This twin chair-back settee relates to seat-furniture by Chippendale’s contemporary, the cabinet-maker and ‘upholder’, Paul Saunders (1722-1771), supplied to the 1st Earl of Leicester for Holkham Hall, Norfolk between 1755-58. Saunders, with his business partner George Smith Bradshaw (1717-1812), took possession of William Bradshaw’s workshop at 59 Greek Street, Soho, in circa 1755, and acquired the stock and pattern books of the cabinet-maker. Richard Wright of Wright & Elwick of Wakefield (active from 1748) initially worked with Saunders as a director of ‘The Royal Soho Manufactory, Soho Square’. Thus, some of the carved motifs adopted by Bradshaw, Saunders and Wright & Elwick correspond. For example, a variation of a clasped acanthus motif found on the knees of chair legs is found on a set of four tapestry-covered armchairs probably supplied by Bradshaw, originally at Chesterfield House, London, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; on the aforementioned sets of chairs commissioned from Saunders for Holkham, and on a set of twelve mahogany dining chairs, possibly by Wright & Elwick, at Nostell Priory, Yorkshire, that relate to a set of dining-chairs from Kippax Park, Yorkshire, also thought to have been supplied by the firm (G. Beard, ‘Furniture Maker and Tapestry Weaver’, Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 37, 2002, p. 168, fig. 1; A. Coleridge, ‘Some Mid-Georgian Cabinet-Makers at Holkham’, Apollo, February, 1964, figs. 1 and 2; National Trust NT 959745; Moss Harris & Sons, The English Chair, London, 1946, p. 123, plate LI). The Nostell Priory chairs bear a comparable carved cartouche to that found on the seat-rails of the present settee. Intriguingly, the present settee bears the impressed initials ‘RW' although there is no evidence that Wright & Elwick stamped their furniture. A single chair almost certainly from the same suite is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (W.42-1947).
The Prescott Collection, which was sold at Christie's New York between November 1980 and January 1981, was one of the most important English furniture collections to be sold in the last quarter of the century. The sale consisted mostly of late 17th and 18th Century English furniture ranging from rare early stumpwork pieces, hangings and other small objects, to some exquisite pieces of Georgian walnut and mahogany furniture, including a George I burr-walnut bureau-bookcase, and a George I walnut and oak dressing-table, both of which were previously in the Percival Griffiths Collection.
PROPERTY OF THE LATE GEOFFREY AND THE HON. CAROLE LAWSON, STILEMANS, SURREY.
Geoffrey and Carole Lawson acquired Stilemans near Godalming, Surrey, in 1982. The house was built in 1909 and the gardens were landscaped and planted under the guidance of Gertrude Jekyll, whose own home Munstead was close by. The Lawsons engaged 'society’ decorator Dudley Poplak to create stylish and comfortable rooms within the house. Poplak was known for his flawless taste, empathy and discretion, and through his friendships with the best London dealers was always able to source for his clients the very best pieces for any project. Carole Lawson was the second daughter of Lord and Lady Samuel of Wych Cross, her father was an important collector of Dutch and Flemish paintings, donated to the Mansion House after his death, and the couple acquired much fine and important furniture so Carole grew up surrounded by great things.
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