pu007 harewoodhousewallpaper

8/6/2019 PU007 harewoodhousewallpaper

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L O N D O N N E W Y O R K


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THE HAREWOOD HOUSE WALLPAPER

The panoramic polychrome Chinese wallpaper from the Chintz Dressing Room at Harewood

House, painted in shades of blue, green, brown and red on a buff ground, depicting an idealistic

scene of pleasure gardens with accompanying scenes of rural pursuits and pastimes in the foot-hills of a mountain range, including fishing, rice cultivation and weaving.

Chinese, circa 1765

Height: 9ft 8in / 3.02m

Total length: 41ft 8in / 12.8m

Provenance:

Edwin Lascelles Esq, Harewood House, Yorkshire, thence by descent

Literature:

Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London 1978, vol 1,

pp195-220

Figure 1

One of eleven and a half panels

Front Cover

Detail of one of the panels


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Thomas Chippendales commission of 1767 to 1778 to furnish Harewood House for EdwinLascelles was not only the most valuable of his career but also the most sumptuous. Thecommission was a complete decoration of the house and included the hanging of wallpaper

and supplying of damask and paper. The Chippendale bill for the early years of the commis-

sion is now missing but, in 1772, 3,024 19s 3d was carried forward on to the existing bill.

It is not possible to ascertain whether Chippendale himself provided this wallpaper, as wasthe case at Nostell Priory, or, as was more normal because of its rarity, whether Lascellesacquired it personally. Series of such panoramic paper became fashionable in the middle of

the 18th century and were exported from China via Canton by ships of the East India

Company. A similar pattern of India paper at Blickling Hall in Norfolk is recorded as having

been admired by Lady Proctor in 1764. Chippendale comments in his Gentleman and Cabi-

net-Makers Directory in 1762 that his chairs in the Chinese taste are very proper for a Ladys

Dressing Room, especially if it is hung with India paper.

Figure 2

The Chinese Bedroom at Blicking Hall, Norfolk


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It is the Day Work Book kept by Lascelles steward, Samuel Popelwell, noting how Chippen-dales workmen spent their time from 1769 to 1775 which enables us to identify this wallpa-per. It is known that a Mr James arrived at Harewood on 18th October 1769 and stayed until

Christmas fully employed papering, unpacking and fixing furniture. Between 14th and 16th

December that year he spent twenty-eight hours Hanging the India paper in the Chintz pattern

cotton bedchamber and between 21st and 23rd December he spent twenty-six hours At thepatterns in Chintz pattern cotton room. This suite of rooms with their oriental India paper in-

spired the green japanned furniture made for them by Chippendale, comprising a clothes press,

dressing commode, pier glass, shaving table, night table and two bedside tables. This furniture

was recorded as still in these rooms in an inventory of 1795. However, at some time in the 19th

century, probably during the remodelling of the house by Barry in the 1840s, the wallpaper was

removed and put into storage. This wallpaper from the Chintz Dressing Room was discovered

in 1988, rolled up in the carpenters shop at Harewood, together with the wallpaper from the

Chintz Bedroom. It has since undergone a programme of careful conservation. The bedroom

paper remains at Harewood.

Figure 3

Harewood House from the south east

Thomas Malton, 1778


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Figure 4The first six panels assembled.


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Figure 5

The remaining assembled panels.


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Figure 6

Signature of a William Cot - Carpenter, seen inFigure 5 on the far left of the bottom panel, in the sky.


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Figure 7

Interior view of the Mallett stand at The European Fine Art Fair 2004 in Maastricht.


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Figure 8

Interior view of the Mallett stand at The European Fine Art Fair 2004 in Maastricht.

pu007 harewoodhousewallpaper

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