A REGENCY BRASS HALL LANTERN, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

A REGENCY BRASS HALL LANTERN
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Of hexagonal form with glazed rectangular panels and scrolled supports with pierced anthemion and vase terminals and later triple candle support, fitted for electricity but not drilled
30 in. (76.2 cm.) high, 17 in. (43.1 cm.) diameter

Provenance

Acquired from Mallett, New York, November 2007.

Little Cassiobury, New York: An English Country House in America

??set in great and delightful grounds and surrounded by a grandly timbered park. Therein is peace and quiet; the aloofness of the old-country home far from the haunts of men reigns there still, and Watford and its rows of villas and its busy streets are forgotten as soon as the lodge gates are passed.?

(Description of Cassiobury Park, Hertfordshire, Country Life, 1910)

Little Cassiobury, New York, was built by the American antiques dealer and anglophile Mrs. Harriet Hooper who salvaged bricks and interior wood-paneling from Cassiobury Park, Hertfordshire upon its demolition in 1927. Cassiobury Park, a prominent English estate and home of the Earls of Essex for over 250 years, stood in Hertfordshire, England from 1546 until its demise resulted in the sale of both its contents and architectural elements in 1922 and 1927 respectively. The contents of Cassiobury Park were dispersed in a landmark ten-day auction at the direction of the then Earl and Dowager Countess of Essex and conducted by Messrs. Knight, Frank & Rutley in conjunction with Messrs. Humbert & Flint beginning on the 12th June 1922. After the demolition, architectural fragments and building materials were offered for sale by Stimpson, Lock & Vince on the 9th November 1927. The bricks and interior paneling acquired by Mrs. Harriet Hooper were not the only pieces of historic Cassiobury Park to make the long and at that time arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean; the original and intricately hand-carved oak and elm staircase, attributed to Edward Pearce (1630-1695), and dated circa 1677-80, was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1932 and has remained in the permanent collection there ever since.

Cassiobury Park, Hertfordshire, was originally a Tudor mansion built under the purview of Sir Richard Morrison (1513-1556), a scholar and diplomat, who was granted the manor of Cassiobury by King Henry VIII (1491-1547) in 1545. That same year construction began on the estate and continued until 1553 when Morrison went into exile during the English Reformation. His son, Sir Charles Morrison (1549-1599), was tasked with completing construction of the 56-room mansion after inheriting the estate of Cassiobury following his father?s death in 1556. By the mid-17th Century, Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex (1631-1683), had inherited Cassiobury Park and undertook the first significant renovation of the estate with the architect Hugh May (1621-1684).

The house was remodeled several times to suit the Earls of each period, and was notably transformed by George Capell-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex (1757-1839), in the manner of the 19th century gothic revival. This gothic transformation was undertaken by architect James Wyatt (1746-1813) between the years 1799 and 1804 and prefigured his best-known work for William Beckford at Fonthill Abbey. This would be Cassiobury?s final major renovation - by the early 20th century, urban growth and the expansion of London began to swell into the countryside, bringing the bustling town of Watford all the way to the Park?s boundaries.
When George Capell, 7th Earl of Essex (1857-1916) died in 1916, his widow was forced to close Cassiobury Park owing to the overwhelming expense of upkeep demanded by the property. By the time of its closure, Cassiobury housed a rich collection of art and antique furniture to complement its architectural renown, including work of the master carver Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) and his contemporary, the aforementioned Edward Pearce (1630-1695). The galleries of Cassiobury Park held the Capell family?s collection of over 500 paintings and etchings, including works by Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) and Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841), as well as a painting of the estate by J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851). For the 1922 auction, the sale was organized by room, with the first day featuring 224 lots from the Entrance Hall, Cloisters, Dining Room, Ante Room and Green Drawing Room.

By 1927 George Capell?s widow had died, and Cassiobury House was demolished. The house?s original building materials and fixtures were parceled out and sold to various institutions and individuals. Stone pavers, iron piping, 300 tons of oak and 100,000 bricks from the Tudor era onwards were put up for sale by the Cassiobury estate. In addition to the parts of Cassiobury that moved west to the United States, the mansion?s stained glass windows, depicting detailed ?Labours of the Month? motifs, were sold to the Victoria & Albert Museum, while an early 17th Century Leonard Tenant turret clock mechanism was purchased by the British Museum.

3,400 miles away from Cassiobury, the recent widow Mrs. Harriet Hooper (b. 1869), conceived her own corner of England, Little Cassiobury, on her Bedford Hills estate in upstate New York. Mrs. Hooper had decided to pursue the construction of her new home following the death of her husband, Horace Everett Hooper (1859-1922), who was best known as the publisher of the 10th, 11th, and 12th editions of Encyclopedia Britannica. Though little is known about how Mrs. Hooper acquired and moved Cassiobury?s building materials from one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other, she was known to have taken frequent trips to England for the purposes of stocking her thriving antiques business. The naming of Little Cassiobury in Bedford, New York, is most likely a reference to its architectural counterpart and namesake Little Cassiobury of Watford, Hertfordshire. The original Little Cassiobury, also known as the dower house of Cassiobury Park and the only surviving building from the Cassiobury estate, dates to the latter part of the 17th century and is most likely the work of architect Hugh May, employed by the 1st Earl of Essex to perform the earliest significant renovations to Cassiobury Park. Little Cassiobury, Bedford Hills, in both its architecture and its lush and bucolic setting, evoke the quintessential English Country House. It became Mrs. Hooper?s residence, as well as a showroom for her antiques business, in the late 1920s.

Though Susan Lyall purchased Little Cassiobury, Bedford Hills, more than 80 years after its construction, she mirrored the taste and spirit of its original owner by meticulously restoring and preserving the interior ? filling it with a collection of antiques and fine art procured during her many years living in England. The appeal of a storied English country estate wasn?t new to Susan Lyall. For a number of years she lived at Swinbrook House, Oxfordshire, the former home of the Mitford sisters. The Collection of Susan Lyall, offered here, brings together works that echo the heritage of Little Cassiobury?s less-than-modest beginnings. From fine English furniture to superlative pictures by Sir Alfred James Munnings KCVO, PRA (1878?1959) and Sir John Lavery, RA (1856-1941) (lots XX and XX) the collection even includes a reference to Swinbrook in the charming botanical drawings by Lady Emma Tennant, daughter of the most famous of the Mitford sisters, Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, DCVO (born Deborah Freeman-Mitford and latterly Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire; 1920-2014) (lot XX).
Set upon 24 acres of green and pleasant land, Little Cassiobury, Bedford Hills, New York now echoes the memory of the lost Cassiobury Park : one finds here the same ?peace and quiet; the aloofness of the old-country home far from the haunts of men?.

M.P., G.S.