Bonhams 1793 : A late 19th century carved mahogany hall bench retailed by H.Samuel, Oxford St, after a design by William and John Linnell

A 19th century carved mahogany hall bench retailed by H.Samuel, Oxford St, after a design by William and John Linnell

15 Jun 2011 14:00 BST London, New Bond Street
Fine English Furniture and Works of Art
Back to auction 18857

A late 19th century carved mahogany hall bench

retailed by H.Samuel, Oxford St, after a design by William and John Linnell
The serpentine leaf carved and scrolling cresting above a triple panelled and leaf moulded back, with turned finials, above outswept scrolled arms and rectangular seat with anthemion and dart moulding, above a guilloche and paterae carved frieze on turned stiff leaf carved legs and beaded feet, stamped four times underneath, H.SAMUEL, 484 OXFORD ST, LONDON, 207cm wide, 50cm deep, 109cm high (81" wide, 19.5" deep, 42.5" high).

Sold for £28,800 inc. premium

Footnotes

Provenance: Dame Henrietta Barnett (1851-1936) and gifted to:
The Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute.

A related late 19th century mahogany hall bench in the manner of William Kent and stamped H.Samuel was sold Christie's London, 27 November 2007, lot 54.

Henry Samuel, the Oxford Street based dealer in works of art (fl.1881 - 1913) regularly name-stamped his stock and seems to have specialised in copies of high quality copies of 18th century furniture, as well as in period furniture. See C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, 1700 - 1840, Leeds, 1996, p.395, pl.780 for an 18th century octagonal partners desk, a similar late 19th century copy of this desk bearing the stamp of H.Samuel was sold Christie's, London, 21 November, 2006, lot 457. Other pieces bearing the H.Samuel stamp include a bookcase in the manner of George Brookshaw, sold Christie's London, 6 March 2008, lot 104 and a George I leather covered chest on stand, sold Sotheby's London, 3 May 2003, lot 13.

The above settee is derived from a design by John Linnell (1758-60), (see H.Hayward and P.Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London 1980, fig.229 and p.79) which was appears to have influenced the design of a group of hall furniture. Linnell himself may well have been influenced by William Kent's design published in 1744, see J.Vardy, Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr William Kent, pl.43.

Taking inspiration from the group of Linnell inspired hall furniture the settee offered here follows the pattern of a pair of George II mahogany hall settees which were probably made for the 1st Earl of Clarendon, for The Grove, Hertfordshire and sold Christie's, London, 11 April 1985 lot 130. Other examples from this group include a set of six settees originally commissioned for Devonshire House, London and now at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, a set at Grimsthorpe , Lincolnshire and another slightly later set of four armchairs and a settee formerly at Harewood House and sold Christie's, London 1 April 1976, lot 43.

This bench offered here was gifted to the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute by its founder Henrietta Barnett. The Institute was established as part of her big vision to educate the gentry and artisans together in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Dame Henrietta Octavia Weston Barnett DBE was a notable English social reformer and author. The daughter of Alexander Rowland, a wealthy businessman from Clapham, she married Samuel Barnett in 1873 and moved to the Whitechapel parish of St Jude's with the aim of improving social conditions. Barnett believed in the power of education to effect social change, she helped establish the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants in 1875, the Children's Country Holiday Fund in 1884, and annual loan exhibitions of fine art at the Whitechapel Gallery, which was built in 1897 at the instruction of the Barnetts.
Barnett was most notably associated with the Hampstead area of North-West London, conceiving the idea of the model housing development of Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1904. In 1911, she founded the Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb. She wrote several books, including Practicable Socialism and was recognised for her work as a social reformer, being awarded the CBE in 1917 and was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1924. Barnett lived at Heath End House on Spaniards Road, Hampstead, until her death, in 1936.