A Fine Pair of George III Mahogany Urns & Pedestals circa 1770

each lead-lined urn with removable lid carved with flowerheads, ribbons and spirally carved reeding, headed by a flame-form finial, the body with applied grotesque masks and ribbon-tied swagged draperies, the flaring base with gadrooned edge on a square plinth, one urn fitted with a brass tap, one pedestal fitted with a hinged door opening to a metal-lined interior fitted with slatted shelves and a drawer in the base fitted with a brazier for coals, the other pedestal fitted with a hinged door opening to shelves above a deep drawer; the fronts of the pedestals with applied swagged draperies concealing a locking mechanism, the canted sides with applied moldings carved with a shell above pendant bellflowers.  Restored.

The Collection of Mr. David and Lady Pamela Hicks, Britwell House, Britwell Salome, Oxfordshire, sold, Sotheby’s, on the premises, March 20-22, 1979, lot 76

Christie’s, London, anonymous sale, November 21, 1985, lot 136

The architectural form of country houses in the 18^th century normally included a large central block containing the State Rooms which included the Drawing Room, the Library and the Dining Room, the flanking wings containing the necessary other offices such as the kitchens and domestic quarters and the stables. Invariably, the kitchen was at some distance from the Dining Room which was ‘one of the principal apartments of a house, and ought always to be of a bold and accommodating proportions…The furniture…ought to be bold, substantial, and magnificent’ (Sheraton, op. cit., p.194). Although these words were written in the early 1790s, they apply both to the practices of the architect and cabinet-maker during the latter half of the 18^th century. As mentioned, the distance of the kitchens from the dining room necessitated the design of furniture which not only fitted in with the architecture and decorative detail of the room, but was also functional. The present pair of urns and pedestals neatly fulfills both these criteria, their swelling vases designed after the antique with their swags of ribbon-tied drapery and grotesque masks being lined with lead to contain iced water for cooling glasses or for rinsing. The pedestals are similarly carved with drapery which conceals a spring-mounted lock which opens the cupboard doors. These contain respectively a metal-lined interior with tiers of wooden slats to support either plates or hot food kept warm by a brazier below, the other fitted for wine, the drawer below formerly with a removable tray for ice. Originally they would probably have flanked a matching serving table with perhaps an open wine cooler below.

Various contemporary accounts survive itemizing furniture such as the present pedestals, Thomas Chippendale furnishing David Garrick’s dining parlour  with ‘2 mahogany pedestals, one fitted as a plate Warmer, the other with water divisions in the Top part’ and to stand between them ‘Mahogany Sideboard Table with Term Feet’.  William Gates, the Royal Cabinet-maker supplied the Prince of Wales in 1780 for the then Queen’s House, now Buckingham Palace, a pair of ‘fine mahogany urns on square pedestals……the inside of one lined with tin, with wooden racks to hold silver plates vertically, and a large brazier in an iron grid frame fixed to the bottom to warm the plates, and the other pedestal with a lead-lined cistern for iced water’.

Although the present pair does not have a provenance, the unusual scallop-shell carving above pendant foliate husks ornamenting the canted edges of the pedestals is identical to the carving on a mahogany and yew tree secretary cabinet (sold, Christie’s, New York, October 26, 1985, lot 139), and to the gilt-metal mounts on two marquetry inlaid commodes, the first from The Collection of the late Prince Littler, and the other sold at Sotheby's (see, op. cit.).

These are firmly attributed to the firm of John Mayhew (1736-d. 1811) and William Ince (d. 1804) whose partnership ‘was one of the most significant, probably the longest lived, but as far as identified furniture is concerned, the least well-documented of any of the major London cabinetmakers of the 18^th century’ (Beard and Gilbert, op. cit., pp. 589-598). Although a large number of manuscript accounts and bank records have survived, in most cases most of these commissions have been dispersed, although their collection of designs for furniture published between 1759 and 1762 does give some indication of their earlier house style (The Universal System of Household Furniture).

Two other related urns and pedestals are recorded, although neither of these retains their original provenance (Jourdain, op. cit., Symonds, op. cit., fig. 10, Connoisseur, op. cit., fig. 3).

See:

M. Jourdain, English Decoration and Furniture of the later XVIIIth (1760-1820), 1922, p. 229, fig. 355

The Collection of Mrs. K. Marlow, sold Christie’s, London, June 29, 1937, lot 118

The Antique Collector, ‘Changes in 18^th Century Dining Room Furniture’, R. W. Symonds, pp. 71-76

Connoisseur, November, 1965, ‘Pedestals and Vases for the Dining Room’, J. F. Hayward, pp. 155-158, fig. 3, pr. pedestals now in the Collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum

The Property of Prince Littler, Chestham Park, Henfield Sussex, Christie’s, London, sale on the premises, April 18-19, 1977 lot 182, marquetry commode

Sotheby’s, London, November 18, 1994, lot 104, a marquetry commode