William Kent (1685-1748)

The Lennoxlove table demonstrates William Kent’s supremacy as one of England’s greatest designers of the Georgian Period. It reflects his learning, his experiences travelling on the Continent and his sense of theatre.

Margaret Jourdain in her 1948 monograph on Kent (The Work of William Kent), quotes Horace Walpole who wrote that the designer ‘was not only consulted for furniture, glasses, tables, chairs etc., but for plate, for a barge, for a cradle’¹. She notes that his ‘furniture is rich, florid, and monumental’, continuing that ‘Some examples of furniture by Kent are figured in Vardy’s Designs of Inigo Jones and Kent², and these, with authentic specimens at Houghton Hall and from Chiswick House, show some slight influence of Venetian work of the sixteenth century but an even more marked Kentian flavour. In these pieces the enrichments and carved mouldings are very large in scale, and large foliations, masks and demi-figures are freely used’³. These words neatly encompass the spirit and form of Kent’s work, his influence, if not actual participation, being strongly evident in the present table.

The inspiration on this arbiter of Anglo-Palladian taste was not limited to Vitruvius, Palladio and Inigo Jones and Venetian design. Kent's furniture and interiors draw on many styles and translate his experiences in Italy as a whole, he spent ten years there between 1709 and 1719 and was to write that he was 'continualy a drawing ornements & architecture & getting things yt I think will be neciseary for me in England [sic]' (Susan Weber, William Kent, London, 2014, p. 455 p. 449)⁴. The effect of the Italian and French Baroque models he encountered appears most readily in his furniture design and interior decoration. On his death the catalogue of his chattels lists five Italian console tables which Weber suggests may have served as models for his clients (Weber, op. cit., p. 451).

The design of the table whilst a reflection of Kent’s stylistic tendencies also shows a knowledge of the mythology of the Ancient world, considered themes which appear consistently through the great designer’s work. This symbolism would have appeared in the printed engravings he acquired in Italy (Weber, op. cit., p. 449) and were the same motifs evidenced in the work of other Palladian architects, designers and collaborators including Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753) at his London townhouse, Burlington House and his famous villa at Chiswick. The design incorporates, symbols of power and victory and attributes of Jupiter, the garlands of oak leaves are from a tree sacred to him, the lion mask is a beast who represented this King of the gods. This classical language would have been understood by Kent, his circle and his patrons.

Tables for Comparison

The original painted surface of grey/white with gilt-heightened carved detail on the Lennoxlove table was a decorative device much used by Kent. It would have been like the surface of a table illustrated by Weber (op. cit., p. 455, fig. 17.11). This table was designed by Kent for Wanstead House circa 1730 and is now at Wilton House in Wiltshire (along with other pieces from the 1822 sale) in the collects ion of the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery (inv. 0538). This table, whilst more substantial to support the weight of its marble top, also shares some of the design vocabulary of the present lot. It too, features a Vitruvian scroll frieze⁵ above a central mask, oak leaf festoons, similar scrolled back legs and ‘fishscale’ decoration. The curved ‘s-scroll’ leg seen on the Wilton table and the present lot also appears on other furniture from Wanstead including a settee and a banquette (Weber, op. cit., p. 454, fig. 17:10 and p. 457, fig. 17.16).

For a giltwood example with winged eagle front legs supporting festoons and the same flattened scrolled back legs, see the table designed by Kent for the Blue Velvet Room, Chiswick House, circa 1727-32 (Weber, op. cit., p. 495, fig. 18.37) now at Chatsworth. Weber writes that this table ‘introduces the winged-eagle monopodium in Kent’s work. He first conceived it in 1725 as a tailpiece for the Odyssey [Alexander Pope, 1725-26] although in the drawing two eagles with outstretched wings stand atop the slab. His winged-eagle innovation became one of the most fashionable themes for console tables in the 1730s and 1740s’ (Weber, op. cit., p. 496).

A table from Ditchley, similar to that conceived for Chiswick, now in the collects ion of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (W.6:1, 2-1933) is worthy of comparison. It too features superbly executed eagles supporting foliate festoons either side of a central device to the frieze. William Kent and Henry Flitcroft both worked at Ditchley Park for George Henry Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield, between about 1736 and 1740. The V&A attribute the design of this table to Henry Flitcroft, ‘The light, feminine nature of its design suggests that the base of the table is the work of Flitcroft not Kent’ (retrieved 25/05/21, https://collects ions.vam.ac.uk/item/O79043/side-table/).

See a carved giltwood console table designed by Kent at Houghton (circa 1730), generally given to the esteemed carver James Richards. This table features oak leaf festoons and similar reserves of ‘fishscale’ too (Weber, op. cit., p. 453, fig. 17.8).

James Richards (d.1759)

The important and costly nature of the commissions for William Kent’s patrons meant that the most eminent woodcarvers and cabinetmakers of his day were used to realise his designs, these included Benjamin Goodison, John Bosun and James Richards.

Close comparison of the quality and fluidity of the carving of the eagle figures, the central mask, the decorative detail of the back legs and the construction of the supporting frame, can be made with similarly designed and conceived tables associated with Kent and Richards.

For a documented group of tables by Kent which were executed by Richards see those at Raynham Hall, Norfolk⁶. There is a table which makes a very good comparison, it is structured in the same way, that is with a shallow frieze above a mask with festoons and foliage and scrolled legs (Weber, op. cit., p. 99, fig. 18.42). Interestingly this table was designed for the State Dining Room and was conceived to be white painted and gilt like the Lennoxlove table was originally. Richard’s bill was as follows 'A Table frame under the glas frame, wth 4 Truses, a piece of ornamt in ye frint wth a head, Cornucopias of fruit and flowers, foliage in the front and Ends with the moldings carved £9.11.6d' (Weber, op. cit., p. 499).

Whilst not.mes ntioned in an extant bill also there is another table in the 'Belisarius' Room at Raynham, of the same date with oak leaf festoons, hung from a frieze of relief carved classical decoration, which are united by a central lion mask within a cartouche (Weber, op. cit., p. 462, fig. 17.24). The high quality of the carving is like that on the present table and the similarity is striking.

The Lennoxlove table appears to be a hybrid of these two tables at Raynham. The form of the first and with the carved details of the latter.

James Richards (fl. 1721-d.1759) succeeded Grinling Gibbons to the important post of 'Master Sculptor and Carver in Wood’ to the Board of Works in 1721 and according to Geoffrey Beard ‘becoming one of the most accomplished carvers of the Palladian years, working in particular for Colen Campbell and William Kent’⁷. Little is known of his early years, his first recorded commission being on the Rolls House in Chancery Lane where he worked under the direction of the architect Colen Campbell. Other commissions from Campbell included Compton Place and Burlington House, continuing to work for Kent in the service of Lord Burlington, and at Houghton and Mereworth until Campbell’s death in 1729. In 1726 Kent was appointed to the position of ‘Master Carpenter to the Board of Works’, in which capacity he was undoubtedly in a position to use Richards’ talents as a master carver. Richards carried out carving work at Kew for Frederick, Prince of Wales in the early 1730s, a payment of £467 13s 5 ¾ d being received in 1733 for carving settees, chairs and frames, chimneypieces and architraves. A chair of state carved by Richards for Frederick Prince of Wales included in the 1733 accounts has a scrolled frame finely carved with imbrication, with a bearded mask centered below the seat, at a cost of £12 ⁸. One of Richards’ most spectacular surviving commissions is the exceptional carving he carried out in 1732 for the Royal Barge for the Prince of Wales. The barge reflects the success of their partnership with Kent’s immense talents as a designer in his most extravagant style translated by Richards into a fantasy world of a small palace richly ornamented with fully sculptured mermaids, dolphins and other creatures of the sea.

A Possible Connection with Wanstead House

Wanstead House, Essex was one of the great houses of the 18th century. The estate was already famous in the 17th century because of the alterations and improvements made by the owner Sir Josiah Child, Baronet, who had acquired Wanstead in 1673. His second son and eventual heir was Sir Richard Child, Baronet, (1679-1743), subsequently from 1731, Earl Tylney of Castlemaine. Colen Campbell was commissioned by Lord Tylney to build what was to be a monumental Palladian house. It is illustrated in the first edition of Vitruvius Britannicus in 1715. The interiors and many of the furnishings were designed by Kent and installed over a 15 year period from 1720.

The 1st Earl was succeeded by his son John, (b.1712). He died without issue in 1784 and was in turn succeeded by his nephew Sir James Long, Baronet, of Draycot, Wiltshire, who took the name of Tylney-Long. His daughter Catherine inherited in 1805 with an enormous income of £25,000 per annum and £300,000 in cash. In 1812 she married the nephew of the Duke of Wellington, the Hon. William Wellesley-Pole (1788-1857), who later became 4^th Earl of Mornington in 1845.

Following the marriage, the grand mansion, neglected for nearly half a century was refurbished at great expense and large additional sums were spent on furniture and works of art in order that it might reflect the social aspirations of its new owners. Unfortunately, the price of his political ambition and general extravagance led him to squander his wife's immense fortune and the sale of the house and contents became unavoidable and took place in 1822.

This auction was to become one of the most famous sales of its type of the 19th century, it was conducted by the celebrated auctioneer Mr Robins of Regent Street. The sale commenced on Monday 10^th June and proceeded for 32 days until Tuesday 23^rd July when it finished with the emptying of outbuildings, yards and dog kennels⁹. The sale catalogue, which unusually for the t.mes gives remarkably elaborate and full descriptions, lists the eleven rooms on the Principal Grand Floor from the Green Damask Sitting Room and the Red Damask State Bedchamber to the Grand State Apartments of Hall, Dining Room, Drawing Room, Salon and Ball Room.

From the catalogue we can tell that the interiors were sumptuously furnished with fine French furniture, objects and ceramics together with Kentian furniture which included no less than 15 giltwood console or pier tables.

The assertion that the present table came from Wanstead is not solely based upon its Palladian and Kentian design and through comparison with other pieces from the house, but through a description in the catalogue for lot 24 on the 2nd day (of 32) of that sale, when the contents of the Crimson Damask State Bedroom were offered. The catalogue entry is as follows:

'A grand massive carved and gilt frame pier table, top lined with crimson Genoa velvet, and beautiful carved border supported by costly spread eagles on square moulded plinths, with lion's head and shield ornaments in the centre, decorated with oak leaf and acorn festoons. 5 feet 3 wide.^10'

The reference in the Wanstead catalogue to a velvet lined top is interesting and would have been designed in conjunction with the general scheme of the room. It would explain the relatively delicate construction of the table frame as it did not need to support a heavy slab. The later supports to hold the current top potentially further the likelihood that this is the Wanstead table.

Considering Provenance

The Jervoise family and Herriard Park, the designation from the 1966 sale at Replica Shoes 's should not be discounted as there is a slight possibility the piece may have been commissioned by the Jervoise family or indeed that it was acquired by a member of that family from the Wanstead sale. Herriard Park was designed by John James (1673–1746) at the behest of Thomas Jervoise (1667-1743). Building started in 1703 and the house was complete by 1707. Herriard was eventually inherited in 1794 by George Purefoy Jervoise (1770-1847) who set about altering the house and its associated buildings between 1792 and 1805 although his improvements continued at the house until circa 1825 ¹².

Harriard Park was demolished in 1965 and in the July of that year Country Life published a piece on the house, showing its atmospheric exterior and interior¹³. Christopher Hussey wrote his article as an 'obituary record' of the house and he also touched upon the dispersal of the contents, referring to 'a great deal of notable furniture of about 1750'. Some of the pieces are in a Kentian style (see a mirror with Herriard Park provenance, sold Christie's London, 15 November 2017, lot 19). Also see a distinct pedimented bookcase, in the manner of William Kent, illustrated in situ at Herriard Park in 1965^14.

^{1. Margaret Jourdain, The Work of William Kent, London, 1948, p. 82, quoting from Walpole's, Anecdotes on Painting (ed. Wornum), 1849, Vol. III, p. 778.}

^{2. John Vardy (d.1765) was an architect and associate of Kent. In London in 1744 he published, Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and William Kent.}

^{3. Jourdain, ibid, p. 82.}

^{4. Kent's creative output was heavily influenced by his t.mes in Italy (c.1710-1719) funded by an early sponsor Sir William Wentworth. It was in Rome that he was to meet Lord Burlington with whom he is so famously associated (Jourdain, ibid., p. 26).}

^{5. The Vitruvian scroll was a much favoured choice by Kent for mouldings, particularly as a defining course of decoration with a design, see Weber, op. cit., p. 465 and Chatsworth, The Attic Sale, 5th September 2010, see lots 82, 108, 109, 144, 199.}

^{6. Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (1674–1738) commissioned William Kent to undertake alterations to Raynham Hall, Norfolk between 1725 to 1732.}

^{7. Geoffrey Beard, The Burlington Magazine, ‘Some English wood-carvers’, October 1985, pp. 686 -694 (pp. 691-692, James Richards).}

^{8. Harris Lindsay Works of Art, Catalogue, 'A Chair of State by James Richards', London, 2002, pp. 22-24, .}

^{9. [George] Robins, A Catalogue of the Magnificent and Costly Furniture of the Princely Mansion, Wanstead House [...], 10 June 1822 and the following 31 days, p. 38.}

^{10. Ibid., p. 38.}

^{11. Ibid., p. 154, there were though a number of marble tops offered separately to bases in the sale.}

^{12. Sally Jeffery, Architectural History, 'John James and George London at Herriard: Architectural Drawings in the Jervoise of Herriard collects ion', 1985, Vol. 28 (1985), pp. 40-70.}

^{13. Christopher Hussey, Country Life, 'Herriard Park', Hampshire, 1 July 1965, p. 18-22. Hussey writes 'There used to be a good deal of notable furniture of about 1750, most of which has been, and is still being, sold at Replica Shoes 's' (p. 22).}

^{14. Ibid., p. 20, fig. 7.}