Sir Rowland Winn's (1739 - 1785) Clothes Press - 1767
workshop of Thomas Chippendale (fl. 1766 - 1771 when operating without a business partner)
Category
Furniture
Date
12 Nov 1767 (invoiced)
Materials
Mahogany, oak, pine carcase, brass, paper, stain
Measurements
242 x 148 x 72 cm
Place of origin
St. Martin's Lane
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 960196
Summary
A mahogany clothes press, London, 1767, made by Thomas Chippendale (fl. 1766 - 1771 when working with no business partner) for Sir Rowland Winn's Dressing Room, and dispatched from London on 5th November of that year. Having a broken pediment centred by a small pedestal, and a moulded cornice. A 'tablet' to the frieze beneath the pediment. The pair of upper doors with panels with 're-entrant' corners, and enclosing a single tray - originally there would have been eight - lined with original marbled paper. The lower section of two pairs of short cockbeaded drawers above a single long drawer, all fitted with brass bale handles. With base mouldings and shaped bracket feet.
Full description
Invoiced on 12th November 1767 as 'To a very large mahogany cloaths press with a Pediment top folding doors and sliding shelves cover'd with marble paper and Bays aprons drawers in the under part made of fine wood and Good locks & c...£18 8s 0d.' On 26th August 1767, Chippendale wrote to Sir Rowland that the press was '4ft 6in broad but the mouldings will want cutting away a little when it comes down.' Another letter of the 1st October promised that it was 'very near finish'd' and on 5th November it was within a few days. It was finally sent to Nostell on 12th November. The marbled paper to the slides inside this press is very similar to that lining the slides in the more elaborate example NT 959763. (Megan Wheeler, February 2018)
Provenance
Purchased by Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Baronet, and delivered to Nostell and invoiced on 12th November 1767. Thence by descent until purchased by the National Trust by private treaty sale from Lord St Oswald in 2010.
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, 1969: Lindsay Boynton and Nicholas Goodison, 'The furniture of Thomas Chippendale at Nostell Priory', Burlington Magazine III, May 1969: pp. 281-5., Figure 30 Gilbert (1978): Christopher Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale (1978), 2 volumes., Vol. I, pp. 169, 176, 177, 181 & 186, and Vol. II, Figure 244 Boynton and Goodison, 1968: Lindsay Boynton, and Nicholas Goodison. “Thomas Chippendale at Nostell Priory.” Furniture History 4 (1968): pp.10-61., pp. 17, 19, 22, 24, 25 and 45 - 6,