Incollect Magazine - Issue 4

Issue 4 106 www.incollect.com The most perfect history will include the invoice and correspondence between the maker and his client. This doesn’t happen often. Furthermore, English furniture does not, as a rule, come with signatures or labels — it wasn’t done that often in the 18th century. It changed a bit in the 19th century and large-scale manufacturers such as Gillows recognized the value of this fairly early on. But those examples are rare. Items shipped abroad also had labels or signatures, but that is also fairly rare. Hence, a lot of provenances are either about the succession of dealers who may have sold a piece or the house a piece is thought to have been in, or possibly made for. The serpentine chest remained popular through the last quarter of the 18th century, and Charlecote Antiques has a lovely late 18th-century Hepplewhite period piece with very fine inlay. The top on this chest shows great originality and craftsmanship as well as excellent color. 5 provenance matters Clinton Howell Antiques has a rare set of 8 George II mahogany dining chairs with a terrific provenance to both a house and a maker. The chairs were made circa 1740 for Sir Herbert Pakington, for his ancestral seat Westwood Park, granted to the Pakington family by Henry VIII. Attributed to the great cabinetmaker Samuel Soho, they are of superb craftsmanship with extremely substantial and fine carving, and in extremely fine condition as well.