A FINE PAIR OF GEORGE III PAINTED PAPER, PARCEL-GILT AND POLYCHROME-DECORATED PIER TABLES Circa 1780

With French & Co. chalk number 7763.

French & Co., purchased in 1944

New York, Sherry's, The League Antique Exhibition, March 14-24, 1944
Art and Antique Dealers League of America, Inc., ref. no. 435

Overall good restored condition; please note that the tops are NOT papier-mâché as stated in the printed catalouge but they are paper panels laid onto mahogany boards. Each paper top with the original paint and with very minor areas of touching in; both with some water stains to the backs; the glass panels to the tops later; the giltwood bandings around the tops re-gilded with gold paint and possibly replaced; the backs of the tops possibly originally with a further banding; the underside of one top with some small glue blocks to stabilize age cracks and minor warpage; the carcases with over-painting and re-gilded, but appear to retain a number of old painted layers beneath; overall with usual small chips, nicks and losses to gilding and decoration mainly to extremities; would benefit from removing the later painted layer and preserving original painted surface beneath; the tops are finely painted and in very good condition; the tops possibly repositioned and with later screws to secure them to the frames; some horizontal age cracks to the fluting over lines of construction.
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.

The decoration of the present tables incorporates panels painted en grisaille after antique Roman and Greek sources published in contemporary treatises.  Particularly significant is the depiction of the muses from a drawing of an ancient Roman sarcophagus by Francesco Faroane Aquila and published by Paolo Alessandro Maffei in Raccolta di statue antiche e moderne, Rome, 1704, which included 163 engravings of ancient sculpture as well as contemporary works by Bernini and others.  The sarcophagus, now in the Louvre, was found on the Ostian Way in Rome and was in the collection of Cardinal Albani, and eventually placed in the Capitoline before being confiscated by Napoleon in 1815.  The drawing and the subject would have been well known to the many English grand tourists of the 18th century and early 19th century.

The maker of the present tables employed a uniquely English decoration method, namely using painted papier-mâché together with gilding and japanned or painted decoration.  Yvonne Jones, in 'George Brookshaw – Japanner!', The Furniture History Society Newsletter, no. 173, February 2009, argues that whilst it was thought that painted furniture had been cold-painted, many of the pieces were japanned and also often incorporated papier-mâché 'panels', which were mounted to the furniture by being baked onto the frames.  The present tables are only partly covered in papier-mâché panels, including the tops and the central plaque to the frieze.  The rest of the table is then parcel-gilded and either japanned or painted.  Jones states that 'a striking characteristic of painting found on stove-dried japanned ware is its smoothness and freedom from brush-marks.  This is because japanners bound their pigments with transparent "mixing varnish"', which 'allowed the colours to be laid thinly and evenly.'(op. cit. p.1)

Two men stand out as possible makers for the present tables, namely George Brookshaw (b.1751-d.1823) and Henry Clay (fl.1772-d.1812).  Clay patented his process of making japanned paper ware in 1772 and Brookshaw's advertisement published in the Morning Herrald, 1788  describe his ability to produce painted furniture, the surface of which was 'burnt-in', (op. cit. p1).

First recorded as a cabinet-maker in London 1777, Brookshaw specialized in painted furniture, a number of documented cabinets, commodes, seat furniture and chimneypieces being recorded. He set up his business firstly in Curzon Street and then in late 1782 he moved to 48 Great Marlborough Street where he remained for twenty years. No record of his activities as a cabinet maker appear to exist after the 1790s, Lucy Wood remarking that the following several years of anonymity were probably an attempt to escape financial or sexual scandal. He is presumed to have worked as an illustrator of botanical books under the alias of G. Brown who published a sequence of editions of a single work A Treatise on Flower Painting published anonymously in 1797 under the authorship of G. Brown. Virtually the same work with an identical title was published in 1816 under the author's name George Brookshaw Esq, indicating that they were one and the same.

His house style of decoration of furniture frequently involves as can be expected, panels of flowers but also involves neo-classical decoration in the style of the present tables, similar examples of which can be seen in Lucy Wood, The Lady Lever Art Gallery, Catalogue of Commodes, London: 1994, pp.239-253.  A pier table attributed to Brookshaw with painted papier-mâché top, in the collection of the Victorian & Albert Museum, incorporates neoclassical elements with floral swags, as in the present tables.

During his career as cabinet maker, Brookshaw is recorded as having a number of illustrious clients including Lord Delaval (1781-83), the Duke of Beaufort (1787), Sir William Middleton of Shrubland Park (c.1795) and The Prince of Wales for whom he is known to have supplied a commode in 1783. This commode does not survive in the Royal collection but is described in the account as being elaborately painted with flowers.

Henry Clay the japanner and papier-mâché manufacturer of Birmingham and London apprenticed as a printer from 1740-1749, and in 1772 he took out a patent for a 'new improved paper-ware', the process involving 'pasting sheets of paper together then oiling, varnishing and stove hardening them'. This extremely durable material proved eminently suitable for coaches, carriages, sedan chairs and, as in the present lot, furniture

A number of similarly decorated tables mounted with papier-mâché panels exist, including three pairs of games tables made by Henry Clay for the 4th Earl of Bristol at Downhill, Co. Derry: one pair sold Christie's, London, May 23, 1968, lot 102; another pair, Christie's, London, April 9, 1987, lot 88; another pair Christie's, London, November 24, 2005, lot 50.

Related Literature:

Yvonne Jones, 'A recent discovery of two papier mâché pier tables by Henry Clay', The Furniture History Society Newsletter, no. 162, May 2006

Yvonne Jones, 'George Brookshaw – Japanner!  Further light on japanned metal and papier mâché furniture c. 1740-c. 1820', The Furniture History Society Newsletter, no. 173, February 2009

Lucy Wood, `George Brookshaw, The case of the vanishing cabinet-maker', Apollo Magazine, May 1991

Lucy Wood, `Peintre Ebeniste par Extraordinaire' The case of the vanishing cabinet-maker; Part 2', Apollo Magazine, June 1991

Lucy Wood, The Lady Lever Art Gallery, Catalogue of Commodes, London: 1994