Nostell Priory's Gentleman's 'large and very neat mahogany dressing Table...with conveniences for Shaving...' - 3rd July 1769
workshop of Thomas Chippendale (fl. 1766 - 1771 when operating without a business partner)
Category
Furniture
Date
3 Jul 1769 (invoiced)
Materials
Mahogany veneers and linings, brass, gilt brass, baize, glass
Measurements
82 x 89.5 x 55 cm
Place of origin
St. Martin's Lane
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 959762.10
Summary
A mahogany gentleman's dressing and writing table, made by Thomas Chippendale (fl. 1766 - 1771 when working alone with no business partner) for Nostell Priory in 1769. The rectangular top with edge moulding above a long cockbeaded and crossbanded frieze drawer fitted at either end with a pilaster carved to top and bottom with a floral half-lunette. The drawer fitted for shaving and writing and topped by a baize-lined slide with small brass knob, beneath which a number of baize-lined compartments, lidded compartments and slots for razors, all around a central mirror which rises and rests on an easel. All above a concave-fronted cupboard enclosing a baize-lined shelf and faced by a pair of doors with applied 'panel' beadings with concave corners filled with floral bosses, between pilasters carved at top and bottom with flower-filled half-lunettes and applied to the centre with an oval boss. The base rail fluted. All raised on four tapering and reeded legs with waisted feet with lower collar, and brass castors. One escutcheon replaced.
Full description
Described by commentators as typifying the 'Nostell style' and as 'unique in Chippendale's oeuvre, although he represents the type in his Director (1762), Plates LXII and LXIII, stating 'the Recess for the Knees is of circular Form, which looks more handsome than when it is quite streight' [Gilbert, 1972], this exquisitely proportioned and restrained dressing table was probably made bespoke for Sir Rowland Winn. In 1805, an inventory records that it was stocked with 'a Mirror, 6 Razors silver mounted, 4 Bottles silver mounted, a do. Brush, 3 silver Soap Brushes, 2 Do Tooth powder Boxes, 2 Essence Bottles Silver caps, Silver mounted Tongue sponge, an enameled China Bowl, a writing Slide over the whole.' The surviving pieces in this list remain inside the dressing drawer [NT 959762.1 - 9]. The razors are stamped 'PALMER CAST', and were possibly therefore made by James Palmer, smith to George III. Referred to in accounts of 3rd July 1769 as 'a large and very neat mahogany Dressing Table with a writing drawer and slider cover'd with Green Cloth with conveniences for Shaving and Cupboard with folding doors and neatly carv'd with very good locks £12-10-0.' Also supplied with 'an Enamel'd China Bason and Bottle for ditto' at a cost of 18s. (Megan Wheeler, February 2018)
Provenance
Purchased by Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Baronet (1739 - 1785), in 1769 and thence by descent until accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of death duties on the estate of Rowland Winn, 4th Baron Oswald (1916 - 1984), in 1986.
Makers and roles
workshop of Thomas Chippendale (fl. 1766 - 1771 when operating without a business partner), cabinetmaker
References
Boynton and Goodison, 1969: Lindsay Boynton and Nicholas Goodison. “The furniture of Thomas Chippendale at Nostell Priory.” Burlington Magazine III June 1969: pp.350-60., p. 355 Boynton and Goodison, 1968: Lindsay Boynton, and Nicholas Goodison. “Thomas Chippendale at Nostell Priory.” Furniture History 4 (1968): pp.10-61., p. 52 Boynton and Goodison, 1969: Lindsay Boynton and Nicholas Goodison, 'The furniture of Thomas Chippendale at Nostell Priory', Burlington Magazine III, May 1969: pp. 281-5., Figure 33 Gilbert (1978): Christopher Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale (1978), 2 volumes., Vol. I, pp. 170 & 189; Vol. II, p. 230, Figures 419 & 420 Chippendale, Thomas, 1718-1779 gentleman and cabinet-maker's director: M DCC LXII [1762]., Plates LXII and LXIII