PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED CALIFORNIA COLLECTION
A George III papîer mâché Pembroke table attributed to Henry Clay, circa 1780
LOT SOLD.
6,875 USD
Details & Cataloguing
Collections: European Decorative Arts
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New York
New York
A George III papîer mâché Pembroke table attributed to Henry Clay, circa 1780
height 25 in.; width 15 in.; depth 18 3/4 in.
63.5 cm; 38 cm; 47.5 cm
Read Condition Report
Read Condition Report
63.5 cm; 38 cm; 47.5 cm
Provenance
Christie's New York, April 15, 2005, lot 333
Literature
Jones, Yvonne, Japanned Papier-Mâché and Tinware c. 1740-1940. Woodbridge, Antique Collectors' Club 2012
The underside of drawer with cutout of Country Life article, 21 November 1968
Catalogue Note
This table can be securely attributed to the Birmingham artist Henry Clay, a craftsman known to have collaborated with Robert Adam. By 1772 Clay had patented a process of creating japanned papier mâché objects such a trays, tea caddies and sedan doors, which were known to contemporaries as ‘Clay’s ware’ or ‘baked paper’. Clay’s successful London outlet was in King Street, Covent Garden, where his trade card described him as ‘Japanner in Ordinary to His Majesty and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In the 1770s Clay supplied a Pembroke Table with similar classical frieze decoration to the celebrated Etruscan Room designed by Robert Adam at Osterley Park, Middlesex (ill. in Eileen Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, His Interiors, London 2001, p.176, fig.260). An identical anthemion frieze also appears on a giltwood and papier mâché centre table recently on the London and Paris art market with Pelham Galleries, and on a corner cupboard in the V&A London (W.1:1,2-2011). In 1816 Clay's workshop was acquired by the Birmingham firm Jennens and Bettridge (fl. 1815-1864), who established outlets in London, Paris and New York and continued to manufacture papier mâché furniture and objects through the third quarter of the 19th century.
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