Return of Important English Furniture to Stoneleigh Abbey

Following a sale at Christies in London, Stoneleigh Abbey is pleased to announce the return of a number of pieces of important English furniture originally commissioned and made for the Abbey:

A Set of Four Queen Anne Ebonised, Parcel-Gilt and Polychrome Decorated Side Chairs – Dating from circa 1710 these chairs now form the earliest set at the Abbey. Each has a tall arched padded back and seat covered in crimson velvet, on baluster legs joined by a pierced arched front stretcher and baluster H-shaped stretched, on inscrolled ‘Braganza’ feet.

Two Regency Brass-Mounted Ebonised Stools – Almost certainly supplied to James Henry Leigh (d. 1823) or his wife by Gillows of Lancaster and London. The ‘LL’ stamp below a coronet presumably refers to the Barons Leigh. Though the first title had died out in the eighteenth century, the son of Henry James Leigh, Chandos Leigh (b. 1791) was created 1st Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh of the second creation on 18 May 1839.

Regency Brass-inlaid Rosewood Chiffonier – By George Oakley in 1819. James Henry Leigh, who had already made other purchases from Oakley since 1813, acquired the bookcase for Stoneleigh Abbey. It was invoiced as ‘an elegant rosewood commode with chiffonier top and plate glass at the back’ at a cost of £38. The bookcase, with trellis-railed doors and Grecian palm-flowered china-rail above a mirror-backed chiffonier, has reeded pilasters with palm-wrapped trusses. The bookcase, with its Louis Quatorze ‘boulle’ inlay was executed by the Bond Street court cabinet maker George Oakley.

English Ormolu and Cut-glass Four Light Colza Oil Chandelier – Early nineteenth century. An almost identical chandelier, but with slightly different colza oil lamp fittings is illustrated in the 1906 article on Stoneleigh in Country Life. It is thought that the present chandelier is that which is illustrated in the library in 1906 and that the fittings were later changed.

(Also shown is an early picture with the chandelier in its original position in the library.)