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Harewood House.
Photo: Wikipedia. |
There has been a house cleaning of the great Yorkshire stately home, Harewood House, with the results being two up-coming sales at Christie's London.
"Harewood: Collecting in the Royal Tradition" will be held on December 5, 2012, and
"Harewood: The Attic Sale" on December 9, 2012.
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HRH The Princess Mary, Princess Royal,
The Countess of Harewood.
Photo: Christie's. |
Harewood House, the home of the Lascelles family, is renown for its Robert Adam interiors and original furnishings by Thomas Chippendale. The sales center primarily on objects outside the primary collections, mainly with the collection of HRH the Princess Mary, 1897 to 1965. The only daughter of George V, she married the 6th Earl of Harewood in 1922. Like her famous collector mother Queen Mary, she was interested in Chinese jade, hardstone, and Faberge. (The princess's grandmother, H.M. Queen Alexandra, was sister of the Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna).
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A candelabrum by Matthew Boulton.
Sale 6277, Lot 550.
Christie's. |
A spectacular Matthew Boulton candelabrum of bluejohn, ormolu and tortoiseshell is one of the lots with the highest estimates, GBP 200,000 to 300,000. Princess Mary purchased the vase from the collection of her brother Prince George, the Duke of Kent, after his death in World War II through the 1947 Christie, Mason & Wood sale of property from Derby House. (See the diamond bow brooch that had belonged to her sister-in-law in the previous post of
The Devoted Classicist).
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A pair of armchairs by Thomas Chippendale.
Sale 6277, Lot 600.
Christie's. |
A pair of important armchairs commissioned for the Music Room from Thomas Chippendale, circa 1770, will also be included in the sale. The chairs, originally japanned green and gold, were redecorated with white paint and parcel-gilt and reupholstered with the current fabric circa 1850-53 by George Trollope & Sons. Chippendale's largest and most important commission was for the 1st Baron Harewood, Edwin Lascelles, 1712 to 1795, to furnish his new home, Harewood House. Here Chippendale fully embraced the 'antique' and his work at Harewood House included not only furniture but wallhangings, curtains, and a carved model of a stove to be fabricated by the local founder.
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A painted panel by Alec Cobb,
early 1990s.
Sale 7613, Lot 1189.
Christie's. |
Great post John. I never made it to Harewood, although I lived in Bath for a year, in the Royal Crescent Hotel, and worked at the American Museum in Britain as an intern, at Claverton Manor. Love all the stately homes. I also have a letter written to me by Earl Spencer, because I sold so many of his Althorp collection reproductions. When in Bath, I became friends with Jeremy Fry, who introduced me to Lord Snowdon, amongst others! It was a lovely time in my life, all part of the Grand Tour, arranged for me by my parents and my chaperone, an antiques dealer from Atlanta...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dean. I look forward to hearing more about all of it. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteMy money's on the Bristol Blue finger bowls from the Attic! Cheers
ReplyDeleteHerts