A George II Style Mahogany Hall Bench by H. Samuel after William and John Linnell, late 19th Century

Dame Henrietta Barnett (1851-1936), gifted to The Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute;

Bonhams London, 15 June 2011, lot 62;

Where acquired by Aso O. Tavitian.

Henry Samuel now ranks as one of the most important late Victorian cabinetmakers working at the end of the 19th century in a revivalist taste. Not much is known about Samuel's business, which is recorded at 484 Oxford Street, but the high-quality furniture stamped with his name is a testament to the firm's output. On 18 December 1879 Lady Charlotte Schreiber noted that ‘Samuels’ was a new dealer when she bought an 18th century vase from him in the December of that year.¹ There is also a mention of the business at the same address in 1891. They were active from circa 1879 until at least 1913 with the advent of the First World War.  

Previously thought of as solely dealers in antiques,² it is possible they had workshops producing furniture too, as much of the work stamped appears to be by the same sophisticated hand. In terms of a business model perhaps Edwards & Roberts would be a good comparison, more so as that company operated from premises next door between 1892 and 1899. They produced new work, ‘restored’ earlier pieces and sold the occasional antique.  

The exceptional quality of their stock with well chosen timbers, superior brass hardware and superb painted decoration and lacquer may explain why some of their work was thought to be by the best 18th century cabinet makers. This was certainly true of a grand pair of armchairs and long stool supplied to Guy Oswald Smith (1861-1928) or Rose Marguerite Smith (1866-1942) when they were illustrated in the Dictionary of English Furniture in 1924 and in Country Life in February 1913 as antiques, not long after they were produced, see Sotheby’s London, 9 July 2019, lots 7 and 19. 

¹ Montague Guest (ed.), Lady Charlotte Scheriber’s Journals, 1911.

² Christopher Gilbert, Marked London Furniture, Leeds 1996, p. 39.