拍品专文
The coronation of George IV, which occurred on the 20th July 1821 (the date recorded on the plaque is obviously an error) was ruinously extravagant, in character with all his undertakings. The expenses of the Lord Chamerlain's Department along totalled #111,810 8s. 2d., compared to #15,709 1s. 6d. for George III's coronation in 1761, and the frugal #13,861 11s. 10d. devoted to William IV's in 1831. Sir Walter Scott wrote a piece for the coronation text concluding that 'Those who witnessed it have beheld a sight calculated to raise the country in their opinion, and to throw into the shade all scenes of similar magnificence from the Field of the Cloth of Gold down to the present day'. An illustrated record of the event, which ran to several editions over the next twenty years, was published by Sir George Naylor.
Among the various firms who took part in the preparations for the coronation. Bailey and Saunders were the most lavishly favoured. Their bill of over #5,000 for work which involved forty-one cabinet makers over 574 days, thirty-four upholsterers over 612 days and seven women over 76 days, was by far the largest presented by any of the firms involved with the ceremony. Furthermore, the King allowed them a singular honour: Bailey and Saunders, along with six assistants, were invited to attend the coronation in person, 'in appropriate Dresses... to relieve the Barons of the Cinque Ports', who were charged with the task of supporting the canopy above the King as he walked from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey.
Coronation furniture was traditionally the perquisite of the Lord Chamberlain - in this case Lord Hertford, whose superb collection of French furniture, inherited by his son Sir Richard Wallace, now forms the basis of the Wallace Collection. Lord Hertford seems to have been unusually dilatory in exercising his rights, however, for the coronation footstool, supplied by Bailey and Saunders, was completely unrecorded from the time of the coronation until it appeared at Sotheby's London, 15 November 1991, lot 132.
It seems likely that the King's canopy, of which the offered lot reputedly contains a fragment, was divided up among the Barons of the Cinque Ports. Though no exact description of the design of the fabric is recorded, two stools at Osterley Park, Middlesex, were believed to be covered in fragments of it, as Lady Jersey was a friend of the King. However, with the emergence of the present Lot and its interesting provenance with a direct link to the Coronation, the true design of the canopy fabric may at last be known.
For a fuller account of George IV's coronation, see: H. Roberts, Royal Thrones 1760-1840, Furniture History, 1989, pp. 61-85.
Among the various firms who took part in the preparations for the coronation. Bailey and Saunders were the most lavishly favoured. Their bill of over #5,000 for work which involved forty-one cabinet makers over 574 days, thirty-four upholsterers over 612 days and seven women over 76 days, was by far the largest presented by any of the firms involved with the ceremony. Furthermore, the King allowed them a singular honour: Bailey and Saunders, along with six assistants, were invited to attend the coronation in person, 'in appropriate Dresses... to relieve the Barons of the Cinque Ports', who were charged with the task of supporting the canopy above the King as he walked from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey.
Coronation furniture was traditionally the perquisite of the Lord Chamberlain - in this case Lord Hertford, whose superb collection of French furniture, inherited by his son Sir Richard Wallace, now forms the basis of the Wallace Collection. Lord Hertford seems to have been unusually dilatory in exercising his rights, however, for the coronation footstool, supplied by Bailey and Saunders, was completely unrecorded from the time of the coronation until it appeared at Sotheby's London, 15 November 1991, lot 132.
It seems likely that the King's canopy, of which the offered lot reputedly contains a fragment, was divided up among the Barons of the Cinque Ports. Though no exact description of the design of the fabric is recorded, two stools at Osterley Park, Middlesex, were believed to be covered in fragments of it, as Lady Jersey was a friend of the King. However, with the emergence of the present Lot and its interesting provenance with a direct link to the Coronation, the true design of the canopy fabric may at last be known.
For a fuller account of George IV's coronation, see: H. Roberts, Royal Thrones 1760-1840, Furniture History, 1989, pp. 61-85.