Description
VICTORIAN OAK AND PAINTED SIDEBOARD
MANNER OF A. W. N. PUGIN, MID 19TH CENTURY
of Gothic style, the carved panelled back with five painted shields, the moulded eared rectangular top above a frieze drawer with two further shields, flanked by two cupboard doors, on stiff leaf carved faceted legs joined by an undertier
287cm wide, 145cm high, 68cm deep
Footnote
Provenance:
Comissioned for Horsley Towers, Surrey, probably between 1846 and 1860.
Note:
This fine sideboard shows similarities to examples by J. C. Crace, prominent London interior decorator of the mid-19th century, and collaborator of A. W. N. Pugin. Crace's association with Pugin is well documented, most notably their work on the interiors of the Palace of Westminster, and the firm continued to make furniture to his designs long after his death in 1852. Crace showed an elaborate sideboard at both the Paris Exhibition in 1855 and the second London Exhibition of 1862 and there are also examples of sideboards by Crace, which rely heavily on Pugin's designs, at Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford, Abney Hall in Cheshire and at Tyntesfield in Somerset. The panelling on this example is reminiscent of designs used in the Palace of Westminster and illustrated in 'True Principles' (1841).
The sideboard is embellished with painted coats of arms, all of which pertain to the Lovelace lineage. This style of embellishment relates to furniture designed by Pugin and most particularly to his large bookcase, designed for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and his own dining room cabinet of 1845, both of which incorporate similar shields relating to the owner. The shields here date from after 8th July 1835, when William King, then 8th Baron King of Ockham, married the Hon. Augusta Ada Byron. The top row from left to right show the arms of Troye; the Noel family; King with Byron in pretence; and Lovelace (Barons 1627-1737); and the two lower shields denote Byron and Wentworth. This sideboard was likely to have been made after 1846 when the 1st Earl of Lovelace started living at Horsley and before 1860 when he adopted the name and arms King-Noel by royal licence.
Literature:
Atterbury, Paul and Wainwright, Clive, Pugin: A Gothic Passion, London 1994, pp.131-132, illus. plates 229 and 232.
Cooper, Jeremy, Victorian & Edwardian Furniture & Interiors, Thames & Hudson 1998, p.97, illus. plate 95
Provenance: Torridon House, Home of The Earls of Lovelace. Click here for further information: http://bit.ly/1MmigxQ