Y A REGENCY GILT-BRASS MOUNTED AND INLAID EBONY AND CALAMANDER BREAKFRONT BOOKCASE
Y A REGENCY GILT-BRASS MOUNTED AND INLAID EBONY AND CALAMANDER BREAKFRONT BOOKCASEATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE OAKLEY, CIRCA 1815The stepped cornice with a pierced gallery and spiral fluted finials above four brass-beaded and glazed doors, flanked by columns with lotus clasps and enclosing two long and four short ebony-edged mahogany shelves, the base with four mahogany-lined drawers above panelled calamander-crossbanded doors and similar columns, enclosing an arrangement of drawers and trays, on a plinth base, sparingly inlaid overall with rosettes, quatrefoils and anthemion240cm high, 235cm wide, 56cm deepProvenance:Horace G. Everitt (d. 1982), Knowle Hall, Warwickshire.Acquired by the Phillips family who bought Knowle Hall with some contents in 1982Acquired privately from Mrs. Phillips, Knowle Hall, Warwickshire, 2015.The magnificent bookcase of gilt-bronze mounted ebony withcalamander and ‘Buhl’ (brass) inlay is attributed to the fashionable Londoncabinet-makers George Oakley & Co. of St. Paul’s Churchyard and Old BondStreet. Noted for their stylish furniture in the Grecian and French ancienneregime styles, much of their oeuvre was characterised by the use ofexotic woods such as rosewood and calamander and embellished with brass starsand metal inlays. Newspaper articles stated that ‘all people with taste buytheir furniture at Oakley’s’ (1804), another described the firm as ‘famous forgoods of the latest fashion’ (1807) and they stood alongside Gillow and CharlesElliott as the pre-eminent makers and sellers of furniture in London.George Oakley became a freeman of the Upholders Company in1782 and was listed in directories at 2 Clement’s Lane, Lombard St until 1789.His trade card of 1786 records an address at 22 St Paul’s Churchyard and by1799 he had opened new premises at 35 St Paul’s Churchyard where orders couldbe placed and where he also held a stock of fabric patterns. Fabrics of everydescription and wallpapers were offered at Oakley’s Elegant Printed FurnitureWarehouse at 67 New Bond Street, 1802 - 05 (having acquired the printed textilebusiness of Dudding & Co). By 1811 there were premises at 35 Piccadilly andan entry in The Times, October 1812 refers to the `late extensive additions’ tohis manufactory ‘in which the first artists and mechanics are employed’ whilealso mentioning warerooms at 16 Old Bond Street. Oakley was still at 8 Old Bond Street in 1823before moving on to Baker Street (1825) and Cirencester Place (1838).All of this implies a thriving business and Oakley worked inpartnership with other cabinet-makers including Henry Kettle (until 1797), ThomasShackleton (1798 – c. 1809) and with the gilder John Evans (until at least1819). The partnership subscribed to Sheraton’s Cabinet Dictionary in1803 and Oakley’s name appears on invoices either independently or inpartnership.Among Oakley’s illustrious patrons were Thomas Baring forthe Manor House, Lee, Kent, Lord and Lady Kerry in the late 1790s and early1800s, Michael Hicks-Beach for Williamstrip Park, Glocs (under the direction ofSir John Soane), The Bank of England (c.1810), J.H Leigh of Stoneleigh Abbey,Warks and the Marquess of Bath, Longleat, Somerset (both 1813 and both of whichincluded ebony and ebonised furniture by, or probably by, Oakley), and forSoane himself at Pitzhanger (1804) and later at Lincoln’s Inn Fields – his lastrecorded bill for Soane was in 1827. The most complete of Oakley’s commissions wasfor Charles Madryll Cheere, Papworth Hall, Cambs, c. 1810, though now dispersedmany documented pieces survive and they offer glimpses of the sort of highRegency style that was Oakley’s signature. The Papworth furniture included anarchitectural winged bookcase, the mahogany veneer embellished with verticalbands of palm leaf ornament and ebony dots, a satinwood and calamander pedestaltable inlaid with ebony, and a suite of dressing-room furniture comprising awinged clothes press and dressing-table also of satinwood and calamander. Oakley’soriginal bill is quoted extensively in Margaret Jourdain, ‘English Empire Furnituremade by George Oakley’ Architectural Review, vol. 48, July – December1920.Perhaps the most tantalising of Oakley’s relationships is withthe Royal family. In 1799 the Morning Chronicle reported ‘… the Queen andPrincesses, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of York made a tour of the mostelegant shops and manufactories in the different lines of the useful Arts. Wesaw them at Oakley and Shackleton’s magazine of furniture in Old Bond Street…and thus Their Majesties, in the prevailing taste for magnificence in everyarticle of decoration, give the most flattering encouragement to the arts bytheir countenance and protection’. A few months later the firm was granted aRoyal Warrant of Appointment. In 1810 Oakley supplied the Prince Regent with a ‘capital mahogany pedestal desk, inlaid withBhull bordering, fitted with drawers on both sides… the top covered with blackleather and raised on brass castors’ (Royal Collection RA 25318). A gilt bronzemounted mahogany, ebony and brass-inlaid serving-table by Oakley survives atHolyrood House, Scotland (Royal Collection RCIN 28079).It seems improbable that Oakley supplied just two pieces offurniture to the Royal family. Intriguingly a brass mounted and inlaidcalamander sofa table was among Queen Mary’s collection at Marlborough House(Royal Collection RCIN 904), it displays many features that are strongly suggestiveof Oakley’s authorship, or influence, not least the distinctive brass inlaidrosettes to the cornice that feature on the present lot. However it has nobrands or other marks that would be likely if it were supplied in the early 19thcentury and it’s probable that it was acquired by Queen Mary in her lifetime(see H. Clifford Smith, ‘Her Majesty Queen Mary as Connoisseur and Collector’, CountryLife, 17 April 1937, pp. 439 -443, fig. 6).Further, George IV’s brother the Duke of Sussex had thelibrary in his private quarters at Kensington Palace furnished with ebonyfurniture though there is nothing in posthumous sales of the King’s brothersthat answers to the description of the bookcase offered here.The bookcase would certainly made a strong statement aboutwealth and connoisseurship and must have been intended for a high statuspatron. Ebony was the most opulent of cabinet woods, Adam Bowett writes that ‘it’sattraction both aesthetic and symbolic. Ebony was the wood of emperors, kingsand princes and it was imbued with the authority of ancient texts… its heartwas jet black, seemingly flawless and imperishable, a kind of vegetable marble…Ebony achieved a degree of perfection in surface, form, and colour notachievable in any other wood’ (A. Bowett, Woods in British Furniture-Making1400 – 1900, 2012, p. 70). It was also enormously expensive and hence wasusually reserved for decorative details such as inlay. It’s use in thisbookcase indicates supreme extravagance.
ϒ Indicates that this lot may be subject to CITES regulations when exported. The import of lots that are subject to CITES regulations are banned in certain countries. Please check your country's import regulations before bidding. For further details on CITES regulations www.gov.uk/guidance/cites-imports-and-exports.
Condition
Good, structurally secure wear and tear consistent with age and use. There are dents marks and scratches and shrinkage cracks. The surfaces good and well burnished, the shelves, drawers and trays and metalwork apparently original, the glass at least in part apparently original.
Buyer's Premium
33.6% up to
£25,000.00
32.4% up to
£500,000.00
31.2% above
£500,000.00
Y A REGENCY GILT-BRASS MOUNTED AND INLAID EBONY AND CALAMANDER BREAKFRONT BOOKCASEATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE OAKLEY, CIRCA 1815The stepped cornice with a pierced gallery and spiral fluted finials above four brass-beaded and glazed doors, flanked by columns with lotus clasps and enclosing two long and four short ebony-edged mahogany shelves, the base with four mahogany-lined drawers above panelled calamander-crossbanded doors and similar columns, enclosing an arrangement of drawers and trays, on a plinth base, sparingly inlaid overall with rosettes, quatrefoils and anthemion240cm high, 235cm wide, 56cm deepProvenance:Horace G. Everitt (d. 1982), Knowle Hall, Warwickshire.Acquired by the Phillips family who bought Knowle Hall with some contents in 1982Acquired privately from Mrs. Phillips, Knowle Hall, Warwickshire, 2015.The magnificent bookcase of gilt-bronze mounted ebony withcalamander and ‘Buhl’ (brass) inlay is attributed to the fashionable Londoncabinet-makers George Oakley & Co. of St. Paul’s Churchyard and Old BondStreet. Noted for their stylish furniture in the Grecian and French ancienneregime styles, much of their oeuvre was characterised by the use ofexotic woods such as rosewood and calamander and embellished with brass starsand metal inlays. Newspaper articles stated that ‘all people with taste buytheir furniture at Oakley’s’ (1804), another described the firm as ‘famous forgoods of the latest fashion’ (1807) and they stood alongside Gillow and CharlesElliott as the pre-eminent makers and sellers of furniture in London.George Oakley became a freeman of the Upholders Company in1782 and was listed in directories at 2 Clement’s Lane, Lombard St until 1789.His trade card of 1786 records an address at 22 St Paul’s Churchyard and by1799 he had opened new premises at 35 St Paul’s Churchyard where orders couldbe placed and where he also held a stock of fabric patterns. Fabrics of everydescription and wallpapers were offered at Oakley’s Elegant Printed FurnitureWarehouse at 67 New Bond Street, 1802 - 05 (having acquired the printed textilebusiness of Dudding & Co). By 1811 there were premises at 35 Piccadilly andan entry in The Times, October 1812 refers to the `late extensive additions’ tohis manufactory ‘in which the first artists and mechanics are employed’ whilealso mentioning warerooms at 16 Old Bond Street. Oakley was still at 8 Old Bond Street in 1823before moving on to Baker Street (1825) and Cirencester Place (1838).All of this implies a thriving business and Oakley worked inpartnership with other cabinet-makers including Henry Kettle (until 1797), ThomasShackleton (1798 – c. 1809) and with the gilder John Evans (until at least1819). The partnership subscribed to Sheraton’s Cabinet Dictionary in1803 and Oakley’s name appears on invoices either independently or inpartnership.Among Oakley’s illustrious patrons were Thomas Baring forthe Manor House, Lee, Kent, Lord and Lady Kerry in the late 1790s and early1800s, Michael Hicks-Beach for Williamstrip Park, Glocs (under the direction ofSir John Soane), The Bank of England (c.1810), J.H Leigh of Stoneleigh Abbey,Warks and the Marquess of Bath, Longleat, Somerset (both 1813 and both of whichincluded ebony and ebonised furniture by, or probably by, Oakley), and forSoane himself at Pitzhanger (1804) and later at Lincoln’s Inn Fields – his lastrecorded bill for Soane was in 1827. The most complete of Oakley’s commissions wasfor Charles Madryll Cheere, Papworth Hall, Cambs, c. 1810, though now dispersedmany documented pieces survive and they offer glimpses of the sort of highRegency style that was Oakley’s signature. The Papworth furniture included anarchitectural winged bookcase, the mahogany veneer embellished with verticalbands of palm leaf ornament and ebony dots, a satinwood and calamander pedestaltable inlaid with ebony, and a suite of dressing-room furniture comprising awinged clothes press and dressing-table also of satinwood and calamander. Oakley’soriginal bill is quoted extensively in Margaret Jourdain, ‘English Empire Furnituremade by George Oakley’ Architectural Review, vol. 48, July – December1920.Perhaps the most tantalising of Oakley’s relationships is withthe Royal family. In 1799 the Morning Chronicle reported ‘… the Queen andPrincesses, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of York made a tour of the mostelegant shops and manufactories in the different lines of the useful Arts. Wesaw them at Oakley and Shackleton’s magazine of furniture in Old Bond Street…and thus Their Majesties, in the prevailing taste for magnificence in everyarticle of decoration, give the most flattering encouragement to the arts bytheir countenance and protection’. A few months later the firm was granted aRoyal Warrant of Appointment. In 1810 Oakley supplied the Prince Regent with a ‘capital mahogany pedestal desk, inlaid withBhull bordering, fitted with drawers on both sides… the top covered with blackleather and raised on brass castors’ (Royal Collection RA 25318). A gilt bronzemounted mahogany, ebony and brass-inlaid serving-table by Oakley survives atHolyrood House, Scotland (Royal Collection RCIN 28079).It seems improbable that Oakley supplied just two pieces offurniture to the Royal family. Intriguingly a brass mounted and inlaidcalamander sofa table was among Queen Mary’s collection at Marlborough House(Royal Collection RCIN 904), it displays many features that are strongly suggestiveof Oakley’s authorship, or influence, not least the distinctive brass inlaidrosettes to the cornice that feature on the present lot. However it has nobrands or other marks that would be likely if it were supplied in the early 19thcentury and it’s probable that it was acquired by Queen Mary in her lifetime(see H. Clifford Smith, ‘Her Majesty Queen Mary as Connoisseur and Collector’, CountryLife, 17 April 1937, pp. 439 -443, fig. 6).Further, George IV’s brother the Duke of Sussex had thelibrary in his private quarters at Kensington Palace furnished with ebonyfurniture though there is nothing in posthumous sales of the King’s brothersthat answers to the description of the bookcase offered here.The bookcase would certainly made a strong statement aboutwealth and connoisseurship and must have been intended for a high statuspatron. Ebony was the most opulent of cabinet woods, Adam Bowett writes that ‘it’sattraction both aesthetic and symbolic. Ebony was the wood of emperors, kingsand princes and it was imbued with the authority of ancient texts… its heartwas jet black, seemingly flawless and imperishable, a kind of vegetable marble…Ebony achieved a degree of perfection in surface, form, and colour notachievable in any other wood’ (A. Bowett, Woods in British Furniture-Making1400 – 1900, 2012, p. 70). It was also enormously expensive and hence wasusually reserved for decorative details such as inlay. It’s use in thisbookcase indicates supreme extravagance.
ϒ Indicates that this lot may be subject to CITES regulations when exported. The import of lots that are subject to CITES regulations are banned in certain countries. Please check your country's import regulations before bidding. For further details on CITES regulations www.gov.uk/guidance/cites-imports-and-exports.
Condition
Good, structurally secure wear and tear consistent with age and use. There are dents marks and scratches and shrinkage cracks. The surfaces good and well burnished, the shelves, drawers and trays and metalwork apparently original, the glass at least in part apparently original.
Buyer's Premium
33.6% up to
£25,000.00
32.4% up to
£500,000.00
31.2% above
£500,000.00
