English furniture at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Magazine Antiques, June, 2003 by Geoffrey Beard

Among other additions to the collection are some typical Regency and Victorian items, such as a commode made by the Gillows firm in their Lancaster workshop for Luke Dillon (1780--1826), second Baron Clonbrock, for his Irish country house in county Galway; a bon-heur-du-jour attributed to John McLean (who, later with his son William, was active between about 1770 and 1825) (17); a very interesting sarcophagus-shaped cellaret, from which, regrettably, the lion mask and ring handles are missing; a bookcase-cabinet with modem green silk-lined doors; and a pair of late Regency "Kent revival" tables. But these all pale into insignificance beside the side table in Plate XIII by the distinguished Thomas Hope. The table is one of a pair that flanked the celebrated sculptural group Cephalus and Aurora of 1790 by John Flaxman (1755--1826) at Hope's Duchess Street residence in London. (18) They appeared in Plates VII and XV of Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration of 1807, in which he praised them fulsomel y (19) It is likely that Peter Bogaert (1792--1819) carved and gilded the tables, with Alexis De Caix (1791--1819) as the bronzesmith. Both tables were subsequently at Hope's house at Deepdene (demolished 1969) in Dorking, Surrey, and were sold from there in 1917. (20)

Distinction of a separate kind is apparent in the Regency calamander-wood library table of about 1810 in Plate XVI. Inspired by Plate XII in Hope's book, this table has been included in the standard works on Regency furniture. (21) Its top is inlaid with brass with a border of stars and interlaced lines. The apron contains two drawers flanking a recessed cabochon plaque, and the end supports are carved with ram's-head monopodia. It is all most splendid, showing English craftsmanship at its best.

When the prince regent became George IV in 1820, he had already made his mark on the embellishment of Carlton House, his London residence, (22) and the seaside Royal Pavilion at Brighton. (23) He then turned his attention to the embellishment of Windsor Castle in Berkshire. He commissioned furniture designs from, among many others, the young Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, including, in 1827 and 1828, thirty-six chairs for the dining room. The chairs were made by Nicholas Morel and George Seddon III, who set up in partnership in 1827, specifically for the Windsor commission. (24) While the balance of the chairs is still at Windsor, nine, including the one in Plate XV, were dispersed to private collections. (25) The chair, with its handsome gilding, is covered in a crimson silk damask that is similar to the original. In a small way, it announces the Gothic revival for which Pugin became best known. It joins in the Regency room at the Huntington, a pair of Regency side chairs that were originally part of a suit e made about 1823 by the earlier partnership of Morel and Robert Hughes (w. c. 1805-1829), for the London house of Hugh Percy (1785-1847), third duke of Northumberland.

This short survey has shown that while French items may have been at the heart of the original Huntington furniture collection, excellent progress has been made in subsequent years m acquiring English furniture. There are now more than one hundred pieces on permanent display, and several rooms contain examples appropriate to the style and manner of the paintings that hang above them. Most recently the museum has acquired an important collection of decorative arts related to William Morris (1834-1896), put together by Sanford and Helen Bergen This makes the gallery the third largest repository of Morris items in the world, after the Victoria and Albert Museum and the William Morris Gallery at Walthamstow in London. Obviously there is plenty to see in Californian collections, and when one has bad enough of these, there is always the sheer beauty of the state's dramatic scenery, as it sweeps north toward San Francisco.