The Baldock Sideboard
Edward Holmes Baldock (1777 - 1845)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1830 (incorporating earlier fragments)
Materials
Oak and ebony
Measurements
1257 mm (Height) x 850 mm (Depth); 3420 mm (Length)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire
NT 532957
Summary
Large oak sideboard on pediment base comprises, two large cupboards at each end (no shelves inside but there is a runner for a shelf). The cupboards are flanked caryatid’s in mermaid and merman forms. Both cupboards have key holes and metal hinges. Three drawers to the centre, the central drawer is slightly deeper and features a carved crest surmounted by a head and flanked by cherubs. The other drawers are carved with cherubs with a serpent. The backboard is carved with foliage panels and seven protruding lion heads. The brackets are formed from carved cherubs riding a seahorse. The base back board in between the cupboards feature three carved panels with a geometric design, the central panel has two cherubs either side of a cross. The sides of the cupboards also have geometric panels with carved cherub heads. A "composite" piece made circa 1830, with various fragments of 16th and 17th century oak carvings, some English, others probably Dutch and some possibly remaining from Elizabethan Charlecote. The caryatids formed of mermaids and mermen, for example, could come from a Minstrels' gallery or an over mantel. This sideboard was purchased by George Lucy (1789-1845) for the Dining Room in 1837 from the London dealer Edward Holmes Baldock. His bill dated 17 June 1837 lists: "a fine large carved oak sideboard £45, adding brackets to Do and altering date £2.10.0". Indeed, the date on the back was re-carved 'Anno 1558' to read that of the original date of Charlecote. In 1858, this sideboard was moved to the Great Hall, displaced by Willcox's 'Charlecote buffet' purchased for the Dining room that year.
Makers and roles
Edward Holmes Baldock (1777 - 1845), dealer
References
Wainwright, 1989: Clive Wainwright, The romantic interior: the British collector at home, 1750-1850. Studies in British Art. New Haven; London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 1989. [Charlecote pp.208-240]