Fire screen
possibly George Nix (fl.1716-1751)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1730 (the frame; the needlework 19th century)
Materials
Mahogany, framing a later woolen needlework worked on linen
Measurements
135 x 78 cm
Place of origin
Covent Garden
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1127940
Summary
A mahogany fire screen, English, probably London, circa 1730. possibly by George Nix (fl. 1730), an attribution suggested because of its similarity to NT 1139990, a firescreen at Ham House, thought to have been supplied by the London cabinet maker George Nix. A bill of his of 1732 refers to '...a large Wallnutttree Horse frame and fixing on the Needle work on the Inner frame & India paper on the back side...£2 15s'. The example at Ham retains both the needlework and the wallpaper, whilst the needlework to this example at Hardwick Hall is later. The firescreen has a scroll-cut and arched toprail and a sliding panel between moulded uprights, the end supports terminate in pairs of downswept supports ending in pointed pad feet. The needlework probably 19th century, and stitched with coloured wools on a black ground and backed with linen.
Provenance
It is possible that this is the screen showing in front of the near fireplace in William Henry Hunt's 1828 view of the Long Gallery. By descent until, following the death of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959.
Makers and roles
possibly George Nix (fl.1716-1751), cabinetmaker