We present three intriguing highlights from Fine Interiors including Selected Property from a Berkshire Residence, Part Two | Online auction at 2pm, Tuesday 9th February 2021.
Tunbridge ware tables such as the example here from the private collection were produced in the spa town of Tunbridge Wells for over a century, from the late 18th to the early 20th century. This William IV Tunbridge ware rosewood and specimen marquety centre table is by John Talbot Ubsdell (1797-1879) and its underside bears a label: Manufactured by I.T.Ubsdell, late Fenner & Co, REPOSITORY, Tunbridge Wells. The named Fenner is Edward Fenner, one of four manufacturers of Tunbridge ware considered sufficiently skilled and experienced to produce a fine writing table for Princess Victoria, a frequent visitor to the town, as a gift from the town’s inhabitants in 1826. The sum of 25 guineas, raised through subscription, was spent on the production of a kingswood table, ‘beautifully veneered with party-coloured woods from every part of the globe’. Fenner’s family had been in the Tunbridge ware trade since at least the 1780s and he produced the table in his principal workshops at Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells. Just three years after the royal commission Fenner retired, albeit temporarily, and his manufactory was leased to John Talbot Ubsdell. Unfortunately, not much is known about the life and career of the man who created our table, and it is not clear if he received formal training in cabinet making. The second son of a hairdresser he was baptised in the Isle of Wight, by 1828, when he married at St. George’s Hanover Square, London, he was living in Tunbridge Wells and in early 1829 he described himself as a ‘manufacturer’. However, by 1835 Ubsdell had left Tunbridge Wells, returning to his home area where he took up banking, a profession which was to engage him for the rest of his working life. Fenner resumed manufacturing at his former premises and continued to produce small items of furniture for both retail and wholesale outlets until 1841. In 1903 only one manufacturer of Tunbridge ware remained in the town, and further dents to the trade came about with the inevitable slump in demand at the time of the First World War, combined with the absence of skilled employees in the armed services. Along with being a highly desirable piece, this William IV table provides an interesting insight into a specifically local and relatively short lived form of furniture manufacture.
Another interesting, historical highlight from the collection – a group of nine fine plates from Marches et Evolutions de Cavalerie, by Comte de Melfort, after Van Blarenberghe, circa 1760 – demonstrates the dedication and passions of a decorated French cavalry officer. Louis-Hector Drummond de Melfort (1724-1788) was the son of Andrew Drummond, a Lieutenant General in the French army who received the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Louis – awarded to military officers with over 10 years’ service for exceptional merit. Louis-Hector joined the Gesvres cavalry as a cornet and was to be involved in many of Europe’s early to mid-18th century conflicts – the War of Polish Succession, (1733-35), the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48), and the Seven Years War (1756-1763), he also received the Grand Cross, Order of St. Louis and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General. His text Traité sur la Cavalerie, which accompanied these drawings describes simplified procedures for cavalrymen, his strategies dated from 1748 were met with incomprehension at the time. The dedication in Traité sets out his intention that it should assist in making the French cavalry the best in the world along with his desire to help France, the country to which his family had fled from Scotland nearly a century earlier. Van Blarenberghe was the family name of a dynasty of painters from French Flanders, the first of whom was Joris van Blarenberghe (1612-1670). At the time of the production of Marches et Evolutions de Cavalerie, a descendent, Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe (1716-1794), was working at the Palace of Versailles, along with his son, Henri-Joseph (1750-1826), as a miniaturist specialising in the decoration of snuff boxes. Louis-Nicolas was also the official campaign painter of the French court and followed the French army as a campaign reporter. Into the 19th century works by the van Blarenberghe father and son were acquired by the Rothschild family and a collection is displayed at Waddesdon Manor (visit the website here).
From a few decades earlier, this George I burr walnut, featherbanded and crossbanded cabinet on chest shows off to great effect the decorative properties offered by walnut. The timber was widely seen in furniture made after the Restoration in England, however, its heyday was short-lived as the importation of tropical hardwoods, notably mahogany, provided makers with a timber which was easier to work and in pleasing colours; despite this, walnut still continued to be used in veneers. The cabinet in our February auction consists of thirteen drawers, which on closer inspection are labelled in fine handwriting in black ink – accessories such as flowers, white lace, black lace, ostrich feathers, cleaned gloves and velvets appear to have been stored here. At nearly 2 metres high, it would have been useful for the owner to know where a particular item was to be found, perhaps before a stool was drawn up to assist. These labels only tell us part of the story – we can only speculate that the owner might have been an early English version of Marie Kondo with a penchant for dressing up and going out, or, perhaps at some stage in the 19th century the cabinet was owned by a haberdasher who liked to keep a well-appointed and tidy shop?
Fine Interiors including Selected Property from a Berkshire Residence, Part Two | Online auction: 9th February, 2pm
For all auction related enquiries, contact Guy Savill and Sally Stratton MRICS | +44 (0)207 281 2790 | email: info@thepedestal.com