A George I Gilt-Gesso girandole in the Manner of John Gumley and James Moore circa 1720

the reverse bearing a paper lable printed with Chenue.SARL / Layetier Emballeur / 5, Rue de la Terrasse, PARIS (17¢) and inscribed Monsieur Lion / Angleterre,  the backboard with pencilled inscription 25/10/51 and chalked number MH 11/2.  Mirror plate replaced.

Very good condition. Retaining its original gesso and gilding with some small losses to leaf molded edges. Mirror plate appears to be later although with soft bevel and very thin. Nice rubbing and wear to gilding showing reddish bole. Originally fitted with candle arms. Beautifully carved and wonderful proportions.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present girandole, originally fitted with two candle arms, with its jester heads to the cresting relates directly to a pier table attributed to James Moore and almost certainly commissioned by Lucy Knightley (1651-1738) and his wife Jane Grey Benson of Fawsley Hall, Daventry, Northamptonshire, sold in these rooms, April 4, 2007, lot 134 ($220,000).  Like this table, the present girandole makes use of a distinctive fully modeled heads, with well rounded faces and curious caps which appear to be unrecorded.  Moore's 'heads' are usually in the form of 'Indian' masks with plumed headdresses, examples of which are found on a table ornamented with the cipher of William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, (later 2^nd Duke of Devonshire) now at Chatsworth (Murdoch, op. cit. p. 412, fig. 12).  A carved gilt-gesso coffer attributed to Moore (Murdoch, op. cit., p. 410, fig. 9) however is ornamented with masks with fully rounded features which are clearly related to the heads on the present girandole; now in the collection of The National Trust at Treasurer's House, York, this has no provenance and no heraldic marks of ownership.  The only other pair of tables recorded which have fully sculpted heads and could possibly attributed to Moore was formerly at Tyttenhanger House, Hertfordshire. Illustrated in Lanto Synge, Mallett's Great English Furniture, p. 86, fig. 90.  The canopied lambrequin to the central part of the cresting is a motif which Daniel Marot used, and is similar to a Dutch mirror, circa 1730 and to an English mirror, circa 1725 both illustrated in Graham Child, World Mirrors, 1650-1900, London, 1990, fig. 465, p. 224-225 and fig. 61, p. 81 respectively.

Moore (c.1670-d. 1726), of Nottingham Court, Short's Gardens, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London, was possibly originally apprenticed to Elizabeth Gumley (1674-d. 1751) and her son John (1691-1727), although his name does not appear in the records of either the Joiners' or Glass Sellers' Companies. The first printed reference to the Gumleys themselves appear in The London Gazette of June 21, 1694, an advertisement recording that 'At Salisbury-Exchange in the Strand, where the Manufactory was kept, by John Gumley, Cabinet-maker, at the corner of Norfolk Street.....is a sale of all sorts of Cabinetwoek, as Japan Cabinets, Chests of Drawers, Screutores, Writing-Tables, and Dressing Suits of all sorts'. The accounts  of the Royal Palaces on October 2, 1702, record an entry noting the receipt by John Gumley of 'the Summe of Sixty pounds being in full for a looking-glass ....delivered for his late Majties [sic] use in the Year 1691'. In 1714 they entered into partnership with James Moore, an association that continued until his death in 1726, although it is obvious from surviving documentary evidence that the partners frequently carried out individual commissions, besides those for the Royal Household. One of Moore's major clients was Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, 'becoming as much involved with building work and the supervision of fitting out apartments as with cabinet making' at Blenheim Palace (Beard and Gilbert, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986. pp. 618-619). Although Duchess Sarah referred to Moore as her 'oracle', the large group of gesso ornamented furniture in the collection at Blenheim is virtually undocumented and attribution has to be made on stylistic grounds. Other known patrons include the Duchess of  Buccleuch, Dalkeith Palace, Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu, and the 3rd Earl of Burlington, Burlington House, Piccadilly. It is interesting to note that an account for Burlington House is annotated 'received for the use of my Master. Mr James Moore by me Benjamin Goodison' who succeeded Moore as the Royal Cabinetmaker on the latter's death in 1726.

The present girandole is also very similar to ones by John Belchier, especially to a pair of large sconces or girandoles which he supplied in 1724 for the Salone at Erddig, Denbighshire, Wales, with his distinctive birds' heads to the crestings (Bowett, op. cit. pp. 280-281).  A mirror almost identical to those at Erddig and possibly by Belchier which incorporates bearded satyr masks to the cresting is illustrated in F. Lewis Hinckley, Queen Anne & Georgian Looking Glasses, New York, 1987, p. 93, fig. 94.  Another mirror with satyr masks to the cresting is illustrated ibid. p. 92, fig. 93.

John Belchier, a cabinet-maker recorded at The Sun, on the south side of St. Paul's Church Yard in 1717 until his death in 1753 at the age of seventy. His trade labels appeared in several formats, cut as either a square or circle with his name spelt either 'Bel-Chier' or, 'Belchier.' Another more informative variant was a rectangular label, headed by his shop sign - an ornamental sun - which appears on the reverse of a burr walnut bureau cabinet sold at Sotheby's London, November 14, 1980, lot 30. It notes that Belchier was a maker of 'fine Peer and Chimney-Glasses, and Glass Sconces, Likewise all Cabbinet Makers Goods.'

Belchier, whose name is thought to reflect Huguenot origins, was possibly the son of another important craftsman, also John Belchier, who may well be the tradesman who worked extensively for Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu, at Boughton House. John Belchier, the younger, received his most significant commission from John Meller at Erddig, Wales, for whom he produced a related mirror (illustrated, Martin Drury, `Early Eighteenth Century Furniture at Erddig,' Apollo, July 1978, p. 49, fig. 5) and a celebrated suite of gilt and silvered gesso furniture during the 1720s (see Martin Drury, op. cit.). In the 1730s he also carried out important work for the Purefoy family at Shalston, Buckinghamshire. In addition to cabinet work, Belchier also produced both clear and mirrored glass. Records reveal that he supplied a quantity of glass for St. Paul's Cathedral in the 1720s and in all likelihood he manufactured the glass for his own furniture.

See:

Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009

Tessa Murdoch, 'The King's cabinet-maker, the giltwood furniture of James Moore the Elder', The Burlington Magazine, June 2003