Fine Regency Ebonised and Gilt Heightened Chaise Longue in the manner of Thomas Hope
Early 19th Century Regency ebonised and gilt heightened chaise longue in the manner of Thomas Hope, the reeded show-wood frame with twin scroll ends with flower head motif and caned back, satin striped upholstery on splayed legs, terminating in lions paw foot cappings and casters. Almost certainly acquired by Rev. Daniel Shipton, during the remodelling of Crawley House, circa 1806 and by descent to his daughter Charlotte Orlebar, (nee Shipton) and by descent through the Orlebar Family, Crawley House, Husborne Crawley, Bedfordshire.
Crawley House was built for Rev. Daniel Shipton in 1777 with a legacy from his wife Temperance’s family: Daniel and Temperence’s daughter and heir Charlotte married Robert Charles Orlebar in 1807 and thus the estate came into the possession of the Orlebar family. It was reworked in 1806, when the drawing room was decorated (and presumably furnished) in the Egyptian style, including the upper part of the walls divided into panel with a border of sphinxes and mummies, a scheme recorded in the surviving account book.
Surviving accounts detailing Rev. Shipton’s expenditure on the 1806 renovations and extensions at Crawley house deposited with the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service, provide great detail about internal furnishings through each room in the new part of the house in turn: Library; yellow bedroom; blue room; green bedroom; dining parlour and drawing room. Many payments were made to fashionable London firms including to Wedgewood, to Parker the famous glass manufacturer, £119.2s 11ds, to Shout for Statuary, and notably, the very large sum of £915.0s. 11d to Collier the upholsterer, considering the house cost in the region of £1,000 when it was built in 1777-8, one can only presume that Collier supplied all the furniture from as-yet-unknown London cabinetmakers.
The Country Life article of 20th January 1923, ostensibly written by the Rev. E. Y. Orlebar, ‘Regency Decoration and Furniture at Crawley House’ but actually by Margaret Jourdain, discusses the remarkable survival of the 1806 interiors in great detail.
Dimensions: Height 31 inches, Width 76 inches, Depth 27 inches
