A pair of George II painted armorial hall chairs, circa 1720

Nicholas Leke, 4th Earl of Scarsdale, Sutton Scarsdale, Derbyshire;

By descent to Nicholas Leke, Yaxley Hall, Suffolk;

Edmund Farrer, London;

Private collection, USA;

Clinton Howell, New York;

Ronald Phillips Ltd.

Christopher Coles, ‘Some discoveries regarding the Sutton Scarsdale églomisé chairs and the ‘forgotten’ hall chairs from the same house’, Furniture History Society Newsletter, issue 226, May 2022, p. 27, fig. 4

ldane Macfall, ‘The Loan Collection of Furniture at the Franco-British Exhibition’, Connoisseur Magazine (August 1908), pp. 223-4 (description of dining chairs in the suite)

Ronald Phillips, Important English Furniture, London, 2023, pp.172-175.

Recent literature by Christopher Coles has uncovered the fascinating journey of the famous Sutton Scarsdale suite of furniture, including the present hall chairs, to collections and museums on both sides of the Atlantic.¹ The suite was originally commissioned by the 4^th (and last) Earl of Scarsdale for the Baroque mansion of Sutton Scarsdale, Derbyshire during a period of refurbishments between 1724 and 1730. Upon the Earl’s death in 1736, the poor financial situation of the estate was inherited by his son, Nicholas Leke, resulting in the sale of the estate with only some of its contents surviving at Yaxley Hall in Suffolk. New information discovered by Coles in an article of 1917 tells us that the Sutton Scarsdale suite was sold through a private consultant, Edmund Farrer, likely as a middleman, prior to a 1905 Yaxley Hall Sale.² This is confirmed by Lady Dorothy Nevill in her 1906 book of reminiscence describing a ‘local connoisseur,’ believed to be Farrer, recognising the value of this fine suite and advising the Leke family to sell privately and separately of the estate auction.³ The family followed his advice and it was her recollection that the suite had “changed hands more than once, and has recently, I believe, passed into the possession of an American collector at no less a figure than £2,000”.⁴ At least part of the collection was in fact acquired by the American collector Mrs Annie C. Kane of New York, first mentioned in 1921. Though there is no documentation of the acquisition, it is possible she became aware of the collection through the London design firm, White & Allom, who exhibited the some side chairs from the suite in 1908 at the Franco-British Exhibition.⁵

It was in the 1917 interview with Farrer that the full extent of the collection was described, including two settees, twelve chairs, two pedestals and the revelation of a pair of hall chairs:

They were made of some light coloured wood, and decorated with ormulu [sic], while on the back of each, painted on glass and within a frame, was the coat of arms of the Earls of Scarsdale, with the winged angels for supporters. In the set were some fine settees, and furthermore some hall chairs with similar coats of arms on the backs.⁶

The entire suite is unusually luxurious in decoration, showing the level of skill by the craftsman in uniting diverse pieces, particularly the walnut chairs and pedestals which have gilt mounts and armorial panels in verre églomisé. The original suite has been reduced in number by multiple fires, first in 1901 at the Exposition Universelle in Brussels and again in 1921 at the Fifth Avenue apartment of Mrs Kane, enhancing the significance of the present surviving hall chairs in undamaged condition. Other surviving pieces have been dispersed to museum collections (some coming directly from Mrs Kane), including a pair of side chairs in the Frick Collection in New York (1920.05.123/124), a pedestal (26.260.98) and another pair of chairs is part of the Untermyer Bequest at the Metropolitan Museum in New York (64.101.936, .937). A single chair is in the Cooper Hewitt Museum in Brooklyn (1926-22-58) and a further pair of chairs are in the collection at Temple Newsam, Yorkshire, England (cat. No. 696)⁷.

A set of comparable oak hall chairs, also polychrome painted for the Duke of Leeds, were sold Sotheby’s New York, 7-10 October 2024, lot 9 ($42,000). 

It is believed that the Sutton Scarsdale suite was delivered by the London workshop of Thomas How (active from 1710-33) based on the description of tradesmen involved in the Sutton Scarsdale refurbishments listed on a lead plaque in the garden, of which the only furniture maker named is ‘Thomas How of Westminster, gentleman upholsterer’.⁸ How completed other luxurious furnishings for stately homes, including various seat furniture and beds for the 5^th Earl of Salisbury at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire between 1710-11.⁹

¹ Christopher Cole, ‘Some discoveries regarding the Sutton Scarsdale églomisé chairs and the ‘forgotten’ hall chairs from the same house’, Furniture History Society Newsletter, issue 226, May 2022, pp. 24-7.

² Christopher Cole, ‘Some discoveries regarding the Sutton Scarsdale églomisé chairs and the ‘forgotten’ hall chairs from the same house’, Furniture History Society Newsletter, issue 226, May 2022, pp. 25-6.

³ Ralph Nevill, The Reminiscences of Lady Dorothy Nevill, 1906, pp. 229.

⁴ Ralph Nevill, The Reminiscences of Lady Dorothy Nevill, 1906, pp. 230.

⁵ ldane Macfall, ‘The Loan Collection of Furniture at the Franco-British Exhibition’, The Connoisseur, August 1908, pp. 223-4 

⁶ Edmund Farrer, ‘Yaxley Hall and its Owners and Occupiers, part II’ in Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History XVI, part 2 (1917), pp. 134-66.

⁷ Christopher Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, vol. III, 1998, p. 546.

⁸ ‘Sutton Scarsdale, Derbyshire, The Seat of Mr. William Arkwright,’ Country Life, 15 February 1919, p. 171.

⁹ Christopher Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, vol. III, 1998, p. 581.