A PAIR OF GILTWOOD HALL BENCHES

A PAIR OF GILTWOOD HALL BENCHES

AFTER WILLIAM KENT, LATE 20TH CENTURY

each with the back centred by a head of Amphitrite above carved fish scales and scrolling foliage, above similarly carved and slightly outswept arms, on foliate carved 'S' scroll legs and a deep apron of a pair of Nereids flanking an urn issuing a plant, with seaweed stretchers, upholstered in a red and gilt silk damask (2)

107cm high, 160cm wide, 78cm deep

Provenance

Purchased from Anthony Outred.

A Private Collection.

Catalogue Note

The original set of eight settees, of which this pair is a copy, were designed by William Kent for Richard Child, Viscount Castlemaine, between 1725 and 1730, to go into his newly completed Wanstead House in Essex. The contents of the house were sold in 1822, prior to the house being demolished in 1824. The catalogue described each settee as “an elegant square settee, in superb massive carved and gilt frame, with scrolled elbows, the back stuffed in costly crimson Genoa velvet, and squab to correspond, on scroll legs, the frame ornamented with mermaids [sphinxes], and festoons of flowers”. Six of these eight settees were eventually bought by Catherine Woronzow, wife of the 11th Earl of Pembroke, as part of her refurbishment of Wilton House, Salisbury. The remaining two are now at Rievaulx, Yorkshire.