The Chippendale Society is pleased to announce that it has acquired a previously unknown bill for furnishings supplied by Thomas Chippendale to the actor David Garrick in 1770. It was bought at Christie’s online sale of Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, New York, 1-15 October, lot 160. The cost was $5,250 including premium. Thomas Heneage made the successful bid on the Society’s behalf.
It is the first Chippendale furniture bill to come onto the market since 1970. Other Chippendale bills to Garrick covering the period May 1768 to January 1771 are in the National Art Library, but there is a gap in the sequence of bills between July 1769 and January 1771, into which this bill fits neatly. The furniture was destined either for Garrick’s Southampton Street house or for his villa at Hampton. It is mostly of an unspectacular, domestic nature, and includes charges for filling pillows and for second-hand furniture.
The Society has many rare documents relating to Chippendale’s life and work but this is the first furniture bill it has acquired. The Society also owns two pieces of furniture made for Garrick, a small bookcase and a half-round pier table. A full online catalogue of the Society’s collection will be available shortly and accessible via the Collections page.