Important mobilier de salon en bois doré d'époque Queen Ann, vers 1700, Angleterre

comprenant six fauteuils et un canapé (fabriqué à partir d'un fauteuil) à hauts dossiers plats, les accotoirs en enroulements sculptés de lambrequins et festons, reposant sur des montants balustres ; les pieds avants de forme balustre terminés par une volute, les pieds arrières droits, réunis par une entretoise ornée d'un vase ; recouverts de velours de soie cramoisie brodé d'arabesques ; ( renforts aux ceintures ; équerres, accidents et manques à la dorure)
AN IMPORTANT SUITE OF EARLY 18^{th CENTURY CARVED GILTWOOD SEAT FURNITURE, CIRCA 1700}

Comprising six armchairs and a further chair extended to form a sofa, and retaining much of the original carved gilt gesso ornamented surfaces with some later over-gilding; each with an arched over upholstered back and seat, the down-swept and outwardly curved moulded arms with shaped strap-work panels enclosing pearls on a hatched ground and within borders of bead-and-reel, the strongly scrolled and bifurcated terminals with trails of husks on a hatched ground and supported on square tapered columns above flared faceted supports ornamented with strap-work and flower heads on a hatched ground, the similarly formed and ornamented legs with bifurcated scrolled moulded toes, and joined by a moulded scrolled X-shaped stretcher with beaded ornament and centred by a an urn finial with a gardened collar and flame finial, now covered with faded red cut-velvet.

BIBLIOGRAPHIE

- Sir Thomas Osborne, Bt., 1^st Duke of Leeds (1632-1712), commissioned either for his house at Wimbledon, Surrey or for Kiveton Park, Yorkshire
- Thence by descent to George Godolphin Osborne, 10^th Duke of Leeds (d.1927), Hornby Castle, Yorkshire
- Anonymous sale, Christie’s, London, February 16, 1956, lot 98, from the collection of The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Cadogan, M.C.

Two other armchairs from the suite are recorded:
- The first sold anonymously, Sotheby’s, London November 17, 1989, lot 31, and again on April 22, 1994, lot 41
- The second (formerly one of a pair) sold from the Wernher Collection, Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire Christie’s, London, July 5, 2000, lot 70

- Patrice Boussel, Les Styles du Moyen Age à Louis XIV, Paris, 1979, p. 140, fig. 2, one armchair
- Claude Frégnac and Wayne Andrews, The Great Houses of Paris, New York, 1979, pp. 77, 78, the suite shown in situ, The Galerie d’Hercule, the Hôtel Lambert, île Saint-Louis
- Great Interiors, Londres, 1967, p. 37
- J. B. Naudin, C. de Nicolay-Mazery, Visite Privée, Paris, 1999, p. 26

REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES :

- J. Badesdale and J. Rocque, Vitruvius Brittanicus, 1739, Vol. IV, pls. 11-18
- Percy Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Walnut, London, 1905: Suite A, p. 70, fig. 66, pl. VI, p.114, fig. 108 (b), Suite C, p. 75, fig 72, p.114 (a), Suite D, p. 113, fig. 107
- Charles Latham, In English Homes, London, 1907, ‘Hornby Castle’, p.85
- Christie’s, London, sale catalogue, Fine old English Furniture, Continentals Porcelain, Old English Silver, the Property of His Grace the Duke of Leeds, June 10, 1920
- Christopher Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978: Suite B, pp. 264-267, items 332 and 323
- G. Beard and C. Gilbert, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-40, Leeds, 1986
- G. Beard, Upholsterers & Interior Furnishing in England 1530-1840, London, 1997
- Adam Bowett, English Furniture 1660-1714 From Charles II to Queen Anne, Antique
- Collector’s Club, Woodbridge, 2002: Suite A, Frontispiece, Suite B, pl. 8.25, p. 244
- Country Life, ‘A Tour of Architectural Splendors’, Terry Friedman and Derek Linstrum, February 8, 1973, 334-336

Sir Thomas Osborne, Bart. was the son of Sir Edward Osborne of Kiveton, near Sheffield in Yorkshire who was grandson of Sir William Osborne, the well-known Lord Mayor of London. After succeeding his father to the baronetcy and estates at Kiveton, he was introduced to public life and to court by his neighbour, George Villiers, 2^nd Duke of Buckingham. Elected to Parliament as M.P. for York in 1665, he began an active career as a politician and statesman. A strong Royalist, he rapidly gained favour in both Parliamentary and Royal circles holding various important positions including the treasureship of the navy in 1671, and was created Viscount Dunblane in 1673. In June of that year he became lord high treasurer of England and chief minister of Charles II, and in August was made Baron Osborne of Kiveton and Viscount Latimer, being promoted to the Earldom of Danby in August. Described as ‘greedy of wealth and honours, corrupt himself, and a corrupter of others’, his various activities culminated in his impeachment for high treason in 1679, resulting in his imprisonment in the Tower of London for five years. In the years following James II accession, as a strong Protestant he became a member of the opposition, becoming active in the cause of William of Orange, being one of the seven leaders of the Revolution who signed the invitation to him requesting his accession to the throne of England. For his services to William he was created Marquess of Carmarthen in 1689, becoming the Duke of Leeds in 1694. His influence during the early years of William’s reign gradually declined, his political opponents making various charges against him culminating in his impeachment by the Commons for having received a bribe of 5,000 guineas to procure a new charter for the East India Company. Although the charges were not proceeded with, by 1696 he held few positions of importance, finally retiring from office in 1699. During the reign of Queen Anne he was described as ‘a gentleman of admirable natural parts, although he by no means acquiesced in his enforced retirement and continued to take an active part in politics’.

The 1^st Duke’s principal seats were located at Wimbledon, of which little is know, and Kiveton House, near Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Although Kiveton was demolished in 1811, views of the completed house together with the gardens and park were published by J. Badeslade and J. Rocque in the fourth volume of Vitruvius Brittanicus which illustrated a Collection of Plans, Elevations, and Perspective Views of the Royal Palaces, Noblemen, and Gentlemen’s Seats in Great Britain, 1739.The house was originally thought to be designed by William Tallman due to the existence of an annotated drawing of a floor plan (see: Harris op.cit. pl. 14), although recent research indicates that it was probably executed by a London carpenter named Daniel Brand. Built between 1697 and 1705 it was a ‘fine modern brick house with two wings of Offices, described by Christopher Gilbert as a ‘Magnificent Palace’. The interiors of Kiveton are described in a manuscript account of a tour of country houses made by W. Knatchbull and his cousin in 1724 (Friedman op. cit.) as having a ‘Hall painted by Sr J Thornhill’, the rooms with ‘rich Tapestry full of Gold, with figures of Horses and Horsemen in perfection’. The rooms were further furnished with rich marble fireplaces, gilt leather panels, elaborate wood-carvings and metalwork, antique busts ‘bought from Italy very curious’ and ‘richly furnish’d with Damask & Velvet’. The ‘many statues & large vases’ in the parterre are clearly shown in Badeslade’s engraving of ‘The East Prospect and Garden Front’. Presumably, the interiors of the house at Wimbledon, in which Peter the Great was entertained on the 23^rd April 1698, were also decorated in an equally sumptuous fashion.

After the demolition of Kiveton in 1811, many of its furnishings were removed to Hornby Castle, which had been acquired by Francis Osborne, the 5^th Duke, on his marriage to Lady Amelia D’Arcy in 1773. During the 20^th century much of the contents of Hornby Castle have been dispersed, either privately, as in the case of the present chairs, or by auction, principally at Messrs. Christie’s in 1920. This sale included all or part of four other suites of seat furniture dating from the late 17^th century which presumably were part of the original furnishings commissioned by Thomas Osborne for either Wimbledon or Kiveton. Of various designs, they include side chairs, armchairs, stools, sofas and a day bed. All are either plainly japanned in black (suites C and D), or in gilt and black (A and B). It is possible that the latter two suites were originally fully gilded, the japanning being later, as was that on the companion armchair to the present suite offered by Sotheby’s in 1994. The most sumptuously upholstered of these, which is now at Temple Newsam House, Leeds (Gilbert, op. Cit. Suite B), comprises a sofa and a day bed. Each of these has a carved crest-rail ornamented with the monogram ‘D.C.L.’ showing Osborne’s title of Duke of Leeds, and his alternate titles of the Earl of Danby and Marquess of Carmarthen. These retain their original coverings of arabesque patterned Genoese velvet in crimson, green and cinnamon on a dark cream satin ground with tasselled fringes, which presumably indicate the lavish and expensive upholstery which would have originally been used on the present chairs.

Gilbert (op. cit.) attributes the suite now at Temple Newsam to the Royal upholder Philip Guibert to whom several payments are recorded in the Duke of Leeds account books. These include an entry dated 9 November 1703 ‘Pay’d Gilbert, ye joyner by my Lady Duches’s order 2/-‘, and another for £73 10s on June 30, 1702 to a ‘Mr Hibbert’ which is possibly an anglicising of his name. Guibert of German Street, St. James’s, London is recorded between 1692-1739 and appears to have been heavily involved in commissions for Windsor Castle and Kensington Palace. The Royal accounts include payments for a walnut couch, the headboard carved with royal cipher, ‘a fine black soffa (sic) in a new fashion’ and ‘a great bed of Genoa damask’ for Kensington Palace costing £37 17s 6d in 1697. Besides the Duke of Leeds, other patrons within the royal circle who commissioned work from Guibert included the 2^nd Duchess of Bedford to whom he supplied a bedstead with sky blue damask bed furniture together with curtains for two windows and two doors, together with two easy chairs, four back chairs and four stools upholstered en suite.

No other direct references have as yet been found in the Osborne accounts relating to other cabinetmakers or upholsterers. However, the design of the present chairs, with their extravagant scrolled arms, pillared legs and ornamented shaped stretchers, is closely related to a suite of giltwood furniture (See: Bowett, op. Cit., pl. 847 supplied by the London upholder Thomas.

Howe to the 5^th Earl of Salisbury for Hatfield House, St. Albans, in 1711. Thomas How (1710-1733) is recorded at Jarman Street, corner of Duke Street, Westminster, his known clients besides Lord Salisbury, including Lady Sondes in 1733 for bedding, upholstery materials and cushions, and also for work at Sutton Scarsdale. It is interesting to note that his address ‘Jarman Street’, taking into consideration the vagaries of spelling in the early 18^th century, is probably the modern Jermyn Street which is also probably a variant of ‘German Street’, the address if Philip Guibert.

Strangely, close study of the surviving photographs taken by Country Life (Latham op. cit. 1907) and the sale catalogues of 1920 and 1930 shows no images of case furniture dating from the period of Thomas Osborne, although all the aforementioned suites of seat furniture are illustrated other than the present example. However, a previously unrecorded carved gilt gesso pier table, the top carved with the monogram of entwined Ds and L’s within a garter-strap of the 1^st Duke of Leeds, was offered by Christie’s, London, as lot 50, July 1, 2004. As with the present chairs, the legs of this table are of flared pillared form joined by shaped cross stretchers.