LOT #47011 |
Sold on Dec 1, 2022 for: Not Sold
[Lord Spencer]. Large 18th-Century Georgian Mahogany English Partners Desk. Circa 1770. Three-piece set, includi...
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Description
Spencer Family Desk from Althorp House, Princess Diana's Childhood Home
[Lord Spencer]. Large 18th-Century Georgian Mahogany
English Partners Desk. Circa 1770. Three-piece set,
including overhanging top and frieze with three drawers to either
side. Measures 73 x 39.25 x 31.25 inches. Overhanging top with
moulded edge, inset with green leather with gilt-tooled edge.
Frieze with a raised moulding around the bottom edge. Pedestals
have cupboard doors at front, crossbanded, with central rectangular
panels surrounded by relief mouldings. Three graduated drawers at
back with original loop handles and central key holes. Sides of
pedestals with rectangular raised mouldings with indented corners
and are centered by original brass lifting handles and back plates,
raised on shallow plinths with moulded upper edges.King George III bestowed the title "Earl" in 1765 on John Spencer, who subsequently became the 1st Earl Spencer. The title came shortly after the completion of a new townhouse in the heart of London, known as the Spencer House, intended to augment his, and by extension his family's, position and status in English aristocratic society. John Vardy, a student of William Kent, was the first architect chosen to work on Spencer House; many of the facades on the mansion can be attributed to him, along with the external elevations and the design of the ground floor rooms, including some of the furniture. In 1758, James Stuart replaced Vardy as head architect of the project. Stuart, inspired by the arcadian values of Ancient Greek architecture, added his own flavor to the house's construction, in both internal and external decoration. As a result, the Spencer House can be considered one of the first examples of the nascent neoclassical style, which was to become much more widespread in the final few decades of the Enlightenment.
The 1st Earl Spencer was succeeded by his son, George John, a politician, famous bibliophile, and First Lord of the Admiralty during the French Revolutionary War. In an attempt to modernize both Spencer House and the Althorp family estate, the 2nd Earl Spencer turned to architect Henry Holland, well-known for having designed Carlton House, the Prince Regent's new palace in Pall Mall. Holland's proto-regency style continues to pervade both houses, preserving their Georgian character through interior decoration and furnishings, including this English Partners Desk.
Both Spencer House and Althorp became centers of English aristocratic and social life in the 19th-century. The Spencers were liberal politicians, highly involved in the progressive politics of the day. The 3rd Earl Spencer was a supporter of the Great Reform Bill of 1832; the 4th Earl Spencer was a major Whig politician; and the 5th Earl Spencer was a close friend of prime minister William Gladstone and a staunch supporter of Irish home rule in his own right. The Spencers, in all of their iterations, can easily be considered the Kennedys of their day.
Though it is unknown whether Lord Spencer's desk originally resided at Spencer House or Althorp, records show that the desk was located in Lord Spencer's private study in Althorp throughout the 20th-century. Bought by John Spencer in 1508, this 14,500-acre estate in Northamptonshire, England is more recently remembered as Princess Diana's childhood home and her final resting place. Diana's brother Charles, 9th Earl Spencer, who inherited the estate upon his father's death in 1992, lives there currently, and opens the house to the public every summer.
Condition: Scattered nicks and scratches to wood, drawer handles with some corrosion, minor restorations to edges of bottom drawer on left pedestal, some rubbing and scraping to bottom of pedestal, rectangular frame split in upper left and bottom right corner on right pedestal with split in upper right corner of frame on left. Drawers open smoothly. Includes set of keys for drawers.
Provenance: Bought from the 8th Earl Spencer by Partridge Fine Art, and from there sold to the present owner. Lot sold with full record of sale, including receipts, correspondence, and a photograph of the desk with a description attesting to its location in Althorp House by 8th Earl Spencer on the verso and dated April 1985. Included also are three postcards, each with a photo of the 8th Earl Spencer and his second wife, Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, and signed by them on the verso.
Auction Info
2022 December 1 Historical Platinum Session Signature® Auction #6267 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2022
1st
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 0
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
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