Crace and Co. An English oak sideboard

in the manner of A.W.N.Pugin, with an elaborately carved and pierced panelling, the top rail with the Naylor coat of arms above an open shelf supported by four griffins holding the Naylor armorial, the central frieze drawer flanked by two further drawers above cupboard doors carved with monograms for John and Georgina Naylor respectively, enclosing shelving, the finely finished brass lock plates and escutcheons by John Hardman and Co. of Birmingham

John Naylor, Leighton Hall, Nr Welshpool, Powys.

This splendid sideboard by John Crace and Co. in the manner of A.W.N.Pugin owes it’s place in this sale to the close association both Crace and Pugin had with International Exhibitions.

Pugin is celebrated for his contribution to the Medieval Court at the Great Exhibition in 1851. At the time of the Great Exhibition Gothic furniture was not highly rated and indeed much of Pugin’s work attracted ridicule, R.N.Wornum who contributed his views to the Art Journal’s record of the exhibition was highly critical and yet at the same time he was prompted to admit that the style deserved some attention, “nevertheless as we have said before, the Medieval Court tricked out in gaudy-coloured draperies, and glittering brass, and cold monumental stone effigies, presented a stunning coup d’oeil, and deserves analytical description”. (The Exhibition as a Lesson in Taste, Ralph Nicolson Wornum, The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue, Vertue and Co, 1851, pv following). Although Gothic revival furniture and decoration represented only a small part of the furniture shown, largely because of Pugin’s influence and the success of the exhibition it gained in popularity and no doubt would have appealed to forward-looking patrons such as the Naylor’s at Leighton Hall, who acquired the great sideboard by Fourdinois from the exhibition.

 

Crace’s association with Pugin is well documented and the firm continued to make furniture to his designs long after his early death in 1852. It is especially interesting to note that Crace had shown Queen Victoria around the Medieval Court, in which she showed considerable interest. Crace showed a sideboard similar to this lot at both the Paris Exhibition in 1855 and the second London Exhibition of 1862; the exhibited sideboard included an elaborate upper section but the base exhibits striking parallels. There are also similar sideboards by Crace, which rely heavily on Pugin’s designs at Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford, Abney Hall in Cheshire and at Tyntesfield in Somerset.

 

This sideboard which can be seen in a photograph of the dining room was sold as Lot 579 in the Harrods “Leighton Hall” sale, which took place in 1931. It appears in Crace’s invoice for Leighton Hall, dated 1853/54/55 and is described as a “Gothic sideboard in oak, 9’ long by 2’6” wide, elaborately carved £96/15/00”. Naylor, a Liverpool banker moved to the 4,000 acre estate in 1851 and it is thought that he employed Pugin to advise him on the interiors, although there is no documentary evidence to support this but Crace continued to be associated with the house.