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拍品专文
This pair of George III semi-elliptical commodes is attributed to the pre-eminent and fashionable Golden Square cabinet-makers William Ince (d.1804) and John Mayhew (d.1811) who ranked George III, the 6th Earl of Coventry, and the Earl of Kerry among their distinguished clients. It typifies the elegant 'antique' style established by the country's leading Neoclassical architect, Robert Adam (d.1792), popularized in a drawing of January 1773 for an 'Etruscan' commode for the Duke of Bolton and published in Adam's Works in Architecture (1773-77). It became one of Mayhew and Ince's most long-lived and popular furniture models of the 1770s and 80s.The inlaid arms indicate that the commodes offered here were supplied to Robert Birch M.P. (d. 1810), of Turvey House, Donabate, Co. Dublin.
INCE & MAYHEW
From 1764, Ince & Mayhew worked with Adam on several notable commissions, culminating in their 'ability to produce very early on furniture in the most startling advanced Neoclassical taste' (Geoffrey Beard, Christopher Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p.592). The firm faithfully reproduced Adam's furniture designs, in 1775 supplying the magnificent Derby House commode to Edward Smith-Stanley, Lord Strange (later 12th Earl of Derby) for his Grosvenor Square, London property. The Derby House commode is the only fully documented Adam commode to survive, and Ince & Mayhew's invoice for 'A circular Commode of fine and curious Woods very Finely inlaid with Etruscan Ornaments' at a cost of £84, 'completed from a Design of Messrs. Adams' demonstrates the close working relationship between designer and maker.
The firm also created their own distinctive designs in a refined and sober Neoclassical fashion exemplified by a rectangular satinwood and marquetry commode sold from the Countess of Portsmouth's collection, Christie's, London, 18 May 1922, lot 81, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (64.101.1145), and a semi-elliptical commode from the Barbara Piasecka Johnson collection, sold Christie's, London, 9 July 1992, lot 162, (£660,000, including premium).
The aesthetically spare decoration of this commode, a testament to the decorative language of the Neoclassical spirit of the late 18th century, places it into a specific sub-group of commodes. Particularly striking are the large scale 'antique' urns, a frequent Ince & Mayhew motif that relates to ornamentation found on a number of other commodes attributed by Lucy Wood to Ince & Mayhew (Lucy Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 223-237, nos. 26, 27 and 28).
THE IRISH CONNECTION
Ince & Mayhew did have a small but significant Irish clientele, including Francis Thomas Fitzmaurice, 3rd Earl of Kerry, who commissioned the firm for the refurbishment of his Portland Square, London, house in the early 1770s. Furthermore, a related demilune commode, smaller in size but with the distinctive marquetry of Ince & Mayhew, and a very similar pattern of squared acanthus-wrapped feet, was in the collection of James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon, a wealthy Indian Nabob, who first engaged Ince & Mayhew at his London house on Berners Street in 1773. The early history of this commode is uncertain but it appears to have been commissioned by the Earl's brother-in-law, Josias Dupré, Governor of Madras, for his house in Portland Place, but was returned to Ince & Mayhew in July 1777 for restoration before being transferred to Caledon in Ireland. Ince & Mayhew subsequently fulfilled an exceptional commission for the Earl at Caledon between 1785 and 1795. (H. Roberts, 'Unequall'd Elegance: Mayhew and Ince's furniture for James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon', Furniture History Society, 2009, p.117).
A further link between the London partnership and Ireland is afforded by William Moore (d.1814), cabinet-maker of Abbey Street and later Capel Street, Dublin. Moore had been apprenticed to Ince & Mayhew before establishing his workshop in Dublin in 1779. He was soon the foremost marqueteur in Ireland, and unsurprisingly, the Neo-classical marquetry of Adam-derived motifs, highly characteristic of the London practice, was also adopted by Moore. In his trade advertisements Moore particularly emphasized his 'long experience at Messrs. Mayhew and Ince, London' (R. Luddy, 'Every Article in the Inlaid Way: the furniture of William Moore', Irish Arts Review, 2002, vol.18, p. 47). However, few pieces of furniture are firmly attributable to Moore, including a semi-elliptical marquetry commode supplied to William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland in 1782, and a pianoforte, its whereabouts unknown. Other pieces in public collections are now believed to be by Moore, including another commode, very similar to the Portland example, in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (ibid., p.44; W.56:1 to 3-1925).
THE COAT-OF-ARMS
The arms are those of Birch impaling Ryves, for Robert Birch M.P. (d. 1810), of Turvey House, Donabate, co. Dublin and his wife Catherine (d.1819), daughter of William Ryves, of Castle Jane, Co. Limerick, whom he married in Dublin in 1759. At the time of his marriage, Faulkner's Dublin Journal refers to him as 'an eminent merchant of this City', but contemporary parliamentary sketches are less complimentary. G.O. Sayles in 'Contemporary Sketches of the Members of the Irish Parliament in 1782', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 56, 1954⁄54, p. 237 quotes from the 1782 publication and records that 'he bought the parliamentary seat of Belturbet, Co. Cavan from Lord Lanesborough,... Lord Buckingham made him Clerk of the Quick Rents, £150 a year; he will support any government and take anything he can get'.
Evidently Birch ran into rather dire financial circumstances but this appointment seems to have saved him from penury and he was still residing at Turvey House in 1789. Birch appears to have leased Turvey House from Lord Trimlestown. The house was of great antiquity although its general appearance was that of a building of the 17th century. The original building was a 15th century tower house. This was added to in the 16th century by Sir Patrick Barnewall. He is said to have made use of the stone from the ruinous Grace Dieu Nunnery. T. Sadleir and P. L. Dickinson in Georgian Mansions in Ireland, Dublin, 1915, p. 86-88, comment that it was much altered in the second quarter of the 18th century. There was the date 1773 on a Venetian window which would seem to relate to works initiated by Birch and it is most probable that this pair of commodes was commissioned around the time of this refurbishment.
THE 20TH CENTURY PROVENANCE
This pair of commodes was supplied by the English-born antiques dealer and decorator Arthur S. Vernay to Mrs. Morton Plant (later Mrs. William Hayward, then Mrs. John Rovensky; née Mae Caldwell, 1881-1955) and her husband, the American financier Morton F. Plant (1851-1918), for their mansion at 1051 Fifth Avenue and 86th Street, newly completed around 1916. The commodes were photographed in the second-floor gallery circa 1922, and later published in Vernay’s 1927 volume, Decorations and English Interiors.
Mr. and Mrs. Plant were already preparing to move uptown when Mrs. Plant became captivated by a pair of exceptional natural pearl necklaces at Cartier. Her admiration inspired the now-famous exchange in which Pierre Cartier proposed trading the pearls for the Plants’ former Fifth Avenue mansion at 52nd Street. The final agreement transferred the house, valued at $950,000, in return for the two necklaces, valued at $1.5 million, plus $100. The transaction secured for Cartier the distinguished New York headquarters that remains the firm’s flagship today.
After Morton Plant’s death in 1918, Mae, known as ‘Maisie’, married Colonel William Hayward (1877-1944). Together they acquired Clarendon Court, the former Bellevue Avenue cottage of E. C. Knight in Newport, and in 1930 established Casa Louwana in Palm Beach, Florida. Following Hayward’s death in 1944, Maisie married John Edward Rovensky (1880-1970) in 1954 at her Fifth Avenue mansion. She died in Newport two years later, in July 1956. The magnificent furniture, decorative arts, paintings, and jewellery from her Fifth Avenue residence, along with selected pieces from Clarendon Court, were dispersed in a landmark five-part auction, The Art Collection of the Late Mrs. John E. Rovensky, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 15-19 January 1957, in which these commodes appeared as lots 965 and 966. This distinguished provenance extends to several additional lots in the Irene Aitken Collection.
INCE & MAYHEW
From 1764, Ince & Mayhew worked with Adam on several notable commissions, culminating in their 'ability to produce very early on furniture in the most startling advanced Neoclassical taste' (Geoffrey Beard, Christopher Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p.592). The firm faithfully reproduced Adam's furniture designs, in 1775 supplying the magnificent Derby House commode to Edward Smith-Stanley, Lord Strange (later 12th Earl of Derby) for his Grosvenor Square, London property. The Derby House commode is the only fully documented Adam commode to survive, and Ince & Mayhew's invoice for 'A circular Commode of fine and curious Woods very Finely inlaid with Etruscan Ornaments' at a cost of £84, 'completed from a Design of Messrs. Adams' demonstrates the close working relationship between designer and maker.
The firm also created their own distinctive designs in a refined and sober Neoclassical fashion exemplified by a rectangular satinwood and marquetry commode sold from the Countess of Portsmouth's collection, Christie's, London, 18 May 1922, lot 81, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (64.101.1145), and a semi-elliptical commode from the Barbara Piasecka Johnson collection, sold Christie's, London, 9 July 1992, lot 162, (£660,000, including premium).
The aesthetically spare decoration of this commode, a testament to the decorative language of the Neoclassical spirit of the late 18th century, places it into a specific sub-group of commodes. Particularly striking are the large scale 'antique' urns, a frequent Ince & Mayhew motif that relates to ornamentation found on a number of other commodes attributed by Lucy Wood to Ince & Mayhew (Lucy Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 223-237, nos. 26, 27 and 28).
THE IRISH CONNECTION
Ince & Mayhew did have a small but significant Irish clientele, including Francis Thomas Fitzmaurice, 3rd Earl of Kerry, who commissioned the firm for the refurbishment of his Portland Square, London, house in the early 1770s. Furthermore, a related demilune commode, smaller in size but with the distinctive marquetry of Ince & Mayhew, and a very similar pattern of squared acanthus-wrapped feet, was in the collection of James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon, a wealthy Indian Nabob, who first engaged Ince & Mayhew at his London house on Berners Street in 1773. The early history of this commode is uncertain but it appears to have been commissioned by the Earl's brother-in-law, Josias Dupré, Governor of Madras, for his house in Portland Place, but was returned to Ince & Mayhew in July 1777 for restoration before being transferred to Caledon in Ireland. Ince & Mayhew subsequently fulfilled an exceptional commission for the Earl at Caledon between 1785 and 1795. (H. Roberts, 'Unequall'd Elegance: Mayhew and Ince's furniture for James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon', Furniture History Society, 2009, p.117).
A further link between the London partnership and Ireland is afforded by William Moore (d.1814), cabinet-maker of Abbey Street and later Capel Street, Dublin. Moore had been apprenticed to Ince & Mayhew before establishing his workshop in Dublin in 1779. He was soon the foremost marqueteur in Ireland, and unsurprisingly, the Neo-classical marquetry of Adam-derived motifs, highly characteristic of the London practice, was also adopted by Moore. In his trade advertisements Moore particularly emphasized his 'long experience at Messrs. Mayhew and Ince, London' (R. Luddy, 'Every Article in the Inlaid Way: the furniture of William Moore', Irish Arts Review, 2002, vol.18, p. 47). However, few pieces of furniture are firmly attributable to Moore, including a semi-elliptical marquetry commode supplied to William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland in 1782, and a pianoforte, its whereabouts unknown. Other pieces in public collections are now believed to be by Moore, including another commode, very similar to the Portland example, in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (ibid., p.44; W.56:1 to 3-1925).
THE COAT-OF-ARMS
The arms are those of Birch impaling Ryves, for Robert Birch M.P. (d. 1810), of Turvey House, Donabate, co. Dublin and his wife Catherine (d.1819), daughter of William Ryves, of Castle Jane, Co. Limerick, whom he married in Dublin in 1759. At the time of his marriage, Faulkner's Dublin Journal refers to him as 'an eminent merchant of this City', but contemporary parliamentary sketches are less complimentary. G.O. Sayles in 'Contemporary Sketches of the Members of the Irish Parliament in 1782', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 56, 1954⁄54, p. 237 quotes from the 1782 publication and records that 'he bought the parliamentary seat of Belturbet, Co. Cavan from Lord Lanesborough,... Lord Buckingham made him Clerk of the Quick Rents, £150 a year; he will support any government and take anything he can get'.
Evidently Birch ran into rather dire financial circumstances but this appointment seems to have saved him from penury and he was still residing at Turvey House in 1789. Birch appears to have leased Turvey House from Lord Trimlestown. The house was of great antiquity although its general appearance was that of a building of the 17th century. The original building was a 15th century tower house. This was added to in the 16th century by Sir Patrick Barnewall. He is said to have made use of the stone from the ruinous Grace Dieu Nunnery. T. Sadleir and P. L. Dickinson in Georgian Mansions in Ireland, Dublin, 1915, p. 86-88, comment that it was much altered in the second quarter of the 18th century. There was the date 1773 on a Venetian window which would seem to relate to works initiated by Birch and it is most probable that this pair of commodes was commissioned around the time of this refurbishment.
THE 20TH CENTURY PROVENANCE
This pair of commodes was supplied by the English-born antiques dealer and decorator Arthur S. Vernay to Mrs. Morton Plant (later Mrs. William Hayward, then Mrs. John Rovensky; née Mae Caldwell, 1881-1955) and her husband, the American financier Morton F. Plant (1851-1918), for their mansion at 1051 Fifth Avenue and 86th Street, newly completed around 1916. The commodes were photographed in the second-floor gallery circa 1922, and later published in Vernay’s 1927 volume, Decorations and English Interiors.
Mr. and Mrs. Plant were already preparing to move uptown when Mrs. Plant became captivated by a pair of exceptional natural pearl necklaces at Cartier. Her admiration inspired the now-famous exchange in which Pierre Cartier proposed trading the pearls for the Plants’ former Fifth Avenue mansion at 52nd Street. The final agreement transferred the house, valued at $950,000, in return for the two necklaces, valued at $1.5 million, plus $100. The transaction secured for Cartier the distinguished New York headquarters that remains the firm’s flagship today.
After Morton Plant’s death in 1918, Mae, known as ‘Maisie’, married Colonel William Hayward (1877-1944). Together they acquired Clarendon Court, the former Bellevue Avenue cottage of E. C. Knight in Newport, and in 1930 established Casa Louwana in Palm Beach, Florida. Following Hayward’s death in 1944, Maisie married John Edward Rovensky (1880-1970) in 1954 at her Fifth Avenue mansion. She died in Newport two years later, in July 1956. The magnificent furniture, decorative arts, paintings, and jewellery from her Fifth Avenue residence, along with selected pieces from Clarendon Court, were dispersed in a landmark five-part auction, The Art Collection of the Late Mrs. John E. Rovensky, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 15-19 January 1957, in which these commodes appeared as lots 965 and 966. This distinguished provenance extends to several additional lots in the Irene Aitken Collection.