Occasional Table attributed to Holland & Sons

Object Description

A Very Fine Occasional Table Firmly Attributed to Holland and Sons
Provenanced to Lord Cornwallis of Linton Park, Kent

Constructed using specially selected examples of specimen woods, including, inter alia, harewood, boxwood, kingwood, stained sycamore, etched ivory inlays, porcelain plaques and gilt bronze work. Of rectangular form, rising from toupie feet, the tapering torsade legs having the bronze effect sheen achieved by using copper sulphate stained sycamore; having an incurved lower tier with a trellis decoration; the gilt bronze draped frieze houses a single drawer, dressed with quadrant mouldings, and the fascias have inset floral hand painted plaques within bronze frames; the platform has a bronze stiff leaf cast guard edge, and is inlaid with guard band reserves housing inlays depicting the arts of literature, music, painting, sculpture (in the form of the bust of the Venus de Milo) and etched portraits of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. The table has two old labels- one ascribing the ownership to ‘Lord Cornwallis’ (qv) and ‘Linton Park’, his residence.
Circa 1860

This object incorporates old ivory and has been registered with Defra.

Object History

Colonel Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis CBE (27 May 1864 – 26 September 1935), was a Conservative politician representing Maidstone. He had inherited Linton Park.

Object Literature

Holland & Sons

Originally founded in 1803 by Stephen Taprell and William Holland, a relation of the architect Henry Holland, the firm of Holland & Sons soon became one of the largest and most successful furniture making companies in the 19th Century. The firm worked extensively for the Royal Family, being granted the Royal Warrant early in the reign of Queen Victoria, hence taking a leading part in the decoration and furnishing of Osborne House, Sandringham, Balmoral, Windsor Castle and the apartments of the Prince and Princess of Wales at Marlborough House. Holland and Sons also worked extensively for the British Government, for whom they executed over three hundred separate commissions, including the Palace of Westminster, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and oversaw the State funeral of the Duke of Wellington. Among their private commissions the firm produced a celebrated suite of bedroom furniture for the late Sir Harold Wernher at Luton Hoo.

Always at the forefront of fashion, Holland & Sons employed some of England’s leading designers and participated in all of the International Exhibitions of 1851, 1855, 1862, 1867, 1872 and 1878 and the Vienna Expo of 1873.

Object Condition

Excellent condition

Object Details