Open armchair
possibly William France (1727-1773)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1770
Materials
Mahogany, beech, later oak rails and metal repairs, hair, linen, webbing
Measurements
96 x 72 x 60 cm
Place of origin
St. Martin's Lane
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Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1147031
Summary
A mahogany open armchair, one of a set of five with four standard chairs [NT 1147032.1 - 4], English, circa 1770, possibly supplied by William France (1727 - 1773), upholder of St. Martin's Lane, London or by John Bradburne (d.1781), partner to William France between 1764 and 1768, cabinet-maker and upholsterer of Long Acre, London. With undulating toprail with distinctive shell-shaped ears, and central scallop shell. The baluster-shaped splat edged with scrolls and pierced with lozenges. The arms with a pronouced curve, the terminals carved with a cabochon and a Rococo frill, and on curving arm supports flanking a stuff-over atop blind fret-carved seat rails, centred by ovals, and conforming front legs. The rear legs plain but chamfered and with outswept feet. With an 'H'-shaped stretcher and higher rear stretcher, with open fret carving of ovals and lines. Some elements of upholstery original. All chairs with later repairs, including later oak frames inside the original beech seat rails, and metal brackets bracing joints and stretchers.
Full description
Possibly the survivors of a set of sixteen chairs recorded in an inventory of the contents of James Hutton’s house in Park Street, Mayfair, taken after his death in 1770, when ‘8 Mahogany back Stools with cut open Rails, covered with crimson silk & worsted Damask & brass nailed’, together with a further ‘6 Mahogany banister back Elbow [crossed out] Chairs, with cut open rails, cover’d over the Rails with crimson worsted Damask & brass Nailed’, were listed in the Dining Room. A further ‘2 Mahogany elbow Chairs to match’ completed the set [FRO D/E/2419]. James Hutton’s sister, Dorothy Yorke (d. 1787) and her son, Philip Yorke I (1743-1804) of Erddig had inherited this property – together with Hutton’s country estates of Newnham and Radwell in Hertfordshire – upon his death and, over the course of the remainder of the 18th century, removed some of the contents of both houses to Erddig. Indeed, some inventory entries are annotated with marginal crosses, thereby highlighted as ‘given by Mrs Yorke to her son Mr Yorke of Erthig, and carried there in the Summer of the y[ea]r 1770’. These chairs are not so crossed, but the possibility remains that they may have been taken to Erddig later in the century. Dorothy lived mainly at Park Street until her death in 1787, whence Philip leased the property to tenants. If they are Hutton chattels, then they were presumably acquired as part of refurbishments to the house in the 1760s which appears, at least on the evidence from the inventory, to have been furnished in the latest style. The only reference so far traced to shed light on the firms Hutton may have patronised is in Philip Yorke’s commonplace or pocket books, where the debts he discharged in his role as executor of Hutton’s will are occasionally recorded. Thus, the large sum of £368 19s 0d was made to ‘France Uphol[ste]r’ on 29 August 1771, supplemented by a further £8 8s on the following day. Interestingly, the first payment concludes with the words ‘Acc[oun]t with my Ld Uncle’, suggesting that this was an instance of Philip honouring a Hutton debt [FRO D/E/1211] and unwittingly providing some evidence for the craftsmen working at the Park Street house in the late 1760s. The ‘France Uphol[ste]r’ in question was almost certainly William France (1727-73) who is thought to have begun his career in London working for Vile & Cobb around 1759, advancing to actually acquire Vile & Cobb’s business when the partnership was dissolved in 1764. Forming his own partnership with the cabinet-maker John Bradburn(e) (fl. 1750-81), which endured until 1768, France was appointed upholder to the Great Wardrobe, and Bradburn(e) its cabinet-maker in 1764. During this period, Bradburn(e) supplied exclusively furniture and France exclusively upholstery services, although the latter did supply (and possibly make) furniture for other clients. Working under Robert Adam’s aegis on Kenwood House for the 1st Earl of Mansfield, for instance, France is thought to have been responsible for much of the furniture. When William France died in 1773, his nephew – also William (b. 1759) – took over his business. One of his most prestigious clients was the 5th Duke of Beaufort, for whose seat at Badminton he made a set of library steps, of which almost every member is pierced with open fretwork. This slightly anachronistic style – redolent of the 1750s and 1760s – was possibly something of a France speciality or ‘house style’. Of course, it is possible that these chairs came to Erddig via a different route, as a purchase ‘in period’ by Philip Yorke I, perhaps, or as an entirely out of period purchase by one of his descendants. If the former, payments by Philip to cabinet-makers John Cobb and Michael Thackthwaite in the 1770s may be related [FRO D/E/325 and D/E/1211]. (Megan Wheeler, January 2018)
Provenance
Given by Philip Yorke III (1905-1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973
Makers and roles
possibly William France (1727-1773), upholsterer possibly John Bradburne (d.1781), cabinetmaker
References
Castle, Geoffrey - 'The France Family of Upholsterers and Cabinet-Makers' – Furniture History Society Journal Vol XLI Published 2005, pp. 25-44 Flintshire Record Office D/E/1211 Flintshire Record Office D/E/2419 Flintshire Record Office D/E/335