, both tables have been ingeniously constructed with several angled corners and unusually fine dovetails to accommodate the challenging pentagonal shape.²³ The quality of the of the carving of the Tottenham desks is exceptional and can certainly be associated with Boson’s name, showing off the finest West Indian mahogany and giving tables an almost stone-like appearance. Indeed, Boson is thought to have originally been apprenticed as a ship’s carver and the majority of his known commissions were for carved work both in wood and marble.

A further, fascinating insight to emerge from the conservation work was the discovery of a fragment of green silk, suggesting the Owl tables were originally covered in damask to match the walls of the Garden Room.²⁴ Given the fact they were commissioned by Lady Burlington, it would seem the tables were conceived as dressing and/or writing tables and, as with many examples of Kentian table furniture, received marble and subsequently leather tops in the 19^th and 20^th centuries (see lot 6). Conversely, the Tottenham tables were always considered as pieces of library furniture, being described as ‘righting tables’ in the 1744 inventory and placed in or around Lord Bruce’s study. Although they are recorded with 'green cloth' (1856) and 'crimson baize' (1941), it is likely the tops were originally inset with leather to complement the mahogany seat furniture ‘all covered with Spanish leather’ in His Lordships Studdy and thereby forming a cohesive decorative scheme.

¹ John Harris, The Palladian Revival, Lord Burlington, His Villa and Garden at Chiswick, Yale, 1995, p. 19.

² Ibid., pp. 20 and 86.

³ For a discussion of Rysbrack’s three views of Tottenham see John Harris, 'Serendipity and the Architect Earl', Country Life, 28 May 1987, pp. 132-133.

⁴ John Harris, The Palladian Revival, Lord Burlington, His Villa and Garden at Chiswick, Yale, 1995, p. 19.

⁵ Ibid., pp. 86-89.

⁶ Sold Christie’s London, Visions of Collecting: Royal and Aristocratic, An Important Private Collection, 19 September 2019, lot 116.

⁷ Sold Sotheby’s London, The property of the Trustees of the Savernake Estate, 5 July 2012, lot 279.

⁸ From circa 1824 to 1873, Thomas Cundy the Elder (1765–1825) and subsequently Thomas Cundy the Younger (1790–1867) were engaged to extend and greatly alter Tottenham transforming the Georgian villa into a grand stately home.

⁹ Susan Weber, William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain, Yale, 2014, pp. 190-191, 195, 202-204.

¹⁰ Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office, 1300/974.

¹¹ Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office, 1300/981.

¹² Philadelphia Museum of Art, Accession Number 1928-88-1 & 2 and 1986-26-95 & 96.

¹³ Victoria & Albert Museum, Accession Number 5712:60

¹⁴ John Vardy, Some Designs of Mr. Inigo Jones and Mr. William Kent, 1744, plate 42 and inscribed ‘W. Kent Invt.’, ‘J. Vardy delin. et Sculpt.’

¹⁵ Weber, op. cit., pp. 477-478, figs. 18.11 and 18.12.

¹⁶ Victoria & Albert Museum, Accession Number W.1-1988 and W.1A-1988.

¹⁷ Weber, op. cit., pp. 204-205, fig. 8.25.

¹⁸ For other examples see R.W. Symonds, ‘Back-to-Back Writing Tables’, Country Life, 13 September 1956, pp. 533-534.

¹⁹ Matthew Hirst, ‘Conservation Discoveries: New insights into Lady Burlington’s ‘Owl’ Tables for her Garden Room at Chiswick, Furniture History, Vol. 50, 2014, pp. 205-215.

²⁰ Ibid., p. 208, fig. 4.

²¹ ‘W Kent’, an indistinct signature beginning with ‘B’ surely for Boson and ‘Cornelius Martin / 1735’ are all inscribed in pencil to the underside of one table. See Hirst, op. cit., pp. 212-213, figs. 10-12.

²² Ibid., p. 207, fig. 3.

²³ Much of the interior construction of the Tottenham desks is either in oak or pine, the backs being of panelled oak construction with both peg and round-headed steel screws.

²⁴ Hirst, op. cit., pp. 210, fig. 7.