A FINE PAIR OF GEORGE III PAINTED BERGERES IN THE MANNER OF THOMAS CHIPPENDALE CIRCA 1775

Restorations.

Moccas Court, Herefordshire
Mallett and Sons Antiques Ltd, London

Lanto Synge, Mallett's Great English Furniture, 1991, pp. 162 and 164

Of generous proportions, the decoration is attractively worn with some inpainting, some minor chips and losses to the paint overall, repaired breaks to underside of armrest at join with armrest supports with some subsequent chips and losses to the carving, metal braces to rails on one, later corner blocks to the other, formerly fitted with casters. Overall with some old worm to rails.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

These important bergères, retaining much of their original painted decoration, were almost certainly supplied by Thomas Chippendale to Sir George (Amyand) Cornewall at Moccas Court, Herefordshire.  The Cornewalls were neighbors of the banker John Martin who had commissioned Thomas Chippendale to supply furniture for his nearby house, Ham Court, including a library table formerly in the collection of Edmond Safra and sold in these rooms, HSBC's Corporate Art Collection, October 21, 2004, lot 34.  It is certainly possible that the present bergères were supplied by Chippendale as they share affinities with his known oeuvre.  A pair of bergères from the Great Drawing Room at Burton Constable in Yorkshire is illustrated, C. Gilbert, THE Magazine Antiques, 'Chippendale's patron in Yorkshire', pp. 322-3, pl. XVII.  Although more elaborate than the present lot, they have tub-shaped backrests centered by carved decoration and continuing to molded armrests continuing to scrolled supports.  The leaf-carved fluted legs with reeded ball feet are similar to a pair of bergères supplied by Chippendale for the drawing room at David Garrick's house in Royal Adelphi Terrace, C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1978, vol. II, p. 98, fig. 160.

Moccas Court was designed by the architect Anthony Keck (1726-1797) for Sir George (Amyand) Cornewall Bt. who married the heiress Catherine Cornewall in 1771.  The Cornewalls were an ancient Herefordshire family and her father's will stipulated that his daughter's husband adopt the family name and arms of Cornewall.   The Amyands were Protestant refugees after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and Sir George was wealthy in his own right, having inherited property in England and the West Indies, as well as a fortune of £158,000.   Sir George had originally commissioned the Adam brothers in 1775 to design the house but instead used Anthony Keck, who completed the house in 1781.  Keck had an extensive practice in the West Midlands, appearing to have been the leading architect in the counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire from 1770-1790.  His most prestigious country house projects were at Moccas Court, Herefordshire, Penrice Abbey, Glamorgan and the orangery at Margam Abbey in the same county. As Nicholas Kingsley, Country Life, 'Modelling in the Provinces, the Work of Anthony Keck', October 20 and 27, 1988,  p. 140, remarks 'Within his houses, he relied on the proportion and shape of rooms, and on proportion and shape of rooms, and on exquisitely under-stated Adamesque decoration, to create an abiding and almost Regency elegance', continuing that he 'was remarkably quick not only to copy the Adam manner, but to establish a simplified version of it which suited both the lower temperature of his own architecture and the shallower pockets of his provincial clients'.