24. C 1984/1

Dwarf Bookcase

By Thomas Chippendale, C.1775

Mahogany, oak, pine with japanned decoration

 

Of rectangular design having a shaped three – quarter gallery top with open adjustable shelves over a cupboard, the door faced as two dummy drawers and raised on square bracket feet. The sham fronts are japanned in green on an ivory ground with Chinese landscapes featuring trees, birds and buildings; the sides are painted with Oriental flowers and shrubs while the top is decorated with a pavillion and rockwork. Constructed of mahogany with an oak back and pine base (stained ref); the stacked bracket feet conceal brass swivel castors; brass ring handles, hinges and a lock fitted at the door top. The back is inscribed ‘Hardman’ in pencil and bears a printed paper label dating from the time when it was shipped to Argentina.

H 38in; W 19in; D 12 1/2in

This bookcase is one of a pair made by Chippendale for David Garrick’s villa on the Thames at Hampton and forms part of a well known suite of japanned bedroom furniture ordered for Garrick’s own bedroom. Many items are now in the V&A. They are recorded in an inventory taken at the time of Garrick’s death in 1779: ‘2 small Bookcases with sliding shelves and cupboards under japanned green and white’ and as lots 14 & 15 in the sale following his widow’s death in 1823: ‘A green & white small bookcase with sliding shelves and cupboards under’. Garrick’s furniture was finally dispersed at a sale in 1864 when, as lot 88, they were listed as: ‘A pair of 18 in (drab & green) pier book-stands with shifting shelves and two drawers each, enamelled in Chinese subjects’. They were bought by Sir William Hardman, being mentioned in Letters and Memoirs of Sir William Hardman (ed. Ellis) 1925, p190: ‘We managed to pick up fora very small sum several undoubted relics of the great actor…..also a couple of quaint bookstands of Chinese pattern….. for 22s’. These passed by descent in the family, one of them being inherited by Sir William’s great-grand daughter  Mrs A A Gunner of Cookham Dean, Berks who sold hers to the Chippendale Society. About 1940 the companion (which has 2 sliding shelves) came into the possession of Cecil Davies who sold it to Sir Gervaise Tennyson d’Eyncourt; it re-appeared at Christie’s 17 July 1969, lot 24, was bought by Jeremy Ltd and later sold by Phillips of Hitchin to a private collector (C Gilbert, Chippendale, 1978, pl 82)

Bought with a government grant and a donation from the Sam Chippendale Foundation 1984 (£2000)