A George III mahogany four poster bed and silk covered tester circa 1760, possibly by Wright and Elwick

with a pierced scroll-carved pierced cornice covered with fabric, the front posts of cluster column form, very finely carved with a running flower and ribbon motif and acanthus at the centre and at the base, the square feet carved with further acanthus and with shell motifs, the whole bed newly hung in rose coloured silk damask lined in cream silk

Almost certainly supplied to Sir Peter Leicester, 4th Bt. (1732-1770) for Tabley House, Cheshire by the architect John Carr of York (1723-1770). 

Thence by descent until sold from Tabley House by the University of Manchester to benefit the Tabley House Collection Restoration Fund, Christie's, London, 16 November 1989, lots 74 and 74a.

 

Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1954, rev. ed., 3 vols., vol. I, p. 64, fig. 50.

It seems likely that the present lot was probably supplied to Tabley in the mid 1760s under the guidance of  John Carr.

The de Leycester famly had owned land at Nether Tabley since around 1380.  In 1742 Sir Peter Byrne inherited Tabley and changed his name to Leicester. He had sold his Irish estate to raise money for the purchase of land at Over Tabley and subsequently commissioned the great northern architect John Carr of York to build an elegant mansion. Commencing in 1760, the house took ten years to build. Sir John Leicester (1762-1827) inherited the property in 1770 and subsequently became a great collector and a member of the Prince of Wales' set.

The maker of this superbly carved bed is not known, although new research suggests an interesting possibility which will be explained below.  Traditionally the carving was attributed to Thomas Chippendale on the grounds that the bed posts are apparently inspired by drawings in his Directors of 1754-63, in particular that shown in plate XXX of the 1st Edition 1754 and pl. XLII of the third edition 1763.  When the bed was sold in 1989, it was thought more likely to be the work of Daniel Shillito of Wakefield and Matthew Bertram, who acted as architectural carvers at Tabley for John Carr.  However, research for this catalogue suggests that the bed is more likely to have been supplied by the leading Yorkshire firm of furniture makers, Wright and Elwick.  According to Christopher Hussey's article on Tabley (Country Life, 21 July 1923, p.89) payments for unspecified items of furniture were made in 1770 to various upholsterers, mostly obscure and therefore responsible for probably minor items.  One payee, however, was a 'Mr Ellick'.  There can be no doubt that this 'Ellick' is the Elwick of the eponymous Yorkshire firm, not just because Georgian spelling is loose and the 'w' is soft in Elwick, but because of Wright and Elwick's known links with Tabley's architect John Carr.  Carr for instance engaged the firm at Cannon Hall, Yorkshire, in 1768, and there are repeated references to the furniture supplied by 'Ellick' of 'Messieurs Wright and Elwick' in the diary of Cannon Hall's owner, John Spencer (Christopher Gilbert, 'Wright and Elwick 1748-1824­', Furniture History Society Journal, 1976, p.36).  Carr also engaged Wright and Elwick at Kilnwick Hall, Yorkshire (now demolished) between 1769 and 1772 (Gilbert, op. cit., p.37).   Given that Wright and Elwick were much the grandest of the cabinet-makers paid for furniture at Tabley, it seems logical to suppose that they were responsible for the grandest item supplied: the bed.

Wright and Elwick of Wakefield were the pre-eminent firm of Yorkshire cabinetmakers and upholsterers of the second half of the eighteenth century.  Among their numerous important commissions in addition to those mentioned above were Wentworth Castle, Wentworth Woodhouse, Serlby Hall, Worksop Manor, Burton Constable and Woolley Hall.  They were heavily influenced by Thomas Chippendale's various Directors, published 1754-63, and often produced fairly literal interpretations of his drawings although they were perfectly capable of innovation. The quality of their output was the equal of any London cabinet-maker, and their Gothic and rococo carving is unusually vigorous and full-blooded.

It should be pointed out that the posts illustrated in Macquoid and Edwards op.cit, p.64, fig. 50 were not the posts sold Christie's, 16 November 1989, lot 74 but rather those in the following lot 75.  The introduction to the 'TABLEY BEDS' in Christie's catalogue speculates that the cornice on the present lot had been erroneously associated with these less important examples in 'recent times' and that the correct ensemble of 'state' posts and cornice is as presently displayed.