Giles Newby Vincent worked on ‘the Crawley house’ used in the acclaimed television series Downton Abbey. Photo: Bonhams.

LONDON.- A magnificent carved pine George II side table (lot 231) sold for a staggering £218,500 against £80,000-£120,000 estimates. The marble topped table is carved and molded with central lion mask and stands on lion paw feet. It is attributed to William Linnell of the Long Acre based Linnell firm which specialized in carving and gilding and was amongst the most prominent in London in the mid 1700s, rivaling even the Chippendale company. 

A George II carved pine side table attributed to William Linnell. Photo: Bonhams.

the design possibly by John Linnell. The rectangular Medicis breccia marble top above a leaf carved ogee moulding and Greek key and paterae carved frieze and riband and paterae moulding, centred by a lion mask above 'C' scrolls, leaves and flowers on cabriole moulded 'C' scroll carved legs hung with floral swags, on hairy lion paw feet, with inventory number inside the back rail, 'S/193', with signs of previous decorative schemes,180cm wide, 81cm deep, 85cm high (70 1/2in wide, 31 1/2in deep, 33in high). Sold for £218,500 (€261,160)

Provenance: Lt-Gen Sir John Saunders Sebright, 6th Baronet, (1725-1794) and thence by descent at Beechwood Park, Flamstead, Hertfordshire

The attribution to William Linnell
Elements of the design of the table offered here correspond closely to the John Linnell pen and ink design for a side table which forms part of the collection of designs that were bequeathed by Linnell to Thomas Tatham(1762-1818) who it appears passed it on to his brother C.H Tatham(1772-1842) who titled them 'a miscellaneous collection of original designs, made and for the most part executed during an extensive practice of many years in the first line of his profession, by John Linnell, upholsterer, carver and cabinet maker. Selected from his portfolios at his decease by C.H Tatham, architect A.D 1800'. The drawings eventually passed to Tatham's daughter Julia, the wife of the artist George Richmond. The V&A design for a sidetable employs the same hairy foot and lion's mask utilised on the lot offered here. The carved detailing reflects the early carving style of William Linnell seen in the carved 'twisted ribbon and flower' and the 'raffle and leaf' details for the mouldings at the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford and illustrated in H.Hayward and P.Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London 1980, p.18-19, pl.30 & 32. The original setting for the Beechwood table is not known as it does not appear in the 1938 photographs taken for Country Life and may well have already been moved to Cheverells, the Sebright Dower house where the family were living by the end of the 19th century. If indeed it formed part of the 1750's scheme for the drawing room or dining room then it may well have been supplied by Linnell working under the direction of Sir William Chambers who was re-designed the dining room and drawing room during the 1750s and may serve to explain the Kentian elements of the table (a style favoured by Chambers) which are combined with a more contemporary rococo style.

William Linnell – A Newly Established Link to Flamstead and Beechwood Park.
The Sebright family are previously known to have been patrons of the cabinet-maker William Linnell through their multiple appearances on the 1763 Abstract of Debts (Public Record Office C107/69) compiled on William's death. Amongst Williams debtors are Sir Thomas Sebright, 5th Bart who died in 1761 ( £26 10s 4d) . Sir Thomas Sebright's brother Sir John Sebright, 6th Bart also appears on the list (£3 10s 0) and also Lady Sebright (7s 0d)

While Pat Kirkham records William Linnell as being born in 1703 in Hemel Hempstead, the son of yeoman John Linnell, it would appear that William is likely to have been baptized in 1703 but was born in 1702 in Flamstead. Most significantly it would appear that by this date William's father John Linnell snr, a yeoman farmer, was already the lessee of Beechwood Farm on the Beechwood Park Estate. Extant copies of leases in Hertford Records Office show him as a co-lessee as early as 1694 when an agreement between Ellen Saunders, widow of Thomas Saunders esq and John Linnell of St Michael's for a lease to Beechwood Farmhouse and land in Flamstead was granted (Hertford Records Office DE/FL/17652 18 Dec 1694). There are three further extant leases to John Linnell snr of Beechwood Farm dating to July 1698, Dec 1714 and July 1720. It may well be that his tenancy went on past this date as his death was recorded in Flamstead in 1754. This may well indicate that William Linnell was raised on the Beechwood Park estate. On establishing himself as a carver and later a cabinet-maker in London he would have been well appointed to secure work at Beechwood Park and from the Sebright family with whom he seems likely to have been acquainted from childhood. 

The Sebrights and William Linnell -A newly identified Estimate and Invoice
Fresh research into the furnishing of Beechwood Park has uncovered previously unrecorded correspondence from William Linnell. Most notably these include a 1744 estimate for Lady Sebright and an invoice from 1750 (Hertford Records Office Ref/Acc 5333) placing the Sebrights amongst his earliest and most long-standing clients. The family presence on the 1763 list of debtors compiled on William's death document a professional relationship lasting nearly twenty years.

William and John Linnell
William Linnell was apprenticed as a joiner in 1717 and was admitted to the freedom of the Joiners Company on 3 June 1729. Linnell began his career as a carver but by the 1760s he had developed the business sufficiently to cover all areas of cabinet-making. The 1763 valuation of William Linnell's household good and stock-in-trade show a specialist room for carving and gilding. Pat Kirkham notes in her 1967 article for Furniture Historythat this highlights an interesting contrast between the Linnell workshop and that of Thomas Chippendale junior who according to the plan of their workshop from 1803 where they have a specialist room for veneering thus highlighting the differing focus of the two firms. Linnell's position amongst the London cabinet-makers may therefore have been established by retaining their early carving and gilding specialism. After William's death in 1763, the valuation of household good and stock in trade amounted to £1603, 0s 6½d comparing favourably to that of Thomas Chippendale which after the death of James Rannie in 1766 was valued at £1,900 indicating that William Linnell left a business in good shape that was certainly amongst the most prominent in London. John Linnell's apprenticeship as a cabinet-maker was unusual; in addition to training with his father William's firm on Long Acre he also attended Hogarth's St Martin's Lane Academy where he studies drawing and design in an international, intellectual environment. John Linnell's artistic talent had an immediate impact upon the firm, being an artist by both training and inclination. Linnell joined his father full time in 1753, specialising in rococo design. Linnell's talent combined with his St Martin's Lane connections meant that, far in advance of most cabinet-makers, he was aware of Delafosse and was experimenting with neo-classicism by 1760. His designs from this period show that Linnell was experimenting with the new style and the results were both novel and eclectic as he cast about for new combinations of form and ornament. While running the design side of the firm John Linnell would have come into contact with many of the most prominent architects of the period. Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, who was also engaged by Sir Thomas Saunders Sebright at Beechwood Park, was entrusted by Lord Coventry to re-build Croome Court and entrusted the task of designing chimney pieces and overmantels to John Linnell demonstrating how architects would sometimes entrust the design of these elements to the specialist craftspeople that they engaged. By 1762 Linnell was working with Robert Adam at Kedleston Hall, followed by Osterley Park in 1767. Through his direct contact with Adam, the eclectic designs of Linnell were gradually replaced with an increasingly refined, pure neo-classicism that was fully established by 1775.

A beautiful and richly coloured George II carved mahogany table with ‘scagliola’ painted top (lot 229) showing Mars, Venus and Cupid sold for £194,500 – nearly ten times its pre-sale estimates. Scaglioa is the decorative technique which simulates coloured marble inlay and was first developed by the Romans. 

A George II carved mahogany and polychrome scagliola table, the top attributable to Petrus Antonius De Paulinus. Photo: Bonhams

the base in the manner of Benjamin Goodison . The rectangular moulded inset top with a polychrome scagliola slab, the centre inset with an oval panel line engraving of Mars, Venus and Cupid with a Neapolitan coastal vignette above and below, flanked by a parrot and finch amongst fruiting boughs, flanked by scrolling leaves and flowerheads, above a Greek key carved frieze, on acanthus and bold shell carved cabriole legs and claw and ball feet, 93cm wide, 61cm deep, 77cm high (36 1/2in wide, 24in deep, 30in high). Sold for £194,500 (€232,474) 

Provenance: The Burne family of Loynton Hall, Staffordshire, by descent to the present owner.

Loynton Hall was built around 1671 by the Higgins family and remained in the same family until 1942. Christopher Higgins, Esq, son of Christopher Comyn Higgins came into possession of the manor at Loynton in 1724 and in 1730 married Mary Blower (d.1773), the daughter of Richard Blower and Dorothy (nee Mildmay) of Wood Norton, Norfolk. Christopher Higgins was a lawyer at Furnival's Inn and Mary Blower's father was a lawyer at Barnard's Inn and this is the likely cause of their acquaintance. Mary Blower inherited one third of the Wood Norton property the income from which she put into the encumbered Loynton Estate. The Burne family history suggests that portraits at Loynton came originally from the Blower family and that some of the best furniture (cabinets and mirrors) had also come from the Burne family at either Wood Norton in Norfolk or Great Saxham Hall in Suffolk.

Christopher and Mary Higgins' daughter Catherine (b.1735) married Thomas Burne, Esq of Penn and it was their son, Thomas who inherited Loynton Hall in the late 18th century. Amongst the other chattels from Loynton that descended through the Burne family is a William and Mary cream and polychrome japanned mirror circa 1690 with paperwork by Rachel Sambrooke which was sold by J.C Burne, Sotheby's, London, 20th October 1972, lot 52, later with Mallett & Son Ltd and sold again Sotheby's London, 4 December 2013, lot 457. Rachel Sambrooke was married to Christopher Comynn Higgins of Loynton Hall and was the mother of Christopher Higgins. 

It seems possible that this table was commissioned at the time of Christopher and Mary's marriage in 1730, the iconography of the table points to this with the story of Venus and Mars being the central focus. It is interesting to note that during the Renaissance the subject sometimes does commemorate a betrothal, with the two figures occasionally being portrayed in the likeness of the engaged couple. The Venus shell carving on the knees, although a common feature on furniture at this period do continue the theme and would have been a recognisable symbol to the contemporary on-looker. 

Scagliola is the decorative technique which simulates coloured marble inlay, (pietra dura) and was first developed by the Romans, it was revived in the 16th century by Guido del Conte, a master mason from Carpi. The technique thrived in the area and was at its height in the 18th century Tuscan monasteries due to the work of Friar Don Enrico Hugford, Don Pietro Belloni, Don Torello Mannini and Lamberto Christiano Gori.  

The scagliola slab top offered here has similarities to a group of table tops attributed to the Livornese Petrus Antonius de Paulinus (Pietro Antonio di Paulino), a manufacturer and painter of scagliola during the second quarter of the 18th century. Livorno was then under Florentine rule, so it is possible that Paulino's workshop was in Florence. See Christies, London, 28 November 2002, lot 150 for a pair of George I gilt-gesso pier tables with scagliola tops one signed by Paulinus and probably supplied to George Treby II, M.P (1684-1742) of Plympton House, Devon. One of centre panels is engraved after Titian's, David and Goliath, which celebrates ancient virtue and is identical to a table top attributed to Paulinus sold Christie's, New York, 19 May 2004, lot 251. This is also seen on a serpentine commode top sold from the Prince Littler collection, Chesham Park, Sussex; Christies house sale, 18 April 1977, lot 182 and a signed slab top sold Phillips, London 23 April 1996, lot 206.

The Phillips table slab appears to have an almost identical coastal vignette to the table top offered here. See J.Cook, Masters of the Art of Scagliola, Country Life, 29 September 1994, p.87 who suggests that thesecapricci, commonly seen in scagliola work were derived from engraved sources after painters such as Andrea Locatelli and Salvator Rosa. 

It is also interesting to note the example sold Sotheby's,Treasures, 3 July 2013, lot 16 which is a Paulinus table top with a very similar parrot, but colours in a different palette. The Sotheby's top is almost identical to another sold Sotheby's, Noseley Hall, Leicestershire, 28-29 September 1998, lot 76, which was at that time tentatively attributed to Don Enrico Hugford (1695-1771) and was commissioned by Sir Arthus Hesilrige, who made the Grand Tour in 1723-4. The Noseley Hall table has a closely related finch to the Loynton Hall example, but again in a slightly different palette. The base of the table offered here displays similarity in design and decoration to the long stool and day bed thought to have been supplied to Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester at Holkham, Norfolk, circa 1740 and illustrated in R.Edwards & M.Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet Makers, London 1944, p.142, pl.44 &45. Benjamin Goodison (1700-1767) was amongst the leading cabinet makers working in the second and third quarters of the 18th century and was established at the Golden Spread Eagle, Long Acre, London, supplying furniture to the Royal palaces (1727-1767). His patrons included the fourth Earl of Cardigan at Deene Park, Nottinghamshire and Dover House in London (1739-1745), 1st and 2nd Viscounts Folkestone at Longford Castle (1737-50) and the Duchess of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace (1740).

The collection of Giles Newby Vincent, architect, interior decorator and garden designer, was led by lot 26, a war-time Christmas present from an English gentleman to his wife which tripled its estimates to realise £80,500. The George II carved walnut, featherbanded bureau was offered with an annotated receipt, “To a war worn housewife! Best Christmas Wishes and a tribute of profound admiration, 1942”

A George II carved walnut and burr walnut crossbanded and feather banded bureau on stand. Photo: Bonhams

The upper part with a rectangular top above a sloping fall enclosing a fitted interior of a central cupboard door flanked by moulded upright pull out compartments, six drawers and two pigeon holes above a long frieze drawer with a sliding cover flanked by lopers and a further long drawer, the lower part with a stylised egg and dart moulding and a long drawer with an undulating acanthus and scroll carved apron with ring tamed lion masks carved cabriole legs with trailing riband tied flora and hairy paw feet, with the 1942 Partridge & Sons receipt, annotated by Sir William Seeds "To a War Worn Housewife! Best Christmas Wishes and a tribute of profound admiration, 1942", originally with a swing frame mirror to the top, one back leg of late date, 69.5cm wide,51cm deep, 97cm high (27in wide, 20in deep, 38in high). Sold for £80,500 (€96,217)

Literature:  R.W Symonds, English Furniture from Charles II to George II, London, 1929, Fig 68.
P.Macquoid and R.Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London 1954, Vol.1, p.125 and 131, fig.19.

Provenance: 

2Sir Hubert Medlycott, Bart at Ven House, Somerset. 
Percival D Giffiths F.S.A., Sandridgebury, Hertfordshire
Offered Christie's London, 10-12 May 1939, lot 241
Frank Partridge & Sons Ltd., 26 King Street, and sold 21st December 1942 (£700) to Sir William Seeds K.C.M.G.(d.1973) and gifted at Christmas 1942 to his wife:
Lady Arabella Seeds, Fairfield, Lymington, Hants and thence by descent.

A related bureau from the collection of Henry Hirsch is illustrated in P.Macquoid and R.Edwards, ibid., p.131, fig 18.

Giles Newby Vincent worked on ‘the Crawley house’ used in the acclaimed television series Downton Abbey. One of the garden alterations that Giles made - lowering the front courtyard wall - opened up the view across the churchyard into the front garden. This view of the Crawley’s house is now one of the most frequently used location shots in the series.