The present chandelier is executed in the distinctive style of Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), perhaps the greatest German architect and designer of the nineteenth century and the leading arbiter of national aesthetic taste in his lifetime. Carlton Hobbs LLC   Schinkel studied architecture with the brilliant Friedrich Gilly (1798-1800) and at Berlin’s Academy of Architecture (1800-02), although much of his early career was occupied in gaining a reputation as a painter. After a number of years in Italy and some time in France, he returned to Berlin in 1805 where he turned more seriously to architecture. By 1815 he had risen to become Chief Architect of the Prussian Department of Works, executing many commissions for Frederick William III and other members of the royal family. Detail Schinkel’s designs were affected by the Gothic architecture he saw on his cultural tour through Austria, Italy and Germany between 1803 and 1805, a style which “represented the great counterweight to the intellectual and formal heritage of classical antiquity,” and “[offered] a more expressive and spiritual alternative to the antique ideal.” His early romantic inclination towards mediaevalism informed his ability to transform traditional Gothic forms into original compositions, as seen in both his architectural works and decorative arts designs. Figure 1a Figure 1b This example is related to chandeliers in both the Rotes Zimmer (Red Room) (figure 1a) and the Stickereizimmer (Embroidery Room) (figure 1b) at Schloss Fischbach, Silesia, for which Schinkel provided drawings and plans for the remodeling 1838. Similar chandeliers also hang in the Marmorsaal of Schloss Rosenau, Bavaria, which Schinkel redecorated in the Gothic Revival style between 1808 and 1817 as a summer residence for Duke Ernst I of Sachsen- Coburg-Saalfeld (figure 2). Figure 2 The chandelier is a particularly notable interpretation of the Gothic Revival taste, fluently combining as it does, motifs and forms which are unrelated to the idiom: the chains are most unusually rendered as naturally formed floral pendants, while the pierced panels set within the carrying ring, corona and main body evoke classical rinceaux, much in the manner of Schinkel. A further classicizing feature is the double-scrolling candle arms, which again can be found in Schinkel’s furniture and lighting oeuvre. Plate 54 in Johannes Sievers Die Möbel depicts a chair and sofa after a design by Schinkel employing this scroll motif (figure 3), while Plate 239 illustrates a chandelier whose candle arms are similarly scrolled (figure 4). Figure 3 Figure 4 This clever handling of opposing styles within a single object certainly indicates that the authorship of the design emanates from the pen of a highly-trained architect such as Schinkel himself or an accomplished contemporary, and its grand scale points to it having been commissioned for an important palatial scheme.

This pair of tables, with their boldly canted corners and massive fluted legs, have a distinctive cubic parquetry top very much in the manner of Henry Hill of Marlborough.  As Lucy Wood points out, “large-scale lozenge parquetry… seems to have been a specialty of Hill’s, with or without the addition of marquetry,” signaling his possible authorship of the tables. Carlton Hobbs LLC The tables are also interesting for their mix of carved decorative elements. The first table combines flowerheads redolent of William Kent’s Palladian oeuvre with a Chinoiserie fretted frieze evocative of Thomas Chippendale’s designs, particularly Plate LXXIII of The Gentleman and Cabinetmaker’s Director.   Plate LXXIII of Thomas Chippendale’s Gentlemen and Cabinetmaker’s Director, depicting a table with canted corners and similar Chinoiserie fretted frieze.   The second table is of the same size and outline, and has exactly the same cube parquetry top. However, within this framework it departs from the eclectic detailing of the first table, being a pure rendering of the early flowering of the Neoclassical style in England. The legs and frieze are entirely fluted, with each leg being headed by a finely carved oval patera. The two opposing styles within an identical framework can be seen as a testament to Henry Hill’s abilities as a most versatile and accomplished cabinetmaker. Detail of the top   Hill’s career was not limited to that of cabinetmaker, however. Active between 1740 until the time of his death in 1778, he was also a coach maker, auctioneer, estate agent, and representative for the Sun Insurance Company.2 Most of his clients were landed Wiltshire families, though he was also commissioned by non-local patrons such as Sir John Delaval, who ordered a number of pieces from Hill in 1775-6 for his London home. Carlton Hobbs LLC  

Carlton Hobbs, LLC is once again looking forward to exhibiting at the Masterpiece Fair in London, which opens at the Royal Hospital Chelsea next week, and we are very excited this year to be showing a group of works created abroad for the English and Continental markets. A careful blend of tradition and exoticism in these pieces is expressed in the combination of European forms with construction techniques unique to their native regions, namely the British colonies of East Asia and South America.

An extremely rare set of twelve George II carved walnut dining chairs, circa 1740, likely represents the largest extant group of chairs ordered in the Treaty port of Canton (present day Guangzhou) in the first half of the 18th century. While the design of the set represents the earliest model in the development of Chinese export chairs, taking the basic Queen Anne form of a shaped backsplat and cabriole legs, the construction of the chairs is distinctly Chinese with the carved motifs of an exotic character. The style of carving is closely related to an export cabinet in the Cophenhagen Museum of Art and Design, documented along with a set of twelve chairs in the “English fashion,” making it tempting to hypothesize that these chairs formed part of the same commission.

To the south, Chinese craftsmen created European-influenced furniture of great originality in the Straits Settlements, established by the British East India Company in the Malaccan Straits circa 1826. A rare carved teakwood breakfront on view with Carlton Hobbs represents the variety of Straits Chinese furniture modeled on, or related to, English designs dating from the 16th through the 19th centuries. Although these pieces were clearly Anglicized, their Chinese origins are recognizable by the type of wood used, construction methods and Eastern decorative motifs, which include carved openwork of Asian inspired foliate designs and vases. Although wealthy Chinese patrons generally did not have a taste for European-inspired pieces, the Straits Chinese were an exception, becoming “enthusiastic customers” of the Anglicized furniture.

Along with furniture forms, colonial artists also emulated the European style of portraiture, but often with strong references to their own traditions and subjects. An extremely rare painting of a black artist completing a portrait of a white female aristocrat represents this fusion of metropole and indigenous concepts. The painting, possibly executed in Brazil, speaks to position and integration of slaves in 18th century society. Here, the artist is dressed in an antiquated, fanciful costume and wears an earring, silver collar and arm cuff, denoting his servants/slave status. Usually, black male figures appear in portraits of this period in attendance to their masters, serving as status symbols, however, in the case of this painting, the relationship is indicated in a unique and far less subservient manner. The origin of the painting is as yet uncertain, however, strong clues exist as witnessed in the urban landscape seen through the window in the painting. The tiled roofs of this lively and distinctive reddish-pink color are specific to Portugal and colonial Brazil, which was under Portuguese rule until 1822. The slave population in Brazil was the largest in the world, and spanned four centuries, however slaves in this country experienced a less severe lifestyle than those in other parts of the world.   Carlton Hobbs’ New York office will be open as usual from for the duration of the Fair, +1 212 423 9000. Additionally, Carlton and Stefanie can be reached directly at +1 347-603-3441 or at +1 646-710-0777, or by emailing Stefanie at stefanie@carltonhobbs.com. Carlton Hobbs’ London showroom is located at 16 Bloomfield Terrace, off Pimlico Road and can be viewed any time by appointment.

Carlton Hobbs LCC   This unusual, mahogany and boxwood inlaid George III elliptical side table is a 19th century English adaptation of the French console-desserte, a form akin to the sideboard used in dining rooms from the 18th century. Figure 1 depicts a Directoire elliptical mahogany console-desserte similar in design to the present table, with open shelves divided by tapering posts.  

Figure 1 The elliptical and demi-lune form was first introduced in the late 18th century as part of the resurgence of interest in the art and architecture of ancient Rome, which characterized neoclassicism. It embodies the taste propagated by English designers Robert Adam, George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton, and provided by such cabinetmakers as Gillows of London and Lancaster and William Gates. A Sheraton mahogany open-shelf console in figure 2, circa 1800, provides an English example of this type of console table.

Figure 2

Carlton Hobbs LLC The design of this pair of carved faux bronze and faux porphyy torchères, possibly by Thomas Chippendale the Younger, is composed of an inventive synthesis of diverse classical elements and is strongly characteristic of the English Regency style. The form derives from the ancient Roman lamp-stand, or candelabrum, and combines elements from both bronze and marble examples of these lighting devices. Although the shapes varied, the basic elements of a candelabrum were predominantly the same, consisting of a base, a shaft and a top support. Early bronze versions usually included a base in the form of three animal feet; a shaft, slender and often fluted; and a top support, usually consisting of a socket for holding a candle or a plinth on which to place a lamp (figure 1a). Marble candelabra were formed of the same components, but were much more substantial and elaborate in decoration (figure 1b). Figure 1A: Bronze lampstand from Pompeii. 1st century B.C-1st century A.D. Ufficio Scavi, Pompeii. Figure !B: Roman candelabrum, 1st century-2nd century A.D. (18th century restorations). Lady Lever Art Gallery. The present torchères can be attributed to the celebrated furniture-designer and cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale the Younger, who was engaged at Harewood House, the great Yorkshire mansion built between 1759 and 1771 by a combination of the architects John Carr and Robert Adam. The Younger’s commission followed the succession of Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood in 1812, when a number of schemes of redecoration were undertaken. His father, Thomas Chippendale the Elder, had been employed at Harewood beginning in the late 1760s in one of his largest commissions, and Chippendale the Younger may have designed some of the pieces produced by his father’s firm. The Younger’s interest was scholarly and antiquarian in character, drawing inspiration from the models and motifs of classical antiquity which were gaining a wider currency in England through works such as Charles Heathcote Tatham’s Etchings of Ancient Ornamental Architecture drawn from the Originals in Rome and Other Parts of Italy during the years 1794, 1795, and 1796, first published in 1800. He was greatly influenced by the French neoclassical style of Louis XVI, and summarized his designs in his publication of Sketches of Ornament (1779). Chippendale was praised by contemporary designer George Smith for his “great degree of taste, with great ability as a draughtsman and designer,” and was one of the leading figures in the neoclassical revival that dominated the cultural expression of the early nineteenth century. Detail of base. Carlton Hobbs LLC. The bold lion paw feet of the present base are a recurrent motif in Regency design, revived from ancient prototypes popularized by the engravings of the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi (d.1778) and plaster replicas obtained by the architect Sir John Soane (d.1837) for his London mansion/museum. The faux-bronze bas-relief trophies are composed of crossed thyrsic wands below ribbon-tied wreaths of ivy. The thyrsus, a symbol of fertility, is a staff topped with a pinecone and wound with ivy vines and leaves, carried by Dionysus and his followers. These, like the lion, evoke festivities in antiquity and the triumphs of the wine-deity. The reed-enriched and palmette-decorated pillars are enhanced by a meandering decoration at the top and base of the shaft, a motif that appears in painted representations of Dionysus in the form of vines. The faux porphyry plinths and sphinx monopodiae reflect the concurrent Egyptian fashion of the time, encouraged by the publication of Vivant Denon’s Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypt (Paris, 1802). The sphinxes are closely related to ormolu examples found on a pair of candlesticks in the collection of Philip Hewat-Jaboor possibly made by the Paris bronzier Lefèvre circa 1802 (figure 2). This model, which appears as Plate XLIX in Household Furniture (figure 3), was probably an original French prototype of circa 1802, acquired by Hope in Paris, which he then had copied in London Figure 2: Pair of candlesticks after a design by Thomas Hope, circa 1802. Private collection. This exceptionally sophisticated pair of torchères is identical to a pair in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Inventory Nos. W.27-1951 and W.27A-1951). The latter also originally formed part of the collection of Lascelles. It has been speculated by the Victoria and Albert Museum that their pair of torchères may date from circa 1795. This opinion may have to be reviewed, as it seems certain that the distinctive sphinxes that support the shafts are modeled on Hope’s drawing in Household Furniture of 1807. Furthermore, the decorative vocabulary overall seems far more in line with fully developed Regency design ideas. Figure 3: Household Furniture (1807), pl. XLIX.

The present clock possibly combines the decorative talents of gifted 18th century artisans, namely Josiah Wedgwood and Matthew Boulton. Collaboration of this type occurred often; jasperware was mounted with cut-steel to make toys (the 18th century term for small, personal items) and furniture and decorative objects were mounted with jasperware. The neoclassic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries bore patrons of the arts with a taste dictated by antiquity, and the mounts of the clock, its shape and finial, uphold this neoclassical ideal.

Though Wedgwood produced large medallions, he set upon the market with smaller and more ornamental jasperware. His cameos and buttons, as they were called, were supplied for mounting to firms in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Woodstock, the chief centers of cut-steel production. One Birmingham manufacturer of steel toys was the industrialist Matthew Boulton. Boulton was both friend and business rival of Josiah Wedgwood and he framed Wedgwood cameos in steel for sword-hilts, buckles, and jewelry at his Soho factory. Dr. Anthony North, former Assistant Curator for the Metalwork, Silver and Jewellery Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has said of the present clock that “the mounts are clearly Wedgwood and Boulton – compelling factor in attributing the actual clock to Soho is the Neoclassical form and the curious steel feet, which are obviously Soho work.” In the late 1700s, Wedgwood’s pottery was adapted for the purpose of creating interesting furnishings; he produced a number of urns and vases with clock faces, as the fashion at the time was for fancy clocks of all forms, and “Wedgwood jasper decorations were used on some clocks in other media during the late eighteenth century.” Benjamin Vullimay, a Swiss watch and clock maker working in Britain, fitted several of his clocks with Wedgwood cameos. Vuillamy’s clocks did not utilize the same cut-steel frames, but could nevertheless employ up to a dozen craftsmen with different areas of specialization. It is interesting to note that one clock, while it lacks a Wedgwood plaque, maintains a similarly austere shape and is topped with a related urn finial (Figure 1). It is probable that the maker of the present clock moved in the same production circles as Wedgwood, Boulton, and Vulliamy. Figure 1 Another related clock belongs to the Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery Joseph Collection (Figure 2). This table clock is decorated with cut-steel and blue Wedgwood medallions. The reliefs of the jasper medallions on the front of the Nottingham clock are also“ classical in subject and the medallions on the side are of the same design as those at the bottom front corner of the [present] clock.” Similarities also extend to a strongly comparable clock face, urn-form finals and a plinth base resting on four cut-steel feet. Figure 2

This cabinet, with its Grecian temple-pediment and stepped plinth, was designed to serve as a shrine for the display of a number of smaller items from Thomas Hope’s collection of Etruscan and Greek cinerary urns. “Despite the fact that it has no documented history, it seems logical to speculate that this small-scale, idiosyncratic, and beautifully manufactured piece,…originally formed part of Thomas Hope’s furnishings at Duchess Street.” The projecting pilasters of its façade are hollowed with small arched recesses, while a shelf divides its central compartment. Its form resembles that of antique marble cippuschests, such as featured in an engraving of a “Roman columbarium (a chamber likened to a dovecot) for the reception of cinerary urns” illustrated in Hope’s Costume of the Ancients, 1812 (figure 1). Its pediment and arched corner acroteria are finely sculpted with whorled tendrils of acanthus foliage issuing anthemia. The latter “bas-reliefs” would have echoed the painted ornament of the red and black Etruscan and Greek terracotta vases, with which the niches were filled.

Figure 1

The cabinet was illustrated in Household Furniture where it appeared in the arched chimney-piece recess of the Third Vase Room, while a separate line-drawing showed it furnished with a total of nineteen items (figure 2). The latter served as a pattern- book for the antiquities and furnishings introduced since 1799 with assistance from the architect Charles Heathcote Tatham (d.1842). In his description, Hope noted that with its “Recesses,” it resembled the “….ancient [Grecian] hypogea, or niches for cinerary urns, destined for the reception of small sepulchral vases.” The “Vase Rooms” at Duchess Street were a series of four rooms that contained Hope’s vast collection of Greek vases.

Figure 2

Rather than display the vessels in one large gallery, the small rooms provided more intimate settings for these pieces, akin to the tombs in which they were found (figure 3). Amongst his collection of “Greek Fictile Vases” were some that he had acquired in 1801 from the second collection of Sir William Hamilton (d.1803), who had assembled them during his service as George III’s Special Envoy to the court at Naples.

Figure 3

Some of Hope’s finest furniture was probably executed by the Flemish sculptor Peter Bogaert, who appears to have been assisted by the sculptor Francis Chantrey (d.1841) in the early years of the 19th century. Bogaerts’ merits as a carver were noted by George Smith in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, (1826), where it was recorded that he was “equally happy in his designs for furniture and other branches of interior decoration.” Bogaert also traded in partnership with silversmith Paul Storr (d.1844) as carvers and gilders of Air  Street, when they supplied carved furniture in 1807 for the palatial Carlton House residence of George Prince of Wales, later George IV.

This hanging cabinet forms part Philip Hewat-Jaboor’s collection of Regency furniture and decorative objects by Thomas Hope, and will be featured in out upcoming exhibition, Inspired By Antiquity, which will run from January 20 – February 18, 2011.

We’ve had a very interesting find recently regarding this center table from the Octagon, of the Garden Pavilion, Buckingham Palace, London.

The table, which appears to be the work of the celebrated firm of royal decorators George Morant and Sons, is of giltwood with the striking decorative form of three female monopodia joined by their outstretched wings which support the circular table top. Scrolling acanthine carving supports the body of each figure, running into the muscular form of the single zoomorphic upright terminating in a powerful claw foot, standing on a shaped triform base with concave sides. The table was illustrated in Ludwig Grüner’s The Decorations of the Garden Pavillion in the Grounds of Buckingham Palace, 1846 (below).

The decorative motifs of the table are taken from ancient Greek and Roman prototypes, including the grotesque female figures, claw foot monopod, acanthus leaves, the egg and  dart molding of the tabletop and waterleaf and tongue molding of the plinth. Earlier this week we discovered a drawing of a Greek basin from the Farnese museum with striking similarities to our table in Recueil des monumens les plus intéressans du Musée Royal-Bourbon et de plusieurs autres collections particulières (1845) by Raffaele Gargiulo. In this piece, three winged female monopodia with acanthine decoration support a basin, with similar moldings to the rim and triform base. While the separate decorative elements have well-known origins in antiquity, it was very exciting to see them all come together in the rendering of an ancient object- and one with such similarities in design to a piece of are own!

This pair of armchairs formed part of a suite which furnished the State Room on the first floor of the Archduke Karl’s Palace in Vienna (now the Albertina).  Archduke Karl (1771-1847), brother of Emperor Franz I, inherited the Palace from his uncle Duke Albert of Saxony Teschen in 1822, together with its famous collection of drawings and etchings.  He immediately embarked upon its extensive redecoration, and after the project’s completion the Palace was regarded as one of the most tasteful and glamorous in Vienna.

In his guide to Vienna of 1832, Franz von Sickingen placed particular emphasis on the State Room which contained the present chairs: “…the green sitting room leads on to the State Room where the wall covers are woven of red satin with gold floral bouquets after a French pattern by the local silk weaver, Hornpostel… The walls as well as all the armchairs are covered in the same material; the frames are gilt throughout and are decorated with delicate carving…” Photographs taken at the turn of the century depict the two armchairs in situ at the Palace, where they remained until its nationalization in February, 1920.  When the Palace became the home of the Austrian State Collection of Graphics and Design, part of its furniture was moved to Trauston Palace in Hungary and later divided up amongst the Austrian Archducal family.  Other pieces were auctioned in 1933 through the auction house Kende.  The inventories compiled to facilitate the dispersal of the contents show that there were originally twelve armchairs of the present model, which were grouped around three different sofas.  One pair of armchairs from this set of twelve today forms part of the furniture collection of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna.

The suite in situ in the state room at the Albertina, Vienna.

Joseph Ulrich Danhauser supplied all the furniture for the new interior of the Karl Palace.  The Danhauser factory was the most important Viennese manufacturer of the period, supplying highly discerning clients throughout the Austrian Empire and beyond.  His authorship of the Karl Palace suite is confirmed by a surviving drawing for the armchairs, a reproduction of which has been preserved in the Austrian National Library 9.

Design for armchair, Biedermeier, probably by Josef Danhauser for Weilburg in Baden. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Bildarchiv.

Danhauser trained in sculpture at the Vienna Academy and in 1808 and received the k.k. Landesfabriks-Privilegium for the production of gilded, silvered and bronzed objects.  He drew on an 18th century tradition, derived from Italy, of using delicately gilded wood carvings rather than gilt-bronze.  In 1814 he expanded his business, taking the unprecedented step of requesting ‘permission to be allowed to use the title of Royal Warrant Furniture Maker,’  This enabled him to break Vienna’s restrictive guild system and bring together the skills of carving, joining, gilding and upholstering within his own firm.  Indeed, Danhauser’s historical significance today relates both to his Royal commissions and the pioneering way in which he organized his business. The unupholstered chair frame.

These chairs, along with a number of other special pieces, will be featured in our booth at the upcoming inaugural Masterpiece London antiques fair. The show is being held at the former Chelsea Barracks, and promises to be “an inter-disciplinary fusion of traditional and modern.” If you happen to be in London between June 24-29, stop by to visit! A special thanks to Dr. Christian Witt-Dörring for his help in preparing this research.

This English work table, circa 1815, is a curious fusion of the refined neoclassicism of Robert Adam and the exotic eclecticism which emerged during the Regency period.  The finely carved tri-form giltwood stand, based on a Roman form, is typical of Adam’s adaptation of the antique.

The use of composition was also favoured by Adam since, as with the present piece, it lends itself perfectly to the delicate decoration of this inventive version of the neoclassical.  In contrast, the use of faux bronze decoration applied to the composition, and the decorative use of rosewood in conjunction with gilt ornament are more typical features of Regency furniture.  Furthermore, it was also a Regency characteristic to employ finely tooled scarlet leather, such as that fitted to the interior of this piece.

The present piece can be closely compared to a ladies’ work table in Buckingham Palace which, although officially attributed to the London firm Morgan and Sanders,  is widely believed to be Viennese.  The piece in the Royal Collection has similarly outswept legs with hooved feet and a tri-orm plinth.  Although Morgan and Sanders patented a ‘globe’ library table in 1810, in which the two upper quarters of the globe could be let down to reveal a writing surface above a storage well, the globe work table was essentially a Viennese development.  Surviving Viennese designs by Karl Schmidt  depict models with a hemispherical flat top.

This chair belongs to a group of seating furniture known as “Vierlander” chairs.

These chairs originated in Prussia in the 18th century in the province of Vierlande in northern Germany, southeast of Hamburg. The area, populated by provincial craftsmen, was agriculturally rich and these chairs are “characterized by their intricate inlay of local woods.” The chairs customarily  commemorate important family occasions, such as a birth or marriage. In the latter case, there would be a pair of such pieces, with the bride and groom each “[having] a chair made for the installation of the new house.” The family name and date of the ceremony was inlaid in marquetry, along with figural and floral decoration.

The present chair is inlaid with various flora and fauna that carry symbolic meanings. A single dove with an olive branch, as well as a pair of kissing doves, are represented to signify love and peace. There are four cornucopias symbolizing fertility and abundance, as well as acorns, which, as the seed of the oak, denotes growth and potential in addition to fertility and life. In his 1892 volume  The Boy Travellers in Norther Europe, Thomas Wallace Knox illustrates a scene in which Vierlander chairs are described:

In the lower rooms of the house we saw several chairs bearing names and dates, and I asked Mrs. B what they were. “I ought to have told you, my dear,’ said she,’ that it is the custom in Vierlande, whenever a wedding takes place, for the bride and bridegroom to have chairs made, one for each, bearing their names and the date of the wedding. The chairs are of the same pattern, as you see in this pair, but the bride’s chair is made a little lower than that of the bridegroom, to indicate that the husband is the superior and the wife sits below him.’ “I looked at the pair of chairs we were considering and also at several other pairs, and found that what she said was correct. In every instance the bride’s chair was about an inch lower than the other, and it was also more delicately made. I wonder if this is intended to show that the bride is more refined in nature than the strong-limbed and coarse-looking husband, such as Vierlande husbands are?”

Something to ponder when you next sit down…

Tula is an industrial city in Russia, most famous for it’s production of applied arts in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The craftsmen of Tula became renowned for their production of objects in steel following Peter the Great’s relocation of the Imperial State Armoury to the town in 1712. The workshops of Tula began to manufacture domestic objects in steel soon after moving to the town, adapting the experience and techniques acquired in the creation of fine quality arms. The master craftsmen of the town worked either in the imperial workshops, from where they could also undertake their own commissions, or in private manufactories, such as those of Demidov, Nikita Mosolov and Feodor Batashov. The output ranged from furniture to decorative boxes and down to items as small as buckles and buttons. Tula State Arms Museum, which includes the Imperial Factory's early output. A steel encrusted center table circa 1780-85 from the Tula Imperial Armory, now in the Metropolitan Museum, “belongs to a small group of furniture embellished with silver inlay, ornamental etching, and gilded applications that summarizes nearly all the techniques practiced by the Tula craftsmen.” The steel beads, or “heads,” are cut like diamonds, and the polished faceted surfaces certainly sparkle as such. Russian steel-mounted center table in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

One object in the Carlton Hobbs collection almost certain to have come from a Tula manufactory is a steel casket with firing mechanism. The austere linear exterior of the piece conceals a series of complex mechanisms, locks and switches which culminate in the pair of hidden pistols designed to fire when the box is opened incorrectly. If the box is locked, the lid will open to 20o before triggering a mechanism which releases the two spring loaded end ribs to the front of the exterior thus revealing the barrels of the two pistols which are set within the sides of the box. If loaded the pistols will then fire on the unwitting intruder. Unusual steel casket with firing lock mechanism. Carlton Hobbs LLC. The radical nature of the design compliments other decorative objects in steel produced by the Tula factory. The Russian aesthetic of the box is further enhanced by the fan shaped sides of the domed lid which are redolent of the architectural designs of Charles Cameron, court architect to Catherine the Great and contemporary of Robert Adam, with whom he shares many characteristics. The casket was featured in an online article from Popular Mechanics, as well as on the Dvice website. Interior of steel casket.

While furniture and decorative objects like the previous examples were made entirely of metal,  there also exist wooden examples that are embellished with steel mounts. A unique Russian mahogany commode, also in the Carlton Hobbs collection, has a strict neoclassical design in keeping with the inherently geometric aesthetic created by the faceted steel nuggets. Russian steel and gilt-bronze mounted commode. Carlton Hobbs LLC.

The success of the Tula steelworks during the eighteenth century was based in large part on the patronage of Catherine the Great, however Tula wares could be bought by visitors and other craftsmen. During the second half of the eighteenth century from the regular fair of Tula goods which was held each year on May 21st not far from the royal residence at Tsarsköe Selo. It seems likely that the commode was the work of such a craftsman who commissioned these mounts from a Tula metal worker. Detail of commode.

Highly unusual lyre-back armchair. English, circa 1795. Carlton Hobbs LLC.

The use of the form of the ancient lyre in the square back of a chair was an innovation of the first phase of post-Rococo Neo-Classicism in the second part of the Eighteenth Century.  The lyre itself was derived from depictions of the instrument in Greek and Roman vases; these vases were central to the revival of interest in the antique that exercised a profound influence on the development of the decorative arts in the period. Apollo Cup, circa 480-470 BCE; Delphi Museum, Greece.

The form of these vases and the scenes they depict began to exercise a great hold on the imagination of the age through the propagation of works such as Pierre François d’Hancarville’s four volume Catalogue of the Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman antiquities from the cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton, published between 1767 and 1776. Robert Adam made use of the lyre form in chairs of the 1770’s, as did designers such as John Linnell who worked under his influence.  Visiting Adam’s Osterley in 1773, Horace Walpole observed: “The chairs are taken from antique lyres and make a charming harmony.” A chair from Osterley, designed by Adam and today in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, is an example of his use of the lyre splat; conceived in a highly stylised mode of scrolling decoration and lapping acanthus leaves.  A second chair from the V&A, also designed for Osterley, probably by John Linnell, illustrates the way that the form of the lyre became highly stylised in some of the furniture of the 1770’s. Matching lyre-back side chair. English, circa 1795. Carlton Hobbs LLC.

In the present set of chairs, however, the lyre takes a highly unusual naturalistic form, with knots in the curving arms and carved undulations in the wood. The striking effect is accentuated by the simplicity of the overall form of the chair; the back itself is filled only by the form of the lyre, in contrast with the more exuberant stylization of the chairs from earlier in the century.  They are related to a similar pair of English painted armchairs sold by Christie’s London, 21 April 1994 (below). Pair of Late George III lyre-back armchairs. Sole by Christie's London, 21 April 1994.

The design on which these remarkable mirrors are based was officially registered by the cabinet maker George Sims of 50-152 Aldersgate Street, London, in March 1878 and survives in the National Archives at Kew. Standing at just over 7 feet tall, the mirrors follow the design very closely, although they are given a stricter architectural quality by the decision to leave out the ornamental crest and swag on the drawing.

Although clearly closely inspired by Robert Adam’s work, Sims has lent these pieces an inventive edge by subtly departing from the conventions of Adam’s oeuvre. For instance, the hemispherical fans are curiously but successfully inverted and placed at the base of the mirror. Other motifs within the array of finely detailed neoclassical decoration are on close scrutiny more stylised and angular versions of their eighteenth-century counterparts.

Furthermore, Sims’ handling of the geometry and proportions of the mirror is exemplary and is redolent of the more radical designers of the early years of the nineteenth century, all the more remarkable given the date of conception of the present pieces. The exceptional quality and scale of the mirrors suggests that they were clearly a special commission of the highest order. The diamond mark [patent registration label] on the present pair of mirrors, pictured to the right, gives the date 25 March, 1878 Top. You can find a detailed explanation of these diamond marks here: The Registered Diamond Mark.

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The design on which these remarkable mirrors are based was officially registered by the cabinet maker George Sims of 50-152 Aldersgate Street, London, in March 1878 and survives in the National Archives at Kew. Standing at just over 7 feet tall, the mirrors follow the design very closely, although they are given a stricter architectural quality by the decision to leave out the ornamental crest and swag on the drawing.

Although clearly closely inspired by Robert Adam’s work, Sims has lent these pieces an inventive edge by subtly departing from the conventions of Adam’s oeuvre. For instance, the hemispherical fans are curiously but successfully inverted and placed at the base of the mirror. Other motifs within the array of finely detailed neoclassical decoration are on close scrutiny more stylised and angular versions of their eighteenth-century counterparts. Furthermore Sims’ handling of the geometry and proportions of the mirror is exemplary and is redolent of the more radical designers of the early years of the nineteenth century, all the more remarkable given the date of conception of the present pieces. The exceptional quality and scale of the mirrors suggests that they were clearly a special commission of the highest order.

The diamond mark [patent registration label] on the present pair of mirrors, pictured above, gives the date 25 March, 1878 [top, bottom, and righthand corners of the diamond, respectively]. You can find a detailed explanation of these diamond marks here: The Registered Diamond Mark.

The Italian fashion for Eastern decoration, manifest in the present pair of mirrors,  began with the expansion of trade with China, leading to intensified taste for chinoiserie throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Designers and architects to the courts created interiors that drew heavily on exotic styles based on the ceramics, furniture, and paintings imported from the East, and by the 18th century these items were being produced at in a number of European centers.

The Piedmont region in Italy was particularly famed for its elaborate chinoiserie interiors, more than two-dozen of which are preserved in palaces and villas of Turin, its capital city. The “Chinese Room” of one palace in particular, Palazzo Grosso in Riva di Chieri, Turin, features an extraordinary painted ceiling by Antonio and Giovanni Toricelli (Figure 1) that mimics the intricate patterns of Chinese latticework garden fences.

In a departure from the 18th century English and French rocaille predecessors, 19th century Italian chinoiserie designs were more angular and geometric. Similar lozenge and rectangular patterns to those on the Grosso ceiling are simulated in the frame of the present mirror, complementing the simplified pagoda forms at the corners and center of the cornice.

Jean François Hache represents the fourth generation in a family of famed cabinetmakers from Grenoble, France, who worked throughout the end of the 17th century and the entirety of the 18th century. The dynasty began with Noël Hache (1630-1675), the son of a master baker who chose not to enter the family business, but rather studied veneering in the workshop of a Calais master. This northern region of France was directly influenced by the marquetry of Belgium and The Netherlands. Eventually, Noël set up his own workshop in Toulouse and, upon his death, it was taken over by his son Thomas. Thomas Hache then moved the atêlier to Grenoble. His only son, Pierre, worked with him as did his grandson, Jean-François. Jean-François Hache (1730-1796) is probably the most famous of the Hache craftsmen. In 1756 he spent some time in Paris where he was very much influenced by the Louis XV style and particularly by the work of Jean-François Oeben. He gradually took the baton at the family workshop and around 1760 began to incorporate more simplified forms and intricate marquetry into his designs. A strong keynote of Hache’s work is his use of bold and unusual geometric inlaid forms. The distinctive nature of these forms is accentuated by the fact that he placed them within late Louis XV rococo furniture prototypes. The interesting and highly successful tension this created makes Hache’s work unique.

The present semanier was executed by Jean-Francois Hache in 1777 and bears a printed label on which the date, janvier 1777, has been filled in by hand (figure 1). The label names the people of import who commissioned Hache and advertises the workshop’s impressive range of production. According to René Fonvieille, biographer of the Hache dynasty, the labels used by the workshop can be categorized into fourteen types, the present label belonging to type IX.

Figure 1

A chifonnier by Hache circa 1770-1780, now in the Collection Musée Dauphinois (figure 2), is closely related in form and design. The use of four cabriole legs which terminate in a pastille foot, appears on both this piece and the present semanier and is a signature of Hache’s  work. The sides of the chifonnier are also decorated with a simplified geometric inlaid design much like the door and sides of the present semanier.

Figure 2

Figure 1- Pair of Blue John Chimney Ornaments.

Figure 2- Treak Cliff and cavern

First discovered over two thousand years ago by the Romans, Blue John is an unusual mineral from the area around Mam Tor mountain at Treak Cliff near Castleton in Derbyshire, England (figure 2). This is the only known location where Blue John can be found, though other types of fluorspars are mined throughout the world. The name “Blue John” is believed to derive from the French bleu jaune,1 meaning “blue-yellow,” and it is characterized by bands of blue/purple and yellow/white colored veins. It is a difficult material to work with, as the stone is soft, brittle, and can be altered in coloration by excessive heating.2 Because of its rarity, the material is no longer used on a grand scale. Presently, only approximately one quarter of a ton is excavated each year and is used primarily for jewelry and small objects. Figure 3- Blue John and ormolu mounted Sphinx vase by Boulton, c. 1770.

Figure 4- The Music Room at Kedleston Hall

Blue John was first used by the ancient Romans and then again beginning around 1760. In late 18th century England, local industry centered around the production of decorative objects in Blue John such as vases, obelisks, and mantel garnitures. These were sometimes embellished with gilt-bronze mounts (figure 3). One of the most proficient users of the stone was Matthew Boulton. He worked extensively in Derbyshire marbles and fluorspars to produce a variety of decorative objects like urns, cassolettes, and perfume burners. Boulton’s technical virtuosity is seen in both the sculpting and application of gilt-bronze mounts to the delicate stone. Blue John was used to furnish the finest British houses, notably Chatsworth, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and Kedleston Hall, where it was first employed by Robert Adam. A chimneypiece designed by Adam and made by Joseph Hall or Derby was installed in the Kedleston Music Room in 1761 (figure 4). It is the earliest recoded use of Blue John in the applied arts. In the Carlton Hobbs collection, a pair of blue john decorations are distinguished by their large scale and fine regular veining (figure 1). They were almost certainly employed as ornaments for the shelf of a fine neoclassical chimney piece.

Figure 1: Jacques Linard; Still Life with Shells and Coral, and a Box; 1640. According to the Ancient Greeks, after Perseus cut off Medusa’s head, he wished to cleanse himself of the act by bathing in the sea. He placed the head on a bed of seaweed, which upon contact was petrified and turned red. Thus is the myth of the origin of coral described. Figure 2: Cutting and Polishing Mediterranian Coral. Underwood & Underwood, 1906. Coral has been widely integrated into decorative objects in Italy from the Middle Ages, with rose-colored coral being the most highly prized. The red skeletons of these marine organisms were viewed as having protective and medicinal qualities, and were incorporated into amulets, jewelry and textiles. Coral was also thought to have to ability of detecting poison in food and was therefore used in the handles of cutlery. In the Renaissance, the Italian towns of Genoa and Trapani became the largest coral production centers and helped to popularize the material through carving. In the 17th century, coral was adopted as a prized material for inlay in jewelry and ecclesiastical and household objects. A Jacques Linard still life circa 1640, he places a vibrant red coral specimen in the center of the canvas (figure 1).

Figure 3: One of a pair of grisaille paintings by Fabrizio Clerici, 1960s. Coral continued to be used into the early 20th century as seen in figure 2, which shows the cutting and polishing of coral in a Trapani workshop in a photograph of 1906. It also figured predominantly as a gemstone in jewelry and other objet d’art, particularly during the Art Deco period. Figure 4: Cabinet painted by Fabrizio Clerici, 1950s. Mid-century Milanese artist, Fabrizio Clerici painted coral amid shells and driftwood in his trompe l’oeil creations, among those a painting currently in the Hobbs collection (figure 3) and a cabinet formerly in the collection (figure 4). Figure 5: An Unusual Pair of Coral Mounted Mirrors, circa 1940s. Carlton Hobbs LLC. A pair of mirrors in the Carlton Hobbs collection, circa 1940s, features coral as their main decorative element (figure 5). Furniture designers in the 1930s and 40s were using materials that were more plain and natural than the previous Art Nouveau movement, but that were nevertheless luxurious, such as rare inlaid woods, straw marquetry, and shagreen. In the present mirrors, small fragments of coral cover the frame and surround meandering bead and glass designs. They serve as  a fine example of how a raw materials were used to create new unusual designs that still maintained an element of restraint and tradition.

Figure 1: Carved Walnut Center Table. Probably German, circa 1710. Carlton Hobbs LLC. The tortoise has been represented in art throughout history and across the globe, from its depiction on ancient household objects, to it’s representation in literature, all the way up to 20th century pizza-eating, crime-fighting cartoons (named after Old Masters, no less1). Here we look at a few ways in which turtles have been used in the decorative arts and architecture. Figure 2: Virtuous woman atop a tortoise. Johan van Beverwijck, 17th century. The tortoise is represented in the mythologies of many cultures. In China, it is a symbol of longevity and endurance. To Native North Americans, the tortoise figures prominently regarding the origin of the earth, which is often carried on its back. In India, the world is supported by elephants that stands upon the back of a tortoise. A table in the Carlton Hobbs collection (figure 1), with a base of curious and ingenious design, seems likely to be a reference to these ancient creation myths, where the flat surface of the world rests on the tortoise’s back. Here the echo of that tradition is translated into a classical idiom with the addition of the form of a putto; bringing with it an admixture of the classical myth of Atlas holding aloft the heavens in the garden of the Hesperides. In Northern Europe, the tortoise represented modesty in marriage and morality. In a 17th century Dutch publication, Wtnementheit des Vrouwelijke Geslachten (On the Excellence of the Female Sex), Johan van Beverwijck (figure 2) depicts the ideal wife standing atop a tortoise, making the point that a virtuous woman was bound to the home and her duties there. Figure 3: Obelisk supported by tortoises. Boboli Gardens, Florence. Figure 4: Tomb of Piero and Giovanni de' Medici. S. Lorenzo, Florence. The tortoise symbol was also adopted by the Medici family from the Roman emperors Augustus and Constantine, along with the motto ‘Festina lente,’ or ‘Make haste slowly.’ “The implication is that careful and determined application will achieve better results than rushing at the same problem unprepared.”2 Tortoises support an Egyptian obelisk in the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace (figure3), as well as the tomb of Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici in San Lorenzo in Florence (figure 4). Footnotes: 1. The four main characters in the popular 1980s/’90s televison cartoon “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” were named Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello. 2. Stemp, Richard. The Secret Language of the Renaissance: Decoding the Greatest Age of Italian Art. London: Duncan Baird, 2006. 42.