A magnificent pair of ormolu-mounted ebony, jasper, porphyry and pietra dura cabinets the pietre dure panels attributed to Giacchetti at the Gobelins Workshop circa 1675, the other hardstones Italian, the cabinetwork and mounts French circa 1825

each with an inset veneered jasper top of inverted breakfront form, the frieze drawer with porphyry ground, centered by a cameo of a Bacchic mask forming the keyhole, flanked by ormolu foliate scrolls and garlands of husks, the corners fitted with ormolu bearded masks above free-standing jasper columns with ormolu Corinthian capitals; the panelled front centered by a pietra dura plaque incorporating a bird perched in a vase of fruit including cherries, pears, grapes, plums and peaches executed in a variety of hard stones including lapis lazuli, amethyst and jasper, contained within a lapis lazuli border and a cushion molded porphyry border within ormolu leaf tips borders; the slightly outset rectangular base fitted with a reeded border with foliate clasps, the apron fitted with shells flanked by foliate scrolls and garlands of husks, raised on spirally-fluted ormolu legs cast with chandelles; the sides fitted with complementary ormolu mounts centered by a large trefoil within a roundel on a porphyry ground.

Commissioned by William Beckford in 1824, either for his London house in Park Place, or for Lansdown Crescent, Bath

Acquired by the Dukes of Sutherland, either George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1^st Duke of Sutherland (d. 1833), or his son, the 2^nd Duke (d.1861) for Stafford House, London

By descent to Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4^th Duke of Sutherland (d.1913), Stafford House, sold, Knight, Frank & Rutley, July 14, 1913, lot 92

Anonymous sale, Christie’s, London, December 10, 1959, lot 137 (780 gns to Harrington)

William Redford Antiques, London

Private European Collection, sold, Sotheby’s, London, November 30, 1984, lot 376

Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, London, June 10, 1998, lot 86

'William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent', The Bard Graduate Center, New York, October 2001-January 2002, catalogue number 160.

 

P. Hewat-Jaboor and Bet McLeod, William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent, New Haven, 2001, illustrated, p. 190, fig. 10-8; catalogue number 160, illustrated and discussed p.413.

D. Pearce, London’s Mansions, London, 1986, p. 200, fig. 154 (shown in situ) in the State Drawing Room of Stafford House.

J. Yorke, Lancaster House, London’s Greatest Town House, London, 2001, p. 147, pl. 96.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

C. Wainwright, The Romantic Interior, New Haven & London, 1989, pp. 109-147.

A.-M. Giusti, Pietre Dure, Hardstones in Furniture and Decoration, London, 1992, pp. 194-222.

WILLIAM BECKFORD (1670-1844)

William Beckford was indisputably one of the greatest English collectors of his day; he was one of the richest men in England and an inveterate traveler.  His storied life has made it difficult for his biographers to distinguish between the recorded facts and Beckford’s own imaginative inventions and fantasties, however his reputation as a collector of the first order is beyond question.  He was a serious collector of Asian and Islamic works of art, including, amongst other things, a priceless collection of lacquer-work.  He also collected in the more traditional fields of mediaeval, Renaissance and later works of art, fine arts, furniture, rare books and other curiosities.

Beckford was the son of Alderman William Beckford (d.1770) who was famed as the builder of Fonthill Splendens in Wiltshire; he also served as Lord Mayor of London.  Beckford was father to two daughters, one of whom, Susan Euphemia, would marry Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, later 10^th Duke of Hamilton (d.1852) of Hamilton Palace, the repository of another great English collection.  Like Beckford, the Duke of Hamilton was a passionate connoisseur and collected, amongst other things, extremely important French furniture.

Beckford lived for many years outside England.  He took up residence in Paris in 1788 on the eve of the Revolution, renting the richly decorated and celebrated Hôtel d’Orsay on the rue de Varenne.  He remained in Paris and took advantage of the fact that after the Revolution, there was an unparalleled opportunity to acquire extraordinary works of art and furniture with the most distinguished provenances.

Beckford eventually returned to England, settling in Fonthill Splendens where, in 1796, he instituted the work of his lifetime, the creation of Fonthill Abbey. By 1822, he had created the best known and most discussed building in Britain, but not without a devastating drain on his financial resources, and so he announced the contents for sale.  The extravagant building did not long survive its eventual sale to John Farquhar, collapsing entirely in 1825.

By this time, Beckford had settled in Bath, living in Lansdown Crescent.  He also maintained, as he always had, a London residence and it is not yet clear which of these residences the present cabinets were destined for.

THE BECKFORD CABINETS

The present cabinets have been fully documented by Philip Hewat-Jaboor and Bet McLeod, who note that in 1824 when they were commissioned, Beckford had been relieved of the financial burden of Fonthill Abbey and was enjoying a period of renewed collecting and commissioning.  In the late 1780’s, when in Portugal as a young man shortly after the death of his wife, Beckford had met Gregorio Franchi who would become his agent during the 1790’s.  Franchi was as knowledgeable as Beckford and had a particular appreciation of hardstones and lapidary work.  It was Franchi who oversaw the assembly of these cabinets in Paris, probably in concert with Robert Hume who was the cabinet-maker most frequently employed by Beckford, and by his son-in-law, the Duke of Hamilton.

Hume was recorded as an agent for Beckford in 1828 (The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, p. 462), and the link between these cabinets and Hume is a clock-cabinet which he created for the Duke of Hamilton c. 1820-22 which incorporates identical jasper columns with identical ormolu Corinthian capitals cast with cinquefoils.  This suggests that all these columns and capitals derive from the same earlier piece of furniture.  (For the Duke of Hamilton's clock-cabinet see, Anna Maria Massinelli, Hardstones, p. 49, no. 9). 

A sketch of one of these two cabinets (now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford), appears on a blank piece of paper which was part of the Beckford Papers, (sold, Sotheby’s, London, July 6, 1977 lot 272), entitled: “The archive of William Beckford’s literary manuscripts, correspondence and personal papers” which had been bequeathed to Beckford’s daughter.  These papers had remained in the Hamilton family until 1977 and the sketch was in a file of the archive catalogued as: Collections and designs of work of art, furniture and pictures and more specifically: Collection of receipts and list, many in the hand of Beckford’s boy-friend Gregorio Franchi for objects and stained glass purchased from dealers, artists and auctions … 

The pietra dura panels were more than likely supplied by Hume (see Adriana Turpin, William Beckford (op.cit.) p. 191).  Franchi purchased the jasper for the columns and the Egyptian porphyry in Rome, and he wrote to Beckford in November 1824:

            “The two cabinets that are being made in Paris cannot be finished without bringing from here the necessary porphyry and slabs that are supposed to be the background for the gilt bronze mounts”. 

The carcases were probably recycled from an earlier piece of furniture, and the gilt-bronze mounts were made by an as yet unidentified bronzier in Paris.  In January 1825, Franchi sent a report on the progress:

            “from Paris I have news that the dealer has the wood ready and that they are finished.  The bronzes are still being made”.

The bacchic cameo masks were also found in Rome:

“the keyholes are two magnificent masks of agate, a milk-colour on a dark ground, that are in the hands of a disciple of Girometti”. Jaboor & McLeod, ibid. p. 413.

THE PIETRA DURA PANELS

The present panels can be attributed to the Florentine craftsman, Giovanni Ambrogio Giacchetti who worked at the Gobelins in Paris between 1670-1675.  His signature appears on the back of a very similar panel on a Louis XVI commode in the Royal Palace of Stockholm.  Another almost identical panel is mounted on a Louis XVI commode by Martin Carlin in the British Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace; this commode is mounted with further smaller pietra dura plaques two of which are signed by Giacchetti (see, Alvar González-Palacios, Il Gusto dei Principe, Vol. II, 1993, pp.30-31).  The Carlin commode was acquired by George IV in 1828, close to the date of the present lot and indicative of the prevailing taste in England for furniture in the 'antique' style of Louis XIV.

THE BECKFORD/HAMILTON CINQUEFOIL

The 'cinquefoil pierced ermine' lily heraldic device derives from the Hamilton arms to which Beckford was entitled through his mother, Maria Hamilton Beckford (d. 1798, daughter of the Hon. George Hamilton, son of James, 6th Earl of Abercorn).  He made full use of his entitlement and this device was applied to a number of pieces of furniture; it was found tooled on the spines of his books, on his porcelain, and engraved on his silver, and was ubiquitous in the decoration of Fonthill Abbey.

STAFFORD HOUSE

Stafford House, better known now as Lancaster House, was built in 1825 by Benjamin Wyatt for the “grand old” Duke of York.  The Duke of York died before it was completed in 1827 and the house, then known as York House, was sold by the government to the Marquis of Sutherland in 1828.  Re-styled ‘Stafford House’ the Marquis contributed greatly to its completion, but died shortly after being elevated to 1^st Duke of Sutherland in 1833 and before seeing the house finished.  His son, the 2^nd Duke of Sutherland had completed the work by 1842 and lived there with his wife until his death in 1861.  At that time, Stafford House was widely regarded as the grandest town house in London and was celebrated for its collections, as noted by Charles Dickens, in 1879:

STAFFORD HOUSE belonging to the Duke of Sutherland, situated near the St. James’s Palace – and a palace itself – has a  magnificent collection of pictures, including the portion of the Stafford Gallery which did not pass with the Bridgewater Gallery. There is no private collection of pictures in London better worthy of careful inspection than this. Stafford House has been the scene of some of the most superb receptions ever given in this country.

Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879

It cannot be determined exactly whether it was the 1^st or the 2^nd Duke of Sutherland who acquired these cabinets since it was more than likely a private sale during the 1830s when Beckford found that he needed to raise funds.  The transaction certainly took place, however, before 1839 when the cabinets are recorded in an inventory taken at Stafford House:

No. 38, Green velvet room … two dwarf commodes of marble & ormolu ornamented with polished stones,with columns of fine jasper and the tops of jasper.