Richard Courtney, Grosvenor House Fine Art & Antiques Fair, London, 1980
Literature
Christie’s, Furniture, Silver and Porcelain from Longleat (June 2002), lots 338
Coleridge, A. ‘Some Mid-Georgian Cabinet-Makers at Holkham’, Apollo, February 1964, p. 122-8
Goodman, Sharon. ‘The 9th Earl of Lincoln (1720-1794) and the refurbishment of Exchequer House, 10 Downing Street’, The British Art Journal, Vol. 18, No. 3, Winter 2017, pp. 3-7
Jackson-Stops, Gervase, ‘The Furniture at Petworth’, Apollo (May 1977), Vol. 105, No. 183, pp. 358-66
COMPARE
Pair of armchairs supplied by Saunders to the 3rd Viscount Weymouth, later 1st Marquess of Bath (1734-1796), for Longleat, Bath, sold Christie’s, 14th June 2002, £81,260 GBP
‘10 Elbow / chairs with carved and gilt / frames’ supplied by Saunders to the 1st Earl of Leicester (1697-1759) for Holkham Hall, Leicester, illus.Coleridge, A. ‘Some Mid-Georgian Cabinet-Makers at Holkham’, APOLLO, February 1964, p. 123, fig. 2
Armchairs from the suite attributed to Saunders, supplied to 1st Earl of Powis for Powis Castle (NT 1181050.1-3)
‘8 smaller French Elbow chairs...£40’, supplied by Saunders to the 2nd Earl of Egremont for Petworth House, Sussex (NT 485400.1-7)
A pair of George III walnut armchairs, the serpentine top rails above out-scrolling arms caved with shells, scrolls and acanthus, standing on four cabriole legs hipped at the knee and similarly carved, terminating in scroll toes.
Paul Saunders was one of the pre-eminent, most fashionable makers of upholstered seat furniture and tapestries of the eighteenth century, ranking alongside Thomas Chippendale. Holding Royal appointment as Yeoman Arras Worker to the Great Wardrobe and Yeoman Tapestry Taylor, amongst his illustrious clientele of aristocrats were the Earl of Leicester, the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Northumberland.
The present chairs can be firmly attributed to the upholder, tapissier and cabinet-maker Paul Saunders (1722-71) on account of their form and the carved ornamentation, which is unique to Saunders’ furniture in the 18th century.
The chairs recall Saunders’ documented work for Thomas, 3rd Viscount Weymouth, later 1st Marquess of Bath (1734-1796), for Longleat, comprising a suite of eight armchairs and two settees, covered by payments to Saunders of £556 15s. 0d. in November 1757 and £300. 0s. 0d. in November 1759, and for Thomas, 1st Earl of Leicester for Holkham Hall, comprising inter alia ‘10 Elbow / chairs with carved and gilt / frames’ for which ‘Mr. Saunders’ charged £74. 0s. 4d. on 11th June 1757, and his attributed work for Henry, 1st Earl of Powis for Powis Castle (NT 1181050.1-3), comprising an eight piece set of mahogany and parcel gilt seat furniture, comprising three armchairs, four side chairs and a settee.
The present armchairs are of highly comparable form to the Longleat, Holkham and Powis armchairs, featuring serpentine rectangular backs and out-pointing shaped arms carved on the terms with scrolls and on the supports with upspringing acanthus. The present chairs bear particular resemblance to the Longleat examples which do not feature carved rails and are raised on cabriole legs terminating in feet scrolled in the manner as the present chairs.
The present armchairs also share an identical carved motif with the suite of eight armchairs made by Saunders for the 2nd Earl of Egremont at Petworth House, Sussex (NT 485400.1-7), associated with the bill sent to the Earl’s executors in 1763 detailing ‘8 smaller French Elbow chairs...£40’. The present armchairs and those at Petworth feature identical shell-issuing-acanthus-leaf carving on the knees, in addition to upspringing acanthus on the arm supports as seen before. Like the Petworth chairs, the present examples are also constructed in walnut.
Elegant, refined and light, the chairs are designed in the French taste popularised by Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director. Saunders was a subscriber to the first edition (1754) and these chairs demonstrate the influence of this publication. Nonetheless, in their particular ornamentation these beautifully drawn and fluently carved chairs demonstrate Saunders’ unique, personal interpretation of the Rococo style.
Paul Saunders was one of the most fashionable upholders, tapissiers and cabinet-makers of the 1750s and 1760s, enjoying the patronage of the most high-profile aristocratic taste-makers of the mid eighteenth century as well as Royal appointment, from October 1757 as ‘Yeoman Arras Worker to the Great Wardrobe’, and from May 1761 as ‘Yeoman Tapestry Taylor’, holding the positions concurrently until his death in 1771.
Employing at least thirty-seven journeymen by 1755, a notice in the Public Advisor of 6th February 1755 records, Saunders’ firm was of comparable size to that of Chippendale, who likely employed around forty-four at this time.
In addition to Longleat, Holkham, Powis and Petworth, Saunders worked for Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh at Uppark House and for the Duke of Bedford at both Woburn Abbey and Bedford House. He was also employed in the furnishing of the newly-completed Mansion House, London and by Lord Lyttelton at Hagley Hall and Sir John Griffin Griffin at Audley End. Other clients included the Dukes of Cumberland, Norfolk and Northumberland and the Earls Spencer, Temple and of Scarborough, Albemarle and Darlington, Viscount Irwin and Sir Orlando Bridgeman. Of exceptional quality, the present chairs will have been supplied to one of Saunders’ important aristocratic clients, very possibly one those aforementioned.