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THOMAS CHIPPENDALE FOR HAREWOOD HOUSE
england , circa 1770 - 1772
SUPPLIED BY THOMAS CHIPPENDALE TO HAREWOOD HOUSE
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT GEORGE III CHINESE LACQUER, BLACK AND GILT JAPANNED, AND PARCEL GILT COMMODE
The breakfront top with guilloche-carved giltwood banded edge above a conforming case with three frieze drawers over three deep drawers flanked by cabinet doors, on a moulded plinth base.
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT GEORGE III CHINESE LACQUER, BLACK AND GILT JAPANNED, AND PARCEL GILT COMMODE
The breakfront top with guilloche-carved giltwood banded edge above a conforming case with three frieze drawers over three deep drawers flanked by cabinet doors, on a moulded plinth base.
Provenance
Supplied by Thomas Chippendale to Edwin Lascelles (1713 – 1795), 1st Baron Harewood, for Harewood House, Yorkshire circa 1770 – 1772.
Thence by descent to George Henry Hubert Lascelles (1923-2011), 7th Earl of Harewood
Until sold, by orders of HRH The Princess Royal and The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Harewood.
Christie’s London, 28 June 1951, lot 75
Thence by descent to George Henry Hubert Lascelles (1923-2011), 7th Earl of Harewood
Until sold, by orders of HRH The Princess Royal and The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Harewood.
Christie’s London, 28 June 1951, lot 75
Stock number
T07.81
dimensions
More Details
Literature
Height: 35¹/₄ in (89.5 cm)
Width: 51³/₄ in (131.5 cm)
Depth: 22 in (56 cm)
Width: 51³/₄ in (131.5 cm)
Depth: 22 in (56 cm)
The Harewood House Commission
Around 1767, Edwin Lascelles (1713 – 1795), later 1st Baron Harewood, selected Thomas Chippendale (1718 – 1779) to furnish Harewood House, in what would become the most valuable commission of the cabinet-makers career – the contract exceeding £10,000 through the period 1767 – 1778. Under Lascelles’ patronage Chippendale enjoyed an unprecedented freedom, both in the execution and extravagance of his designs, which in turn fostered the flowering of his mature neo-classical style.
This rare commode is from an important group of four commodes supplied by Chippendale to Lascelles in the early 1770s, all of which were famously made with Chinese lacquer supplied by Lascelles himself. The commode can be identified in the full inventory compiled by Harewood House in 1795, and is further substantiated on a stylistic basis evidenced by the handle types and ‘carved enrichments’ which are used across pieces in the commission. While the 1795 inventory lists four Chinese lacquer commodes, the descriptions are not detailed enough to distinguish them from one another. Therefore, there are four possibilities for the location of this commode in Harewood House. Our commode is likely one of '2 Japan Commodes' listed in Lord Harewood's bedroom.
The Hareweood House lacquer commodes were sold in the Christies’ sale of 28 June 1951. Three of the commodes were sold subsequently from the collection of Sir James Horlick, Bt. Christie’s, 22 November 1973, lots 56. 57 and 58.
The State Bedroom Commode is now in the Gerstenfeld Collection in Washington DC. A close pair of commodes includes ours with the other being in a private collection in the USA. The final commode being that illustrated in Ronald Phillips, The Legacy of Thomas Chippendale, 2018, p. 158 -163 – assumed to be that from the Couch Room. The secrétaire à abbatant – only rediscovered some thirty years ago, is now in the collection at Temple Newsam, Leeds.
Around 1767, Edwin Lascelles (1713 – 1795), later 1st Baron Harewood, selected Thomas Chippendale (1718 – 1779) to furnish Harewood House, in what would become the most valuable commission of the cabinet-makers career – the contract exceeding £10,000 through the period 1767 – 1778. Under Lascelles’ patronage Chippendale enjoyed an unprecedented freedom, both in the execution and extravagance of his designs, which in turn fostered the flowering of his mature neo-classical style.
This rare commode is from an important group of four commodes supplied by Chippendale to Lascelles in the early 1770s, all of which were famously made with Chinese lacquer supplied by Lascelles himself. The commode can be identified in the full inventory compiled by Harewood House in 1795, and is further substantiated on a stylistic basis evidenced by the handle types and ‘carved enrichments’ which are used across pieces in the commission. While the 1795 inventory lists four Chinese lacquer commodes, the descriptions are not detailed enough to distinguish them from one another. Therefore, there are four possibilities for the location of this commode in Harewood House. Our commode is likely one of '2 Japan Commodes' listed in Lord Harewood's bedroom.
The Hareweood House lacquer commodes were sold in the Christies’ sale of 28 June 1951. Three of the commodes were sold subsequently from the collection of Sir James Horlick, Bt. Christie’s, 22 November 1973, lots 56. 57 and 58.
The State Bedroom Commode is now in the Gerstenfeld Collection in Washington DC. A close pair of commodes includes ours with the other being in a private collection in the USA. The final commode being that illustrated in Ronald Phillips, The Legacy of Thomas Chippendale, 2018, p. 158 -163 – assumed to be that from the Couch Room. The secrétaire à abbatant – only rediscovered some thirty years ago, is now in the collection at Temple Newsam, Leeds.
Connoisseur, May 1953 (advertised by Mallett)
The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair Handbook, 1953, illustrated with Mallett
C. Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, New York, 1976, vol. I, p. 197 and 205, vol. II, p. 123, fig. 218
L.G.G. Ramsay, ‘Chinoiserie in the Western Isles, The Collection of Sir James and Lady Horlick’, Connoisseur, June 1958, p. 6, fig. 13
The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair Handbook, 1953, illustrated with Mallett
C. Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, New York, 1976, vol. I, p. 197 and 205, vol. II, p. 123, fig. 218
L.G.G. Ramsay, ‘Chinoiserie in the Western Isles, The Collection of Sir James and Lady Horlick’, Connoisseur, June 1958, p. 6, fig. 13
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