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A PAIR OF GEORGE I GILT-GESSO AND SPECIMEN MARBLE SIDE TABLES IN THE MANNER OF JAMES MOORE, CIRCA 1720-25, THE TOPS ROMAN, CIRCA 1770 AND ENLARGED
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A PAIR OF GEORGE I GILT-GESSO AND SPECIMEN MARBLE SIDE TABLES IN THE MANNER OF JAMES MOORE, CIRCA 1720-25, THE TOPS ROMAN, CIRCA 1770 AND ENLARGED
拍品描述：
A PAIR OF GEORGE I GILT-GESSO AND SPECIMEN MARBLE SIDE TABLES
IN THE MANNER OF JAMES MOORE, CIRCA 1720-25, THE TOPS ROMAN, CIRCA 1770 AND ENLARGED
The rectangular tops inlaid with a variety of hexagonal marble and hardstone specimens including lapis lazuli, alabaster, Porfido serpentino antico, amethyst, Spanish broccatello, Serpentino di Genova and Granito rosso antico, above a foliate-decorated frieze with a punched ground, on broken cabriole legs headed by plumed masks and scrolling acanthus terminating in scroll feet, the tops originally with verde antico borders and a separate slab to back edge and probably enlarged to current form post-1972, regilt
31 ¾ in. (80.5 cm.) high; 47 ¾ in. (121 cm.) wide; 30 in. (76 cm.) deep
The collection of Elizabeth Scot Yorke (née Lindsay), Countess of Hardwicke (1763–1858) at Tyttenhanger House, Hertfordshire,
Thence by descent to the Earls of Caledon until sold,
Tyttenhanger House: The Contents; Ralph Pay and Ransom, London, 27-29 June 1972, lot 405.
With Mallett & Son Antiques, London and subsequently acquired by Gerald Hochschild.
The Hochschild Collection of Highly Important English Furniture; Sotheby's, London, 1 December 1978, lot 16.
Acquired from the above through Hotspur Ltd. and thence by descent.
Inventory & Valuation of Furniture, Fixtures and Effects at Tittenhanger [sic] House St Albans, the property of the late Countess Dowager of Hardwicke, 20 July 1858, p. 67 (Hertfordshire Archives Office D/ECd (Add) F38).
An Inventory of Furniture, China, Glass, Books and other effects at Tyttenhanger House near St Albans, The Property of the Right Honourable Countess of Caledon and let to H. W. Eaton Esq., July 1864 (Hertfordshire Archives Office D/ECd (Add) E15).
H. Avray Tipping, ‘Tyttenhanger, Hertfordshire, The Seat of the Earl of Caledon – II’, Country Life, 11 October 1919, p. 454, fig. 1.
H. Avray Tipping, ‘Furniture at Tyttenhanger’, Country Life, 8 November 1919, p. 590, fig. 1 (showing specimen marble tops in original form).
H. Avray Tipping, English Homes, Period IV – Vol. I, Late Stuart 1649-1714, London, 1920, p. 77, fig. 108A.
L. Synge, Mallet’s Great English Furniture, London, 1991, p. 86, pl. 90.
These boldly modelled side tables, the nascent cabriole legs animated by naturalistic masks with plumed headdresses, rank among the most remarkable examples of gilt-gesso furniture from the golden age of early Georgian production.
The design
The distinctive plumed masks are of Renaissance origin, occurring in 16
th century Italian grotesques, and were incorporated into the canon of French baroque design, of which Jean Bérain (1640-1711), André-Charles Boulle (1742-1732) and Pierre Lepautre (1652-1716) were key exponents. A quintessentially English interpretation, the term-like legs to the Tyttenhanger tables echo a design illustrated in Lepautre’s
Livre de Tables qui sont dans les appartements du Roi (c. 1700). Lepautre designs depict a suite of tables adorned with precious objects that were intended to replace the silver tables at Versailles which had been melted down in 1689 to replenish Louis XIV’s war ravaged treasury. Lepautre’s body of engravings held an enduring influence over English furniture designers in the first half of the 18
th century, to the extent that the garden designer Batty Langley (1696-1751) was reproducing his table designs with plagiaristic aplomb as late as 1740 (
The City and Country Builder’s and Workman’s Treasury of Designs, Pl. CXLVII).
The ‘broken’ cabriole leg of the present tables features on two famous suites of giltwood seat furniture made for Cannons, Middlesex, the seat of James Brydges, Viscount Wilton and Earl of Carnarvon, later 1st Duke of Chandos (1673⁄4-1744). Like the Tyttenhanger tables, the Cannons suites also employs a plumed mask motif to head the hipped cabriole legs. A pair of armchairs from the suite supplied to the private chapel at Cannons were almost certainly acquired at the dispersal of the contents in 1747 by George, 4th Earl and later 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley (d.1827) for the Marble Parlour at Houghton, where they remained until sold Houghton; Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 135 (£881,500 with premium). A further pair from the suite were sold Important English Furniture; Christie’s, London, 8 June 2006, lot 50 (£960,000 with premium).
Chandos had turned to James Gibbs (d. 1754) for designs for his new house at Cannons, who can be credited with the south and east elevations, and the chapel is wholly his work. Although not known as a furniture designer, the hand of Gibbs is evident in the Cannons armchairs which relate to a design for an imbricated dolphin-scale baluster illustrated in his
Book of Architecture (1728). While no bills survive, the Cannons suites have traditionally been attributed to James Moore Snr. (c. 1670-1726) cabinet-maker to King George I, whose partner John Gumley (d. 1729), the glass-manufacturer, had employed Gibbs to design his own house at Isleworth, Middlesex. Chandos's reputation as a Maecenas of the arts would naturally suggest the King's cabinet-maker as the author of the state furnishings at Cannons and it is relevant to note that Chandos was the Paymaster-General of the forces commanded by General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), Chandos's patron at court.
Moore is recorded as working at Nottingham Court, Short's Gardens, St Giles in the Fields and is thought to have undertaken private commissions from around 1700. It is likely that he trained under the Gumleys who were cabinet-makers and manufacturers of mirror plate, so he would have gained valuable early experience in the use of sophisticated gilt-gesso work, generally used in the production of frames and employed in the decoration of the present tables. Moore was one of the leading exponents of this kind of work, and he is known to have supplied gilt-gesso furniture to both Queen Anne and George I for Kensington Palace, the latter whilst in partnership with John Gumley (c. 1670-1728). A gilt-gesso table signed 'Moore' and a further pair of tables – each emblazoned the George I's cypher – were supplied in 1724 and survive in the Royal Collection (RCIN 596 & RCIN 597). This group arguably represent the finest examples of Moore’s work in the late baroque style, the pillar-leg form directly influenced by Lepautre’s designs, and at the time of manufacture were at risk of being outmoded. This perhaps represents a desire of the Hanoverian dynasty to demonstrate continuity with the late Stuarts (A. Bowett,
Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, p. 200).
Moore went on to supply similar furniture to the 1st Duke of Marlborough and took over the supervision of the building work at Blenheim after the dismissal of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh, where he became known as Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough's 'Oracle' (G. Beard,
Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 618-619). Five similar tables, a pair of torchers and a set of side chairs, all in giltwood and with voluminous square ‘broken’ cabriole legs remain at Blenheim, but lack the sculptural sophistication evinced on the Tyttenhanger tables (see Bowett,
op. cit., pp. 154, 204 & 205, pls. 4:18, 5:8 & 5:9).
A table attributed to Moore, which shares not only the plumed masks but also the sculptural qualities of the Tyttenhanger tables is illustrated and discussed in
Masterpieces of English Furniture / The Gerstenfeld Collection, E. Lennox-Boyd, ed., London, 1998, p. 73-75. A related pier table with a cut-gesso top and displaying similar masks was sold from the collection of the late Sir John Gooch, 12th Bt., Benacre Hall, Suffolk, Sotheby's house sale, 9-11 May 2000, lot 34 (£223,500) and is almost certainly by the same maker of a table in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire which carries the monogram ‘WKH’ and was made for William Marquess of Harrington, later 3
rd Duke of Devonshire, and his wife Katherine, who married in 1718 (Bowett,
op. cit., p. 212, pl. 5:25).
The specimen tops
The tables are first recorded in the
Inventory & Valuation of Furniture, Fixtures and Effects at Tittenhanger [sic] House St Albans, the property of the late Countess Dowager of Hardwicke, 20 July 1858, where they are listed in the Entrance Hall and described as ‘Two 4ft carved frame Tables, inlaid with verd antique marble tops’. The tables are subsequently recorded in
An Inventory of Furniture, China, Glass, Books and other effects at Tyttenhanger House near St Albans, The Property of the Right Honourable Countess of Caledon and let to H. W. Eaton Esq., July 1864, where they are described as ‘2 – 4ft carved and grained frame tables with inlaid marble tops’.
Close examination of a black and white photograph of one table, illustrated in H. Avray Tipping, ‘Furniture at Tyttenhanger’,
Country Life, 8 November 1919, p. 590, fig. 1, reveals the original form of the present tops, with thick,
verde antico edges, hexagonal specimen marble inlays and a separate slab to the back edge, possibly to compensate for the ill-fitting specimen tops. The robust construction of the frames together with the absence of pocket screws or battens to the rails for cut-gesso tops confirms these tables were always intended to take marble slab tops, however, the present tops as described in the 1858 and 1864 inventories of Tyttenhanger, and recorded in the Country Life images, are almost certainly replacements. At some stage, most likely after their removal from Tyttenhanger in 1972, the tops were extended along the back edge with additional rectangular marble panels. The work was probably executed by the London firm Mallett & Sons as the tops are illustrated in their current state in the Sotheby’s auction catalogue for
The Hochschild Collection of Highly Important English Furniture in 1978.
The hexagonal pattern seen on the Tyttenhanger tables features on several specimen tops of Roman manufacture which were being produced for the grand-tourists of the 1770s. A closely related example, with a similar array of marbles and hardstones, can be found in the collections of the Earl of Normanton at Somerley House, Hampshire. This remarkable example is accompanied by a framed, contemporary key for the marbles recording that the top was made to the order of 'M. de Flesseller' by Antonio Vinelli a Campo Vaccino in Rome in 1770. A further pair of specimen marble tops were probably acquired by the Dowager Duchess of Beaufort in Rome in 1774, and were subsequently mounted on giltwood tables attributed to the partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew for Badminton House, Gloucestershire (H. Roberts & C. Cator,
Industry and Ingenuity: The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew, 2022, pp. 128 & 419, figs, 24 & 494).
Tyttenhanger House, Hertfordshire
Built during the tumultuous mid-17th century by Sir Henry Blount (1602–1682), Tyttenhanger came into the possession of the Earls of Caledon through the marriage of Lady Catherine to Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon (1777–1839), who in turn had inherited the estate in 1858 on the death of her mother, Elizabeth Scot Yorke, the Countess Dowager of Hardwicke (1763–1858).
Sir Henry Blount was a remarkable figure, having travelled extensively across France, Italy, the Levant and southern Mediterranean during the 1630s. His account of these adventures,
A Voyage to the Levant, was hugely popular with seven editions appearing during his lifetime and earning him a knighthood. Sir Henry inherited the property from his elder brother in 1654 and the estate passed through the family until Sir Harry Pope Blount, 3rd Baronet (1702–1757), who died without issue rendering the title extinct. It is conceivable the Tyttenhanger tables were supplied to Sir Harry, whose dates certainly tally, although it is perhaps more likely they are heirlooms that entered the collection through the next phase of ownership, when Tyttenhanger passed to Sir Harry’s niece, the heiress Catherine Blount Freeman, who married Charles Yorke PC (1722–1770), second son of Phillip Yorke, 1
st Earl of Hardwicke (1690–1764).
In 1739, the 1
st Earl purchased Wimpole Hall, a magnificent country house in neighbouring Cambridgeshire, from Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (1689–1741), himself an avaricious collector who had inherited Wimpole Hall and Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. It is possible that the present tables formed part of the Harley collections at Wimpole. Tyttenhanger was eventually inherited by Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (1757-1834), who married Elizabeth Scot Yorke (née Lindsay), Countess of Hardwicke. It is interesting to note that Sir John Soane, having met the 3
rd Earl in Italy, re-modelled Tyttenhanger in 1783 and 1789, thus providing a tantalising timeframe for the acquisition of the Roman specimen tops and possibly motive for the replacement of the originals.
The 19
th century inventories, subsequent articles in Country Life and the 1972 auction catalogue reveal a wonderful, if somewhat disjointed collection, with a broad range of periods and styles represented. A pair of gilt-gesso torcheres in the manner of Daniel Marot, bear the closest relation to the present tables while the existence of fine mahogany furniture and a whimsical English rococo giltwood pier mirror and table speak to the many layers of collecting at Tyttenhanger (see H. Avray Tipping, ‘Furniture at Tyttenhanger’,
Country Life, 8 November 1919, p. 590-593). The house was sold by the Earls of Caledon in 1973 and the contents dispersed in the previous year. At this juncture the tables entered the collection of Gerald Hochschild at 96 Cheyne Walk, London, England, who built an important collection of English furniture.
Gilding analysis
The tables appear to have been restored just once. Most of the gold seen today is the restoration however the new gold was mostly applied directly on top of the original gold, without any fresh gesso being applied, and the original finish is still visible in areas.
The original gilding involved a gesso ground applied in the multiple thin layers, typical if early technique. The gesso was followed by a thin layer of dull yellow and then water gilding over a dark brown clay. By the time the Tables were restored the original gold had become very worn. Very little fresh gesso was applied. Some new gesso was used on the top rail and on the feet, but in most areas the new gold leaf was laid over a reddish brown clay laid directly on top of the earlier gilding.
The materials used for water gilding do not change over time so it is not possible to date the restoration, but worm holes have been created since it was carried out, suggesting it cannot be very recent. In some areas, such as the punched decoration, the later gold sits on top of the raised details, but in the grooves the dull yellow undercoat of the original gilding can still be seen. An illustrated report is available on request.
IN THE MANNER OF JAMES MOORE, CIRCA 1720-25, THE TOPS ROMAN, CIRCA 1770 AND ENLARGED
The rectangular tops inlaid with a variety of hexagonal marble and hardstone specimens including lapis lazuli, alabaster, Porfido serpentino antico, amethyst, Spanish broccatello, Serpentino di Genova and Granito rosso antico, above a foliate-decorated frieze with a punched ground, on broken cabriole legs headed by plumed masks and scrolling acanthus terminating in scroll feet, the tops originally with verde antico borders and a separate slab to back edge and probably enlarged to current form post-1972, regilt
31 ¾ in. (80.5 cm.) high; 47 ¾ in. (121 cm.) wide; 30 in. (76 cm.) deep
The collection of Elizabeth Scot Yorke (née Lindsay), Countess of Hardwicke (1763–1858) at Tyttenhanger House, Hertfordshire,
Thence by descent to the Earls of Caledon until sold,
Tyttenhanger House: The Contents; Ralph Pay and Ransom, London, 27-29 June 1972, lot 405.
With Mallett & Son Antiques, London and subsequently acquired by Gerald Hochschild.
The Hochschild Collection of Highly Important English Furniture; Sotheby's, London, 1 December 1978, lot 16.
Acquired from the above through Hotspur Ltd. and thence by descent.
Inventory & Valuation of Furniture, Fixtures and Effects at Tittenhanger [sic] House St Albans, the property of the late Countess Dowager of Hardwicke, 20 July 1858, p. 67 (Hertfordshire Archives Office D/ECd (Add) F38).
An Inventory of Furniture, China, Glass, Books and other effects at Tyttenhanger House near St Albans, The Property of the Right Honourable Countess of Caledon and let to H. W. Eaton Esq., July 1864 (Hertfordshire Archives Office D/ECd (Add) E15).
H. Avray Tipping, ‘Tyttenhanger, Hertfordshire, The Seat of the Earl of Caledon – II’, Country Life, 11 October 1919, p. 454, fig. 1.
H. Avray Tipping, ‘Furniture at Tyttenhanger’, Country Life, 8 November 1919, p. 590, fig. 1 (showing specimen marble tops in original form).
H. Avray Tipping, English Homes, Period IV – Vol. I, Late Stuart 1649-1714, London, 1920, p. 77, fig. 108A.
L. Synge, Mallet’s Great English Furniture, London, 1991, p. 86, pl. 90.
These boldly modelled side tables, the nascent cabriole legs animated by naturalistic masks with plumed headdresses, rank among the most remarkable examples of gilt-gesso furniture from the golden age of early Georgian production.
The design
The distinctive plumed masks are of Renaissance origin, occurring in 16
th century Italian grotesques, and were incorporated into the canon of French baroque design, of which Jean Bérain (1640-1711), André-Charles Boulle (1742-1732) and Pierre Lepautre (1652-1716) were key exponents. A quintessentially English interpretation, the term-like legs to the Tyttenhanger tables echo a design illustrated in Lepautre’s
Livre de Tables qui sont dans les appartements du Roi (c. 1700). Lepautre designs depict a suite of tables adorned with precious objects that were intended to replace the silver tables at Versailles which had been melted down in 1689 to replenish Louis XIV’s war ravaged treasury. Lepautre’s body of engravings held an enduring influence over English furniture designers in the first half of the 18
th century, to the extent that the garden designer Batty Langley (1696-1751) was reproducing his table designs with plagiaristic aplomb as late as 1740 (
The City and Country Builder’s and Workman’s Treasury of Designs, Pl. CXLVII).
The ‘broken’ cabriole leg of the present tables features on two famous suites of giltwood seat furniture made for Cannons, Middlesex, the seat of James Brydges, Viscount Wilton and Earl of Carnarvon, later 1st Duke of Chandos (1673⁄4-1744). Like the Tyttenhanger tables, the Cannons suites also employs a plumed mask motif to head the hipped cabriole legs. A pair of armchairs from the suite supplied to the private chapel at Cannons were almost certainly acquired at the dispersal of the contents in 1747 by George, 4th Earl and later 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley (d.1827) for the Marble Parlour at Houghton, where they remained until sold Houghton; Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 135 (£881,500 with premium). A further pair from the suite were sold Important English Furniture; Christie’s, London, 8 June 2006, lot 50 (£960,000 with premium).
Chandos had turned to James Gibbs (d. 1754) for designs for his new house at Cannons, who can be credited with the south and east elevations, and the chapel is wholly his work. Although not known as a furniture designer, the hand of Gibbs is evident in the Cannons armchairs which relate to a design for an imbricated dolphin-scale baluster illustrated in his
Book of Architecture (1728). While no bills survive, the Cannons suites have traditionally been attributed to James Moore Snr. (c. 1670-1726) cabinet-maker to King George I, whose partner John Gumley (d. 1729), the glass-manufacturer, had employed Gibbs to design his own house at Isleworth, Middlesex. Chandos's reputation as a Maecenas of the arts would naturally suggest the King's cabinet-maker as the author of the state furnishings at Cannons and it is relevant to note that Chandos was the Paymaster-General of the forces commanded by General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), Chandos's patron at court.
Moore is recorded as working at Nottingham Court, Short's Gardens, St Giles in the Fields and is thought to have undertaken private commissions from around 1700. It is likely that he trained under the Gumleys who were cabinet-makers and manufacturers of mirror plate, so he would have gained valuable early experience in the use of sophisticated gilt-gesso work, generally used in the production of frames and employed in the decoration of the present tables. Moore was one of the leading exponents of this kind of work, and he is known to have supplied gilt-gesso furniture to both Queen Anne and George I for Kensington Palace, the latter whilst in partnership with John Gumley (c. 1670-1728). A gilt-gesso table signed 'Moore' and a further pair of tables – each emblazoned the George I's cypher – were supplied in 1724 and survive in the Royal Collection (RCIN 596 & RCIN 597). This group arguably represent the finest examples of Moore’s work in the late baroque style, the pillar-leg form directly influenced by Lepautre’s designs, and at the time of manufacture were at risk of being outmoded. This perhaps represents a desire of the Hanoverian dynasty to demonstrate continuity with the late Stuarts (A. Bowett,
Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, p. 200).
Moore went on to supply similar furniture to the 1st Duke of Marlborough and took over the supervision of the building work at Blenheim after the dismissal of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh, where he became known as Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough's 'Oracle' (G. Beard,
Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 618-619). Five similar tables, a pair of torchers and a set of side chairs, all in giltwood and with voluminous square ‘broken’ cabriole legs remain at Blenheim, but lack the sculptural sophistication evinced on the Tyttenhanger tables (see Bowett,
op. cit., pp. 154, 204 & 205, pls. 4:18, 5:8 & 5:9).
A table attributed to Moore, which shares not only the plumed masks but also the sculptural qualities of the Tyttenhanger tables is illustrated and discussed in
Masterpieces of English Furniture / The Gerstenfeld Collection, E. Lennox-Boyd, ed., London, 1998, p. 73-75. A related pier table with a cut-gesso top and displaying similar masks was sold from the collection of the late Sir John Gooch, 12th Bt., Benacre Hall, Suffolk, Sotheby's house sale, 9-11 May 2000, lot 34 (£223,500) and is almost certainly by the same maker of a table in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire which carries the monogram ‘WKH’ and was made for William Marquess of Harrington, later 3
rd Duke of Devonshire, and his wife Katherine, who married in 1718 (Bowett,
op. cit., p. 212, pl. 5:25).
The specimen tops
The tables are first recorded in the
Inventory & Valuation of Furniture, Fixtures and Effects at Tittenhanger [sic] House St Albans, the property of the late Countess Dowager of Hardwicke, 20 July 1858, where they are listed in the Entrance Hall and described as ‘Two 4ft carved frame Tables, inlaid with verd antique marble tops’. The tables are subsequently recorded in
An Inventory of Furniture, China, Glass, Books and other effects at Tyttenhanger House near St Albans, The Property of the Right Honourable Countess of Caledon and let to H. W. Eaton Esq., July 1864, where they are described as ‘2 – 4ft carved and grained frame tables with inlaid marble tops’.
Close examination of a black and white photograph of one table, illustrated in H. Avray Tipping, ‘Furniture at Tyttenhanger’,
Country Life, 8 November 1919, p. 590, fig. 1, reveals the original form of the present tops, with thick,
verde antico edges, hexagonal specimen marble inlays and a separate slab to the back edge, possibly to compensate for the ill-fitting specimen tops. The robust construction of the frames together with the absence of pocket screws or battens to the rails for cut-gesso tops confirms these tables were always intended to take marble slab tops, however, the present tops as described in the 1858 and 1864 inventories of Tyttenhanger, and recorded in the Country Life images, are almost certainly replacements. At some stage, most likely after their removal from Tyttenhanger in 1972, the tops were extended along the back edge with additional rectangular marble panels. The work was probably executed by the London firm Mallett & Sons as the tops are illustrated in their current state in the Sotheby’s auction catalogue for
The Hochschild Collection of Highly Important English Furniture in 1978.
The hexagonal pattern seen on the Tyttenhanger tables features on several specimen tops of Roman manufacture which were being produced for the grand-tourists of the 1770s. A closely related example, with a similar array of marbles and hardstones, can be found in the collections of the Earl of Normanton at Somerley House, Hampshire. This remarkable example is accompanied by a framed, contemporary key for the marbles recording that the top was made to the order of 'M. de Flesseller' by Antonio Vinelli a Campo Vaccino in Rome in 1770. A further pair of specimen marble tops were probably acquired by the Dowager Duchess of Beaufort in Rome in 1774, and were subsequently mounted on giltwood tables attributed to the partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew for Badminton House, Gloucestershire (H. Roberts & C. Cator,
Industry and Ingenuity: The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew, 2022, pp. 128 & 419, figs, 24 & 494).
Tyttenhanger House, Hertfordshire
Built during the tumultuous mid-17th century by Sir Henry Blount (1602–1682), Tyttenhanger came into the possession of the Earls of Caledon through the marriage of Lady Catherine to Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon (1777–1839), who in turn had inherited the estate in 1858 on the death of her mother, Elizabeth Scot Yorke, the Countess Dowager of Hardwicke (1763–1858).
Sir Henry Blount was a remarkable figure, having travelled extensively across France, Italy, the Levant and southern Mediterranean during the 1630s. His account of these adventures,
A Voyage to the Levant, was hugely popular with seven editions appearing during his lifetime and earning him a knighthood. Sir Henry inherited the property from his elder brother in 1654 and the estate passed through the family until Sir Harry Pope Blount, 3rd Baronet (1702–1757), who died without issue rendering the title extinct. It is conceivable the Tyttenhanger tables were supplied to Sir Harry, whose dates certainly tally, although it is perhaps more likely they are heirlooms that entered the collection through the next phase of ownership, when Tyttenhanger passed to Sir Harry’s niece, the heiress Catherine Blount Freeman, who married Charles Yorke PC (1722–1770), second son of Phillip Yorke, 1
st Earl of Hardwicke (1690–1764).
In 1739, the 1
st Earl purchased Wimpole Hall, a magnificent country house in neighbouring Cambridgeshire, from Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (1689–1741), himself an avaricious collector who had inherited Wimpole Hall and Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. It is possible that the present tables formed part of the Harley collections at Wimpole. Tyttenhanger was eventually inherited by Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (1757-1834), who married Elizabeth Scot Yorke (née Lindsay), Countess of Hardwicke. It is interesting to note that Sir John Soane, having met the 3
rd Earl in Italy, re-modelled Tyttenhanger in 1783 and 1789, thus providing a tantalising timeframe for the acquisition of the Roman specimen tops and possibly motive for the replacement of the originals.
The 19
th century inventories, subsequent articles in Country Life and the 1972 auction catalogue reveal a wonderful, if somewhat disjointed collection, with a broad range of periods and styles represented. A pair of gilt-gesso torcheres in the manner of Daniel Marot, bear the closest relation to the present tables while the existence of fine mahogany furniture and a whimsical English rococo giltwood pier mirror and table speak to the many layers of collecting at Tyttenhanger (see H. Avray Tipping, ‘Furniture at Tyttenhanger’,
Country Life, 8 November 1919, p. 590-593). The house was sold by the Earls of Caledon in 1973 and the contents dispersed in the previous year. At this juncture the tables entered the collection of Gerald Hochschild at 96 Cheyne Walk, London, England, who built an important collection of English furniture.
Gilding analysis
The tables appear to have been restored just once. Most of the gold seen today is the restoration however the new gold was mostly applied directly on top of the original gold, without any fresh gesso being applied, and the original finish is still visible in areas.
The original gilding involved a gesso ground applied in the multiple thin layers, typical if early technique. The gesso was followed by a thin layer of dull yellow and then water gilding over a dark brown clay. By the time the Tables were restored the original gold had become very worn. Very little fresh gesso was applied. Some new gesso was used on the top rail and on the feet, but in most areas the new gold leaf was laid over a reddish brown clay laid directly on top of the earlier gilding.
The materials used for water gilding do not change over time so it is not possible to date the restoration, but worm holes have been created since it was carried out, suggesting it cannot be very recent. In some areas, such as the punched decoration, the later gold sits on top of the raised details, but in the grooves the dull yellow undercoat of the original gilding can still be seen. An illustrated report is available on request.