The dentiled cornice centered by a broken pediment, above two pairs of geometrically-glazed doors carved with cabochons, foliage and shells, each enclosing four later adjustable shelves, the lower section with a pair of concave cut-corner paneled doors with patera-enriched corners, enclosing two marbled paper-lined sliding trays, flanked on each side by four graduated drawers on a plinth base, with S-pattern keyholes, the drawer fronts with plugged holes indicating the pulls are old replacements, with paper label on the interior inscribed in ink 'Shelf 5' and with a list of books, the trays labelled 'Sexeys School' and with other Somerset institutions, the reverse of the pediment with remains of 18th century nailed paper label
110 in. (279.4 cm.) high, 103¹⁄₂ in. (262.9 cm.) wide, 23 in. (58.4 cm.) deep

Possibly supplied to Henry Hobhouse (d. 1792) for his house in Bristol.
Moved to Hadspen, the family's country seat, when he purchased the estate in 1785. It was presumably fitted into an alcove at this time, but has subsequently been restored and returned to its present form.
Thence by descent in the family until sold by Niall Hobhouse, Esq., Hadspen House, Castle Cary, Somerset; Sotheby's, House Sale, 29-31 May 1996, lot 24.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 18 October 2001, lot 300.

A party with a direct interest in this lot and with material information regarding this lot may be bidding on this lot.

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie's Inc

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

The 'Hadspen' cabinet is executed in richly figured mahogany and is designed in the George II 'Roman' fashion, while its French 'picturesque' embellishments are in the 'Modern' style promoted by the St. Martin's Lane cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale (d.1779) in his celebrated pattern-book The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754. Patterns for its temple-pedimented and Ionic-dentilled cornice with vase or bust hollow, feature in his 'Library Bookcase' pattern (pl. LXVII); while that for its base, with 'commode' and recessed chest-of-drawers appeared in his 'Library Bookcase' pattern (pl. LXII). The drawers display 'picturesque' ormolu handles comprising shell-scalloped and foliated cartouches, while the commode doors are enriched with hollow-cornered and reed-mounted tablets that are flowered with Roman acanthus in the manner of one of Chippendale's 'Library Table' patterns (pl. LVII). The cabinet's novel 'gothic' glazing pattern, with triumphal-arched, cusped and pointed and acanthus-wrapped reeds, features in his 'Library Bookcase', pattern (pl. LXXI) as well as in his illustration of a lady's 'China Case' cabinet that he had executed around 1750 (pl. CVI). By the mid-eighteenth century, such cabinets were not only provided for the library, but also, as in the present case, for the lady's apartment, where it could display porcelain and serve as a clothes-chest.

The Hadspen drawers are fitted with unusual 'S-shaped' escutcheons, while its commode conceals sliding clothes-trays that are lined with 'Roman fashion' marbled paper. This coupled with the design affords us a possible attribution to Thomas Chippendale (d.1779). The same pattern of escutcheons feature on bookcases supplied by Chippendale to Sir Penistone Lamb for the Library at Brocket Hall in 1772-1775 (see C.Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol.II, figs.77, 80 and 267). They also appear on a clothes-press at Harewood House, Yorkshire that was supplied by Chippendale in the late 1760s (C.Gilbert, ibid., fig. 249). The ornament of this Harewood clothes-press relates in turn to Chippendale's 'desk and bookcases' pattern in the third edition of his Director, 1762 (pl. CVII); and this pattern, like the Hadspen cabinet, also featured a dentilled pediment and 'commode' doors with flowered tablets. Similar marbled paper covered trays are contained in a serpentine clothes-press that was supplied by Chippendale to Sir Rowland Winn in 1766 for Nostell Priory (C.Gilbert, ibid., figs. 245-247).