- 31
A set of six George I giltwood side chairs circa 1720, by James Moore
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
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Description
retaining the original gilding beneath period varnish
Provenance
Almost certainly supplied to Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt (d.1727) for Harcourt House, Cavendish Square.
Thence by descent, photographed at Nuneham Park, circa 1906, and latterly at Stanton Harcourt.
Literature
Tessa Murdoch, `The king's cabinet-maker: the giltwood furniture of James Moore the Elder,' Burlington Magazine, June 2003, p.417.
Condition
Generally in good original condition. The gilding on all the chairs is somewhat brittle in places and there are many chips. Some older chips to the gilt-gesso have been masked by gold paint. The carved decoration has some old chips and the feet have some chips and fragmentation. Some of the blocks to the underside of the seat have been replaced. One chair has a repaired break to a front leg.
For further information on this Lot, please contact the English Furniture Department on 00 44 (0) 207 293-5470.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
There can be little doubt that this set of six chairs form part of an extensive commission from Simon, 1st Viscount Harcourt, for his London home, Harcourt House on Cavendish Square. That they were supplied by James Moore is corroborated by the repeated payments and notes bearing his name extant in the voluminous family papers on deposit at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, although no actual bill for the two sets survives. These papers reveal Moore's involvement in a dual capacity as an advisor or overseer of building works, and as a furniture maker, neatly paralleling his earlier activity for Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough at Blenheim. The Harcourt commission emerges as Moore's final great project and one which he would die completing.
Simon Harcourt experienced a meteoric career spanning several decades, in which he rose from his first position as a barrister in 1683 to become Lord Chancellor to Queen Anne after 1710. He was elevated to the vicscountcy in 1721, at the same time as he began his London house on Cavendish Square, in which he would die in 1727.
This house was built on land acquired from Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford in the early 1720s. Cavendish Square had only been laid out a few years earlier in 1717 for Harley by John Prince, and named after his wife, Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles. Surrounded by fields and on the very outskirts of fashionable London, it remained relatively undeveloped for several decades (as indeed, it appears in Rocque's map of 1746), probably as a consequence of the collapse of the South Sea Bubble in 1720 and the failed project for a monumental Chandos House on the north side of the square. Harcourt House - at number one on the east side of the square - was begun at around the same date as Robert Benson, Lord Bingley, commenced his own residence on the opposite side. The latter house was acquired by Viscount Harcourt's grandson - also Simon, later Earl Harcourt - in 1773 and re-named Harcourt House. This has given rise to some confusion in the secondary literature, but it is probably safe to identify the house for which these chairs appear to have been commissioned as that engraved by Rocque and bearing the inscription: 'The Original Design of ye Rt Honble Ld Harcourts House in Cavendish Square / as it was drawn by Mr Archer but Built and Altered to what it is now by Edward Wilcox Esqr.' This is verified by payments to Wilcox among the Harcourt Papers.
James Moore's name first begins to appear in Harcourt accounts in 1724, several years after work begins on the house. In the same year Simon Harcourt married his third wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon. The house must have been fairly well advanced when Moore took on the role of architectural and decorative advisor, and it is possible, as at Blenheim, that he usurped an earlier comptroller. Moreover, Moore's name occurs frequently as the counter-signatory, authorising various workmen to be paid and verifying that work had been completed. Most interesting, in this context, are his estimates for Genoa damask, acquired through the agency of Mr Peter Joseph Migliorucci in Isleworth. On a list annotated 'Mr Moores / Computation of ye / Measures for Hangings / at Cavendish Sqr House', beside estimates for window curtains and damask for bed and wall hanging, is suggested 46 breadths of yellow damask, and 60 breadths of crimson damask for chairs, presumably the original coverings for lots 30-33.
An account detailing '. . . the charges / of building my Ld House / in Cavendish Square' mentions payments to Moore 'on Account' for £661 on 9 August 1725, £100 for the 14 December of the same year, £800 for 20 January 1725/6 and a further £200 for the 18th May 1726 (c.301). On a undated list (but datable to after Moore's death in 1726 on internal evidence) of the 'Expense of t. Building / at Cavendish Sq.' (c.301) concludes:
'To Mr Moore for Joyners work 99 1 4
To Do for Wallnuttree work - 552 18 4
To Mrs Moore his Extx infull- 17 9 4
To Do for Her Husbands Supervising 150 - -'
He also appears on a list of expenses enumerating all outgoing payments for furniture. Bearing the abstract 'Expence of the / Furniture in Cavendish / Sqr', Moore seems to have initially supplied furniture to Harcourt for his offical residence when Lord Chancellor. For 13 November 1724 is noted 'To Mr Moore for furniture in Downing St 72 - -' , although the majority of work appears at the end of the list, and thus presumably for Cavendish Square (c.301):
'To Mr Moore for Furniture 1096 - -
More to Mr Moores ace 195 4'
On a list bearing the abstract '7 April 1724 / Money already pd at / Cavendish Squr', is twritten for 2 August 1725 'pd Mr Moor on accnt 661 - - ', and for 14 December 1725 'To Mr Moore - 100 - -'. Although these chairs are among the few items to survive from this commission, these huge payments indicate the scale of the work which Moore undertook for Simon Harcourt.
The simple rectilinear form of the side chairs is parallelled in other pieces generally ascribed to James Moore. Most notable among these are a gilt-gesso table at Boughton (illustrated Ralph Edwards and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, rev.ed., 1946, p.98, fig.31) and an entire group of tables and stands of similar conception, but characterised by Greek-Key ornament (these include a table in the Royal Collection and another in the collection of the Duke of Grafton at Euston Hall, Suffolk - they have been most recently discussed by Tessa Murdoch, op.cit., and Sotheby's, London, 9 July 1999, lot 51). Furthermore, the moulded foot and its collar appear repeated on a pair of torcheres, en suite with the table in the Royal Collection (illustrated Edwards and Jourdain, op.cit., p.97, fig.27).
Simon Harcourt experienced a meteoric career spanning several decades, in which he rose from his first position as a barrister in 1683 to become Lord Chancellor to Queen Anne after 1710. He was elevated to the vicscountcy in 1721, at the same time as he began his London house on Cavendish Square, in which he would die in 1727.
This house was built on land acquired from Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford in the early 1720s. Cavendish Square had only been laid out a few years earlier in 1717 for Harley by John Prince, and named after his wife, Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles. Surrounded by fields and on the very outskirts of fashionable London, it remained relatively undeveloped for several decades (as indeed, it appears in Rocque's map of 1746), probably as a consequence of the collapse of the South Sea Bubble in 1720 and the failed project for a monumental Chandos House on the north side of the square. Harcourt House - at number one on the east side of the square - was begun at around the same date as Robert Benson, Lord Bingley, commenced his own residence on the opposite side. The latter house was acquired by Viscount Harcourt's grandson - also Simon, later Earl Harcourt - in 1773 and re-named Harcourt House. This has given rise to some confusion in the secondary literature, but it is probably safe to identify the house for which these chairs appear to have been commissioned as that engraved by Rocque and bearing the inscription: 'The Original Design of ye Rt Honble Ld Harcourts House in Cavendish Square / as it was drawn by Mr Archer but Built and Altered to what it is now by Edward Wilcox Esqr.' This is verified by payments to Wilcox among the Harcourt Papers.
James Moore's name first begins to appear in Harcourt accounts in 1724, several years after work begins on the house. In the same year Simon Harcourt married his third wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon. The house must have been fairly well advanced when Moore took on the role of architectural and decorative advisor, and it is possible, as at Blenheim, that he usurped an earlier comptroller. Moreover, Moore's name occurs frequently as the counter-signatory, authorising various workmen to be paid and verifying that work had been completed. Most interesting, in this context, are his estimates for Genoa damask, acquired through the agency of Mr Peter Joseph Migliorucci in Isleworth. On a list annotated 'Mr Moores / Computation of ye / Measures for Hangings / at Cavendish Sqr House', beside estimates for window curtains and damask for bed and wall hanging, is suggested 46 breadths of yellow damask, and 60 breadths of crimson damask for chairs, presumably the original coverings for lots 30-33.
An account detailing '. . . the charges / of building my Ld House / in Cavendish Square' mentions payments to Moore 'on Account' for £661 on 9 August 1725, £100 for the 14 December of the same year, £800 for 20 January 1725/6 and a further £200 for the 18th May 1726 (c.301). On a undated list (but datable to after Moore's death in 1726 on internal evidence) of the 'Expense of t. Building / at Cavendish Sq.' (c.301) concludes:
'To Mr Moore for Joyners work 99 1 4
To Do for Wallnuttree work - 552 18 4
To Mrs Moore his Extx infull- 17 9 4
To Do for Her Husbands Supervising 150 - -'
He also appears on a list of expenses enumerating all outgoing payments for furniture. Bearing the abstract 'Expence of the / Furniture in Cavendish / Sqr', Moore seems to have initially supplied furniture to Harcourt for his offical residence when Lord Chancellor. For 13 November 1724 is noted 'To Mr Moore for furniture in Downing St 72 - -' , although the majority of work appears at the end of the list, and thus presumably for Cavendish Square (c.301):
'To Mr Moore for Furniture 1096 - -
More to Mr Moores ace 195 4'
On a list bearing the abstract '7 April 1724 / Money already pd at / Cavendish Squr', is twritten for 2 August 1725 'pd Mr Moor on accnt 661 - - ', and for 14 December 1725 'To Mr Moore - 100 - -'. Although these chairs are among the few items to survive from this commission, these huge payments indicate the scale of the work which Moore undertook for Simon Harcourt.
The simple rectilinear form of the side chairs is parallelled in other pieces generally ascribed to James Moore. Most notable among these are a gilt-gesso table at Boughton (illustrated Ralph Edwards and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, rev.ed., 1946, p.98, fig.31) and an entire group of tables and stands of similar conception, but characterised by Greek-Key ornament (these include a table in the Royal Collection and another in the collection of the Duke of Grafton at Euston Hall, Suffolk - they have been most recently discussed by Tessa Murdoch, op.cit., and Sotheby's, London, 9 July 1999, lot 51). Furthermore, the moulded foot and its collar appear repeated on a pair of torcheres, en suite with the table in the Royal Collection (illustrated Edwards and Jourdain, op.cit., p.97, fig.27).