A fine pair of early 19th century ormolu-mounted ebony cabinets belonging to the family of the Victorian Prime Minister William Gladstone (1808 – 98) is to be sold at Bonhams’ Sale of Fine English and Continental Furniture at 101 New Bond Street on 27 June. They are expected to fetch between £300,000 – 500,000.
These cabinets are attributed to master craftsmen Georges Jacob (1739 – 1814) and his son François-Honoré-Georges Jacob Desmalter (1770 – 1841), who were principal suppliers of fine furniture to the sumptuous residences of Napoleon and George IV. They are an exquisite example of the taste for exotic and unusual style and material so prolific in the early 19th century. Set within the marble-topped ebony cabinets are black and gold lacquer panels intricately decorated with pheasants and finches amongst flora and fauna. These panels date from the late 17th century and were originally made in Japan.
The cabinets were most probably acquired by William Gladstone’s father Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet of Fasque (1764 – 1851), circa 1814, possibly from Paris. They were placed in Seaforth House near Liverpool, which was the childhood home of Sir John’s children, including his famous fourth son, William Ewart Gladstone, who served as Prime Minister to Queen Victoria four times between 1868 – 1894. In about 1830, the cabinets were moved to the family seat at Fasque, Kincardineshire, Scotland, where they were listed in an 1841 inventory as ‘2 Chinese cabinets’ valued at £8.8.0. They have remained in the family ever since.
Sir John Gladstone was the first of four generations of Gladstones in the House of Commons, being elected Member of Parliament for Lancaster in 1818, and henceforth for Woodstock and Berwick-upon-Tweed. While much is known about his professional career, little is known of his involvement in the arts – yet the acquisition of such a fine and expensive pair of ornate cabinets demonstrates a lively interest. William Gladstone wrote of his father, ‘No one, except those who have known him with the close intimacy of family connection, could properly appreciate the greatness of that truly remarkable man.’ Clearly Sir John wanted to be seen as a man of taste, decorating his property with fine furniture and paintings to demonstrate his increasing wealth and importance, and to ally the Gladstone name to politics for the next generation.
Bonhams – 101 New Bond Street, London
Fine English & Continental Furniture Tapestries and Works of Art
27 June 2006
Lot 291
A fine pair of Empire ormolu-mounted Japanese black and gold lacquer pewter-inlaid ebony Side Cabinets
attributed to François-Honoré-Georges Jacob and Georges Jacob, differences to the side pilaster mounts
the lacquer late 17th century, each with a rectangular portor marble top above a panelled frieze concealing a drawer, opened from inside by a steel catch, above a panelled door decorated with pheasants and finches amongst flora and fauna within foliate cast borders enclosing two shelves, flanked by stylised palmette, anthemion and paterae pilasters, on plinth bases, each 76cm wide, 48cm deep, 99cm high.(2)£300,000-500,000
For more details visit the Bonhams
web site.
